Video #5 - The BridgeStone/Firestone Fiasco
Monday, January 09, 2006BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This past September (9/6/00), the key players in the Firestone drama, Bridgestone/Firestone CEO Masatoshi Ono and his Ford counterpart , Jac Nasser, appeared before the U.S. Congress. "I come before you to apologize to you, the American people and especially to the families who have lost loved ones in these terrible rollover accidents," said Ono. "I also come to accept full and personal responsibility for the events that led to this hearing." This may be regarded by many as a case of "too little, too late." In October, Firestone voluntarily recalled 6.5 million 15-inch ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT series tires used mainly on Ford's Explorer SUV. The companies had allegedly known of problems with the tires for several years, but did not alert federal safety agencies. Even as Ford was recalling tires last year on vehicles sold overseas, American consumers were being killed in crashes attributed to failures of the same tire models.
The hearing marked the first attempt by Congress to grapple with the policy implications of the Firestone recall. Lawmakers said reforms could range from criminal penalties for auto companies that fail to report problems, to upgrading 30-year-old tire safety standards that predate radials, to launching a major federal effort to reduce the risk of rollover crashes for sport-utility vehicles. Sorting out the ideas and enacting some of them into law could take months.
Nasser sought to distance Ford from what he termed as "a tire issue, not a vehicle issue." Ford executives testified that the company had received repeated assurances from Firestone that tires used in the United States were not experiencing problems. Firestone said it believed tire failures in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and more than a dozen other countries were the result of harsh local conditions and misuse by consumers.
Bridgestone/Firestone Inc removed chief Executive Masatoshi Ono on October 10 and replaced him with its No. 2 executive, John Lampe. He becomes the first American since 1991 to head the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese giant Bridgestone Corporation. Lampe immediately announced a restructuring plan for the company and expressed regrets for the auto accidents involving Firestone tires and mostly Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles that have killed at least 101 people. He also suggested that the Ford Motor Company's Explorer may itself be partly to blame for the crashes. "I think anybody who's looked at the statistics, anyone who's reviewed the government data, understands that only a very small percentage of Ford Explorer accidents or rollover accidents have been attributed to tires, whether it's our tire or others-a very small percentage. To say that our tires are the only reason for the Ford Explorer accidents, the rollovers, is very unfair."
Analysts said the promotion of an American to run a Japanese-owned firm was a significant move. "When you look at everything that's going on in the Japanese business community between Renault and Nissan, and Ford and Mazda, it does seem that finally there's integration of Japanese companies to the global arena," said David Andrea, an auto analyst at CSM Worldwide in Northville, Michigan. Takashi Tomioka, senior automotive analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research America in New York, said: "I think it's a public relations move to make clearer to Americans that it's an American company."
Lampe was the first Bridgestone/Firestone executive to admit in congressional testimony that the company had produced defective tires. He said he is assembling a new management team and instituting new methods of collecting and analyzing field data. The company has been criticized for lackadaisical collecting of accident and other claims data, and for not knowing what to do with it. "We will not rest until we have determined the root cause or causes of the accidents, continuing to work with government agencies and outside experts to ensure that a situation like this never happens again," Lampe said.
SOURCES:
Alonso-Zaldivar, Ricardo and Robert L. Jackson, "Firestone CEO Apologizes for Tire Fiasco" Los Angeles Times, September 7, 2000. www.latimes.com/business/updates/lat_tires00907.htm
Anonymous, "Shakeup At Bridgestone/Firestone;" CBS News, October 2, 2000.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,228717-412,00.shtml
Jones, Terril Yue, "Firestone Removes top Exec Ono; Names Successor;" Los Angeles Times, October 11, 2000. www.latimes.com /business/updates/lat_tires001011.htm
St. Pierre, Nicole, "Tough Tire Reform Is Losing Traction;" Business Week, October 11, 2000. www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2000/nf20001011_529.htm
LESSON PLAN
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: 10-12/Economics, International Relations, World History, International Bachelaurate Programs(IB), Current Events.
PURPOSE: To present activities to be used at a variety of classroom situations in order to enhance student understanding of crisis management by Japanese and American corporations.
OBJECTIVES:
Students will be able to:
- describe the series of events which led to the Firestone tire recall.
- analyze the effects of these events on the Bridgestone Tire Corporation.
- evaluate the necessary consequences of the "tire fiasco."
- compare and contrast similar accidents in other parts of the world.
- investigate the role of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in relation to these events.
- propose ways to prevent similar events in the future.
MATERIALS:
- Background information provided.
- Resources on Japan available at your school's Media Center and the Public Library System in your area.
- Background information available through Internet "search engines".
- www.nhtsa.gov (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
- http://mirror..bridgestone-firestone.com/news/atx/newsmain_ATX.htm
ACTIVITIES: May be assigned as group activities or as individual tasks. They may also be designed as preparation for related presentations either by individuals or groups.
- Assign each member of a cooperative learning group to write an editorial from the point of view of one of the following people: The survivor of a family killed in a rollover accident; the CEO for the Ford Motor Co.; the CEO for Bridgestone/Firestone Co.; a worker who made ATX tires for Firestone; a current owner of a Ford Explorer; a Congressional representative serving in the committee looking into future regulations; the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Allow them to share these in their groups.
- Create a public service announcement (audio, video, pamphlet, or billboard) explaining measures being taken by Ford, Firestone, Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or a particular consumer advocacy group to ensure that similar events do not occur in the future.
- Research about and report to the class about similar events in other countries. Create a Venn diagram in a visible place comparing and contrasting events to those in the United States.
- Research about and report to the class about the economic consequences of these events on Bridgestone/Firestone Corporation.
- Research about and report to the class about the economic consequences of these events on Ford Motor Company.
- Research, analyze and report on the laws passed in Congress as a result of these events.
EVALUATION:
Individual assignments should be graded by the teacher using established criteria.
Group activities, presentations and projects may be evaluated by teachers and students using the following criteria and scale:
Content Creativity Clarity
1= Superior (A) 2= Excellent (B) 3= Good (C) 4= Fair (D) 5= Poor (F)
To print this lesson plan: If your browser does not print frames, try this -- click the right button on your mouse and select "Open Frame In New Window." Then use your browser's print function to print that page. Another option -- choose "Select All" from your browser's pull-down Edit menu. "Copy" the highlighted text and then "Paste" it into any text editor. You can then print it from the text editor.
