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Hawaii joins
other states in
tire recall
investigation

The group effort could
streamline the dealings
with Firestone and Ford

---

From staff and wire reports

State authorities in Hawaii are participating with 38 other states and Puerto Rico in a joint investigation into how Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford Motor Co. handled the recall of 6.5 million tires.

The combined effort could accelerate each state's investigation and allow Firestone and Ford to deal with a single group instead of individual states.

Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection, which has followed the case since the federal government began probing Firestone in early August, is handling the state's part of the joint effort, said Stephen Levins, the office's acting executive director. Consumer Protection is the state's primary agency for investigating consumer concerns. Levins could not say how large a role Hawaii is playing in the joint effort, or discuss details of the investigation.

John Lampe, executive vice president of Bridgestone/Firestone, the Nashville-based unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., said Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers told him about the state lawyers' group.

A company representative said the Bridgestone/Firestone and the attorneys general plan a conference call and a face-to-face meeting within the next two weeks. No schedule had been set.

Hawaii's representatives will take part in the meeting, Levins said yesterday.

The company "will be open and fully cooperative with the working group in sharing data and other background," Lampe said earlier this week.

A spokeswoman for Summers, Sharon Curtis-Flair, would not confirm which states make up the lead group of attorneys general but said four or five are working with Summers and have been doing so for several weeks.

Under pressure from federal investigators, Firestone agreed last month to recall Wilderness AT, ATX and ATX II tires because their treads were peeling off at high speed, causing crashes. Investigators are looking at the tires in connection with 101 deaths and hundreds of injuries, many involving Ford Explorers.