Firestone Essay

1342 Words3 Pages

The Irresponsibility of Firestone

“It was extremely difficult to control the truck at the time, and I had both my wife (two months pregnant) and my 16-month-old daughter screaming and crying in a panic...My wife has developed a fear of the only vehicle we have, understandably so. She fears other tires may also be defective and that we may be in danger” (Nathan). Much like the 4,300 similar complaints the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received, this Firestone tire consumer warned the agency of the faulty product and asked it to take action. Imagine a similar problem happening to you. While leisurely traveling down the highway, your SUV is suddenly thrown to the pavement. The tire tread on your left rear tire …show more content…

To date, the company has replaced 6.5 million tires (“Firestone death...”). Ford had contracted with Firestone to supply tires for all the SUV’s it produced. Together Firestone and Ford investigated the problems with the recalled tires. Despite much bickering between the two companies, the tires failed due to flaws in Firestone’s manufacturing and …show more content…

When problems exist with original tires, the supplier should take the blame. The biggest flaw in Firestone’s manufacturing came from its push for production; Firestone often pressured workers to make the largest amount of tires possible. Alan Hogan, a former employee at the Firestone plant in Wilson, North Carolina, explained to the Akron Beacon Journal that he had witnessed this with his own eyes. Hogan saw the use of “dry stock,” a combination of no longer tacky steel belts and rubber. Workers placed it in a storage area called the “bank” and then used it in production. Particularly after a shutdown, supervisors would pressure the workers to try and make the “dry stock” sticky again by swabbing the tires with a benzene compound. This compound could be found often at an arm’s length away from the workers since they used it so much (Meyer). By using this compound and making the “dry stock” tacky again, the workers could reuse the rubber and make more tires. Jan Wagner, who worked at the Decatur plant, said that the company also pressured workers to repair sidewall blisters by punching holes in the tire with an awl. Instead of throwing out the bad tire and making a new one, workers used this technique to speed up the process. The workers placed these so-called “green tires” on the floor to make room for more tires. The rubber, usually not dry yet, picked up dirt and other foreign matter from the floor (“Firestone

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