Tyre giant snubs Ford over 'defects' row

Bridgestone/Firestone has said it will no longer sell tyres to Ford in America because the car maker tried to blame the firm for thousands of accidents.

The decision will pit Bridgestone against Ford in Ford’s proposed recall of an additional 10 million Firestone tyres - a move Bridgestone opposes, president Shigeo Watanabe said at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo.

Last summer, Bridgestone/Firestone - the US subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation recalled 6.5 million Firestone tyres.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating more than 6,000 reported accidents including blowouts and tread separations. Most of the tyres were on Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles.

Bridgestone said some combination of the tyres and vehicles might be the cause of the reported accidents, said Watanabe, who took office after his predecessor resigned over the tyre recalls.

Now Bridgestone/Firestone has announced it will no longer sell tyres to Ford in North and South America, ending a nearly century-old relationship that went sour over last summer’s recall.

Watanabe said he gave John Lampe, Bridgestone/Firestone chief executive, several options in dealing with Ford, and ‘‘the worst possible scenario’’ was ending the relationship. Ford, however, consistently refused to change its view that the tyres were to blame, he said.

‘‘To be told they are defective is hard to take,’’ Watanabe said of the tyres being proposed for additional recall. ‘‘We view tyres and vehicles as one system.’’

Watanabe said customers filed 10 times more claims for tyres on Explorers than on the Ford Ranger.

Both companies are facing hundreds of lawsuits over the accidents.

While acknowledging that sales of the Firestone brand had plunged to about half of last year’s since the recall, Watanabe said the decision on Ford would not hurt its overall business.

Business with Ford made up only 2% of Bridgestone’s global group sales, he said. Bridgestone sales totalled 2 trillion yen (£11.3 bn) last year.