John Montgomery Presents This Week's	August 26, 2000	Creep Logo by Alan Fraser
	Firestone
	Our Tires Blow And So Do We

I regard tires in much the same way as toilet paper: They're both necessary to maintain the quality of life, but I don't give either one much thought until they fail. That's when I have a definite quality of life reduction and a real mess on my hands. When I have to buy more, I don't pay too much attention to the brand or the price as long as I get something that fits where it's supposed to fit and works the way it's supposed to work. Then I can go back to not thinking about it for a while.

Of course, there's a limit to this tire / toilet paper comparison. When toilet paper fails, nobody dies. You may feel like you want to die, and the people around you may think you already have, but you'll probably live to use more tomorrow.

Not so with tires. Just ask the 62 dead people riding Ford Explorers when the tread on their Firestone tires peeled off, causing the vehicles to spin out of control and roll over. Or the hundreds of others injured in similar accidents.

A couple of weeks ago, Ford announced a recall of 6.5 million Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires. Since then, we've seen massive confusion, finger pointing, and excuses made by a lot of corporate executives who act like their toilet paper hasn't been working for quite some time.

The problem tires all seem to have been manufactured at Firestone's Decatur, Illinois plant during a 2 1/2-year strike. The company hired replacement workers and kept right on making tires. According to Firestone ads, a typical tire has more than 26 components and 14 rubber compounds and requires 29 steps to build. I admit to knowing nothing about how that all comes together, but I have to assume that the employees acquire some tire-making skills along the way and that a picket-line-crossing, hamburger-flipping scab worker off the street wouldn't have those skills.

In addition, several former workers at the plant testified this week about 12-hour work shifts and over-emphasis on quantity over quality. Here's a quote that won't surprise anyone who's ever worked for a boss: "They say they're looking for quality, but all they ever ask is, 'How many tires did you get through last night?'" In another non-surprise, Firestone describes all these guys as "disgruntled former employees" not representative of its past and current workforce.

This is not the first time Firestone's been caught with their rubbers down. Back in the 1970s, the Firestone 500 tire was blowing out on the highway, causing similar death and destruction. The company ended up recalling 7.5 million of the tires, but only after seven years of court fights, government confrontations and refusal to speak truthfully about the problems with consumers. Not only did that fiasco almost put Firestone into bankruptcy, it also caused the discovery of a corporate political slush fund that sent its Chief Financial Officer to the pokey, where hopefully he produced license plates on 12-hour shifts with a high quota.

Ford hasn't exactly been the innocent victim in this sordid mess. They've been acting like the guy who brings a date to the prom, nails her afterwards, and when she turns up pregnant, complains loudly, "It's all your fault for being such a cheap slut!" They've been in bed with Firestone for years and are now trying to avoid blame by releasing some confusing tire pressure recommendations that are way lower than those of General Motors and Chrysler. Ford also has been quietly recalling the tires in other countries since mid-1999, but didn't notify the proper authorities here. Besides that, the recall itself is so cumbersome that many customers without doctorate degrees are just ignoring the whole thing.

Firestone and Ford have been getting away with this sleaziness up to now, but their day of reckoning has arrived. Senate Commerce Committee chairman John McCain, who's in a really rotten mood brought about by the combination of cancer and George W Bush, has scheduled hearings which will feature testimony from top executives of both companies.

They better hope John's toilet paper is working perfectly.