It's the end of the road for a century-long partnership between Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford Motor Company. Bridgestone CEO John T. Lampe announced, "the basic foundation of
our relationship has been seriously eroded." He cited a "significant safety concern with a substantial segment of Ford Explorers," and alleged that design flaws were to blame for
hundreds of highway deaths, all the while buttressing his company's refusal to recall 13 million more tires. At press time, Ford had not posted a response on its site. A link to a
release titled "Explorer is Among the Safest Mid-size SUVs" led to a page posted as "under construction." Perhaps the new vernacular for "no comment"?
(http://www.firestone.com; http://www.ford.com)