7 replies to this topic

[tak]

Bridgestones has announced they are recalling over 6 million tires in the US. The expected cost is somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5 Billion dollars. Will Bridgestone contiue to supply tires for F1, Cart, etc? Can Bridgestone afford to stay in professional racing?

[aross]

the question might be, can they afford not to?
considering the brand equity reasons most companies get involved in sponsorship, leaving racing might put them in such a downward spiral in the minds of the public that they may never recover.
I'm no so confident about Firestone's position with the public though. YOu may recall that this is the second big recall--the first being the 721 debacle that ruined Firestone and delivered it ito the hands of Bridgestone (in 1978 or so I think).

[FordPrefect]

The recall should be no problem for them, and it has to be done to maintain customer loyalty and respect. Ongoing sales are where they make their money, both to consumers and auto manufacturers, they will be fine.

[Cobra]

Actually the cost to Firestone is estimated only at 70 millions dollars as it only involves one size of the AT/X tires fitted to Ford Exploeres and F150 trucks. I have no idea why Ford even bothered to fit car tires on suvs and 1/5 ton pick-up trucks. Maybe the treads on the Potenza F1 tires will delaminate and we'll have a return of slicks!

[Todd]

70 million may be an estimate for replacing the tires, but the lawsuits that will come out of this may hurt BS quite severely. They first settled out of court lawsuits stemming from failures by the said tires in 1991. They've kept providing them as OE and replacement tires for two of the best selling vehicles in the USA. Last August, Ford began replacing the tires in 6 other coutries. Now that US personal injury lawyers have declared open season, this could easily result in far larger sttlements than the 4.9 BILLION dollars that GM is appealing the rewarding of to survivng burn victims of a 20 year old car with no pattern of unusual casualties. BS is toast in this country.

[theMot]

ohhhh Todd full of doom and gloom...

They'll bounce back, in a year you'll forget this even happend.

[Todd]

theMot,

Do you know how BS came to own Firestone? Firestone had a tire recall of their steel belted radial, which was called the 721. By the time the dust settled, they were just a nameplate for shoddy Japanese tires. When you consider that BS was just a shameless rip off of the once-great Firestone name, it is even more pitiful. It could easily happen again in this legal climate.

[mtl'78]

everyone should ride on Goodyears anyways!