WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 6, 2000 - Ford Motor Company today announced new initiatives that will provide improved analysis of tire safety data and will ensure governments around the world receive consistent information on safety actions.

Ford Chief Executive Officer Jac Nasser announced the company's plans today during testimony before a joint hearing by the House Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade & Consumer Protection and the House Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations.

"While this is clearly a tire issue and not a vehicle issue, we feel a responsibility to do our best to prevent a situation like this from ever happening again," added Nasser.

First, Ford will work with the tire industry to develop and implement an "early warning system" to detect the first signs of tire defects on vehicles already on the road. "This new system will require that tire manufacturers provide comprehensive real world data on a timely basis," said Nasser. "We're confident the tire industry will work closely with us on this issue."

Second, Ford is committing to advise U.S. safety authorities of safety actions the company takes in overseas markets, and vice versa. "From now on, when we know of a safety action, so will the world, even if some customers are totally unaffected," said Nasser. This commitment by Ford will begin immediately.

The company continues to devote round-the-clock resources to replacing bad tires with new, good tires, and to helping find the root cause behind the high incidents of failures for the recalled tires.

Ford actions center around taking care of its customers. Ford Motor Company began by insisting that Bridgestone/Firestone recall the bad tires. A special tire hotline was immediately set up and continues to operate (1-800-660-4719). Since then the company has worked closely with the global tire industry to increase tire production. Ford has also suspended production at three assembly plants - Edison, New Jersey; Twin Cities; and, St. Louis - to free up 70,000 tires for immediate use as replacements. So far, close to two million tires have been replaced.

"The strength of Ford has been, and continues to be, its employees and loyal customers," said Nasser. "I'm extremely proud of our employees and our dealers who are working around the clock to earn our customers' loyalty. We will do whatever it takes to make our customers happy."