Firestone´s N.C.-made tires had high separation rate, court papers show

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (Sept. 28)—Firestone tires made at the Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. plant in Wilson, N.C., had a higher rate of tread separation complaints than tires made at other company facilities, according to court documents released by a federal judge in Brunswick. Adjustment data from the 1990-1995 period showed that tread separations accounted for nearly 60 percent of all Firestone adjustments, but 68 percent of the adjustments for tires made at Wilson, according to news reports about the data from "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Washington Post." Bridgestone/Firestone´s investigation of problems with recalled ATX and Wilderness AT tires have concentrated largely on quality control and manufacturing practices at the tire maker´s Decatur, Ill., plant. A company spokeswoman dismissed the adjustment data as "just one part of the overarching picture. We need to find the root cause...You can´t tell the whole story from just one tiny part of the picture."