WASHINGTON POST STORY DRAWS FORD CO.'S FIRE

By: Joe Strupp Automaker Says Newspaper's Accident Study Is Flawed





An ongoing dispute between The Washington Post and Ford Motor Co. erupted this week over a Page One story that claimed the Ford Explorer had a higher rate of tire-related accidents than other sport utility vehicles, even when it was not equipped with recently-recalled Firestone tires.



The story, which ran Monday, Oct. 9, claimed the Explorer's tire-related accident rate was higher than that of other SUV's when it was equipped with either Firestone or Goodyear tires. The report drew angry responses from both Ford and Goodyear officials, with Ford demanding a retraction and claiming the newspaper "has yet to produce anything to support the allegation."



The Post initially responded to the complaints with a follow-up Page One story on Wednesday, Oct. 11, reporting that Ford had disputed the methodology used in the first story. That methodology had determined that Goodyear tires were used on Explorers involved in tire-related accidents by tracing their vehicle identification numbers to manufacturing plants that used only Goodyear tires. Through that process, the Post had determined that Explorers with Goodyear tires had a tire-related accident rate twice as high as other SUV's.



But Ford informed the Post that the manufacturing plants cited in the methodology were not exclusively using Goodyear tires. In fact, Ford contends, Firestone tires were used in at least 4% of the Explorers produced at the plants that the Post claimed were only using Goodyear tires. The follow-up story explained the Ford response and the new data, but did not state that the Post had committed any errors.



"We did not hear this from them before the story ran," said Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., who said the follow-up story was simply a way to report Ford's response. "They called to say that they had this information and that our study was flawed. We are continuing to report on it."



When asked if the Post had committed any errors in its initial reporting, Downie said, "It's hard for me to draw any conclusions on that until we complete our reporting." Downie would not say when or if the Post would run another follow-up story on the issue.



Ken Zino, Ford director of global product development communication, said his company had disputed the Post's methodology during interviews before the first story ran and remained dissatisfied with the newspaper's response to their complaints. "We talked to them before they published the [first] story and told them the premise was false and presented our data then," he said. "The [first] story was completely false and the [second] story does not address the substantial issue of truth in the [first] story."



Zino declined to comment on whether Ford was contemplating legal action against the newspaper.



Goodyear, meanwhile, also disputed the Monday story, issuing a statement on Tuesday, Oct. 10, claiming the Post had "misrepresented the role of Goodyear tires."



"We've had customers coming to us asking if there is a problem," said Chuck Sinclair, a Goodyear spokesman. "We've had to tell them that we've had no [tire-related] issues with Ford Explorers."







Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor for E&P.







Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.