Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. and Ford Motor Co. would have had even bigger problems on their hands in the giant class action lawsuit recently filed against them had the federal judge who issued the order given in to all plaintiffs' demands.
Originally, plaintiffs wanted the class to include "all current residents of the United States who owned or leased at any time from 1990 to the present vehicles equipped with tires that failed, resulting in property damage," according to Indianapolis, Ind.-based Judge Sarah Evans Barker's official order.
As it stands, the suit extends to all current U.S. residents who owned or leased a 1991 through 2001 model year Ford Explorer on or before Aug. 9, 2000, plus all current U.S. residents who owned or leased at any time from 1990 to the present vehicles that are or were equipped with Firestone ATX, ATX II, Firehawk ATX, ATX 23 Degree, Widetrack Radial Baja and Wilderness tires.
The suit also includes "all tires that are the same" as the ones mentioned above "but (are) sold by Firestone under other brand names," and "all other tires manufactured by Firestone that are the same or are substantially similar to" the aforementioned units.
BFS will appeal the ruling.
