Bloomberg News, "Ford said risky tires were OK for SUV; Replacements for Explorer did poorly in rollover tests"

          Ford Motor Co. approved replacement tires for its Explorer sport utility vehicle that made it just as likely to roll over as the originals that Ford blamed for more than 200 deaths.
          Ford's test results of replacement tires, introduced as evidence last month in an Explorer trial in Mississippi, may support hundreds of pending lawsuits contending that the vehicle is unstable and can flip over amid evasive driving maneuvers. Ford has lost six Explorer rollover cases totaling $151 million in jury verdicts in the past year. In a 2000 government investigation into Explorer rollovers, the company blamed the original Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. tires for the accidents.
          "It wasn't just the tires," said Sean Kane, co-founder of Safety Research and Strategies. "This shows just how on edge the Ford Explorer is. In computer simulations used to test substitutes, the Explorer tipped onto two wheels -- a Ford indicator of rollover risk -- on tires made by Goodyear, Michelin's Uniroyal, Continental and other manufacturers, the records show. The company approved some failed tires as replacements, according to Ford documents. The Explorer tipped most frequently in the vehicle's two-wheel-drive model.

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