…assuming that they knew of the defects and their potential to kill well in advance, of course.
I really don’t see why not. If you actively conspire to produce and sell a product that you know could kill people, and the people who are buying that product do NOT know this, are you a murderer? 101 times over, even?
Should the worker bees who knew about the defects but had no say in the decision making process be punished too? In the eyes of the law, they would be covering up a murder, which would make them just as guilty as the killer himself.
Murder? Doesn’t that imply premeditation and willful action to that end? Manslaughter, maybe… negligent homicide.
I’m not fully knowledgeable in the law, but I think there’s a disclaimer on the tire.
No, seriously, in precidence, gun manufacturers often get cited but never charged in connection with murders, as several courts (I think) have ruled that the manufacturers cannot be held liable.
But, this kind of thing should be indictable since it is negligence that resulted in death, if it can be proven that it was preventable. But not on a murder charge.
But the real question is, have there been any tires that were properly cared for that were the ones that separated? True, a tire should have some leeway in performance even when not properly cared for, but there have been proven tests that show that tires ran at too low a pressure for any amount of time will fail and will separate, just like these tires have been.
The point is, if a tire was kept with in Firestones’s guidelines, they do not fail. It’s only when they are ran at too low a pressure for too long. How can Firestone legitimately be liable for neglegance on the part of the owner of the vehicle?
…Oh… I forgot. We live in the US where there is no personal responsibility anymore :rolleyes:
I’d have to agree with this. Also I think that high speeds probably have something to do with this as well. I’ve seen the pictures of some of the wrecks and they all look really bad, like they had been at a good speed when it happened. I also fail to see how a blown tire can cause a wreck, I’ve seen a number of people drive down the road with flat and ruined tires and they didn’t wreck. Also if a motorcycle can have a blow out and can keep from going down I think a car can too.
It’s my WAG that a lot of these people didn’t have the proper pressure in the tires, were going high rates of speed when the tire failed and then slammed on the brakes. When a tire fails you can’t just slam on the brakes or you will have trouble. How come we never hear what happened in the accident, just that a Firestone tire failed and caused it. yeah ok like the driver didn’t have something to do with it.
what I’ve heard is that it’s a combination of factors.
poorly constructed tires do not always blow out.
underinflated tires does not necessarily mean a blowout.
A blowout at high speed does not necessarily mean the vehicle will tip over.
HOwever, certain vehicles are more prone to tip over than others - SUV’s top that list.
So, add under inflated tires+poorly constructed tires + high speed+ SUV and you get rollovers at high speeds which are potentially deadly.
One factor, please to note, though is the attention being given here BEGAN when accident reconstructionists and reporters started noticing “hey, wait a minute, didn’t I just see another Ford explorer blow out accident last week?”
Soooooo. since there doesn’t seem to be an odd increase in the number of blowouts/rollover/fatal accidents for OTHER tires and OTHER SUV’s, I think there’s more than a little reason to be suspicious of these circumstances. (yes, I know, not all the facts are in).
A newspaper (can’t remember which) researched the Florida accident database and found that the Ford Explorer was more accident-prone than other SUVs. They started because Ford claims (with data, I believe) that the Explorer plus Firestone has more accidents than the Explorer plus Goodyear, so obviously it’s a tire problem. The reporters checked Explorer plus Goodyear against Other-SUV plus Goodyear (or something along those lines) and found that Explorers have a problem as well.
And yes, SpUtes have a higher rate of rollover due to their construction. Not to mention the well-known general incompetence of SpUte drivers ;).
So, it’s almost definitely a combination of causes, in my mind.
FWIW, I know someone who works for Firestone and he says that management knew the tires were bad, but continued making them anyway. He also said that Firestone has attempted to blame poor manufacturing on the strikes, but that this tire has always had problems.
On the other hand, we’re talking 100 deaths in TEN YEARS, people! Give me a friggin’ break. That’s less than the US averages PER DAY. Anyone want to calculate the percentages on that? I know they were talking recalls of 6,000,000 tires - dunno where that figure came from. Again, a minute fraction is what we’re talking here.
My question is, WHY is this getting such attention?
** redtail ** I would suspect the reason it’s getting attention is that the deaths may have been prevented.
absolutely, there are more deaths daily from other causes, and, yes, many may be prevented. HOwever, when you have a combination of:
Apparent product defect leading to deaths.
Apparent company apathy leading to more deaths.
you get a lot more attention.
I was talking this issue over with someone last night and I was told that, against Firestone’s wishes, Ford is suggesting, and setting, a pressure lower than Firestone’s recommended inflation for the tires. This is to give the vehicles a smoother ride.
So, if this is true, if anyone other than the owner of the vehicle is liable, it may very well be Ford.
According to the last news reports I read, they, or someone equally high in authority, knew of the defects. Just like with the Ford SUVs that are being recalled, a problem was found, reported to the higher ups by an engineer, and no action was taken. As a result, many stall out when the ignition module gets hot - like in traffic and accidents have happened involving injuries or death.
It is apparent through the recent history of auto related manufacturing that executives will ignore dangerous conditions or flaws in the product, being more concerned with profits over lives. Lawsuits against the companies involved seem to have little effect.
They do it again, and again.
Willingly selling a product which contains flaws serious enough to produce deadly conditions should be a crime. It is time to hold people responsible for their actions. After all, you depend on your vehicle and the tires it rides on to keep you reasonably safe while traveling already hazardous public roads.
You would not buy the product if you knew of the dangers involved, but if those flaws are kept from you to ensure that you purchase the items, then a crime is being committed. If a buyer dies from those flaws, then at the very least, it should be negligent homicide.
If you are a drunk and you drive drunk and accidentally hit and kill a person because you are drunk, the law considers it negligent homicide. You knew you were not supposed to drive drunk. You took the responsibility.
There is a precident. About 1920 a Chicago civil engineer built a road along lake michigan, and put a sharp turn in it at a river crossing. Many clamed people would run off into the river, put he persisted.
The road opened up and a few people promptly dove to their deaths.
He committed suicide. That’s the answer for the Bridgestone execs. The crime is causing death by arrogance.