| DEATH ON THE HIGHWAY: QUALITY PROBLEMS AT FORD AND FIRESTONE James Salsbury & Mark M.Davis Issue 26 (Vol. 13, No. 2), December 2003, pp. 247-264 Bridgestone/Firestone�s tire recall in August, 2000 set off a major investigation to determine what were the causes of the abnormally large number of blowouts that had occurred with their tires when they were mounted on Ford Explorers. These investigations were done not only by Ford and Firestone, the two companies involved, but also by Congress and lawyers seeking damages for individuals that were either killed or injured as a result of the blowouts. This case attempts to present, from a product quality perspective, the various issues that were related to the blowouts, including product design issues of both the tire and automobile, manufacturing issues, and customer product usage issues. The goal of this case is to provide some insights into the different quality problems that can accumulate overtime and across organizational boundaries, to the point where there are major consequences for all the parties that are involved. |