US now says 203 deaths linked to Firestone tires

(UPDATE: updates with committee to detail findings, firestone comment, background)

By John Crawley

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The number of deaths linked to failures of Firestone tires has climbed by 29 to 203, according to updated figures released by U.S. auto safety regulators on Monday.

The new figures were released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration one day before chief executives from Firestone and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - news) answered questions from Congress on the latest developments in the tire saga.

There was no new data on complaint information or on injuries, which stood at more than 700 when last reported in February. Most of the fatality and injury figures come from consumer complaint information logged by the NHTSA. Other data has come from safety groups.

Bridgestone/Firestone, a unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp. , recalled 6.5 million tires mostly fitted on the Ford Explorer sports utility vehicle and still on the road after the ATX and certain 15-inch Wilderness tires were linked to fatal crashes. Some of those were rollover accidents.

Ford announced last month it was replacing up to 13 million Wilderness AT tires not included in the August recall at a cost of $3 billion, saying it had lost confidence in Firestone.

But a congressional committee looking into U.S. tire safety, including the Ford replacement plan, said some of the tires Ford plans to use to replace the Wilderness ATs may not measure up either.

``Some of the information the investigation has uncovered is not only troubling but puzzling as well,'' Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee said.

``It is now clear to us that Ford, in some cases, is replacing Firestone tires with brands that actually have higher claims rates,'' Johnson said.

COMMITTEE TO RELEASE FINDINGS

He said the committee would release data at Tuesday's hearings.

A Ford spokesman could not be reached for comment, but the company has said it tests every tire model authorized as a replacement for the Wilderness AT to make sure it conforms to the company's standards. Ford also plans to detail its replacement plan at the hearing.

Johnson said Ford might not even know about the broader claims data on replacement tires because the congressional probe was sweeping.

A Firestone spokeswoman said the committee disclosure is just one more reason the tire maker believes the replacement effort is unnecessary.

``There is no reason for this program other than to divert attention away from the vehicle (Explorer),'' said Jill Bratina.

Firestone has asked the government to look into the safety of the Explorer, claiming steering and stability problems. Ford reiterated on Tuesday that the Explorer is ``one of the safest vehicles on the road.''

The ongoing congressional investigation also found that at least two other Firestone tire models on Ford vehicles, the 15-inch FR 480 and the 16-inch Wilderness HT actually have higher claims rates than the Wilderness ATs being replaced.

The FR 480s were used on Explorers in the mid-1990s and ``there are still some out there,'' Johnson said. The Wilderness HTs were original equipment on F150 pickups.

``The question for Ford is: Why aren't you replacing these tires as well?'' Johnson said.

Firestone has said the Wilderness AT tires being replaced by Ford are safe, but Ford says Firestone claims data and other test information purportedly shows a large segment of the tires targeted for replacement were probably as prone to blowouts or tread separations as the tires Firestone recalled last summer.

Ford released data last week showing 1,183 tread separations on 2.9 million Firestone tires fitted on Explorers and sold between 1995-97, and only two failures on a similar number of Goodyear tires.

Firestone chief executive John Lampe said Tuesday that Wilderness tires supplied to General Motors Corp (NYSE:GM - news). vehicles have only had two tread separation claims, which were not serious, and Wilderness AT tires supplied to Toyota Motor Corp. that have had no separation claims.

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