November/December 2003 Issue

Tires, Trials, and Truth

Adam L. Penenberg’s retelling of the Ford-Firestone debacle is both a gripping court-room drama and an insightful investigation.

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This gripping account of the Ford-Firestone
debacle has all the elements of a Hollywood legal thriller — so it’s no surprise
that a film adaptation starring Michael Douglas is already in the works. The victim,
Donna Bailey, is a single mother who became a quadriplegic after an SUV crash.
Her lawyer, Tab Turner, is an affable crusader, equal parts Atticus Finch and Ralph
Nader. Ford and Firestone, meanwhile, implausibly deny any responsibility until
the bitter end. The little guy wins, of course: Bailey gets $27 million in legal
settlements and forces Ford lawyers to visit her hospital bed and apologize.

Beyond the courtroom drama, Tragic
Indifference catalogs chilling facts: In a single decade, rollover-happy
Explorers killed more than 200 people and endangered millions. While exposes
and lawsuits mounted, each company blamed the other. Ford accused Firestone of making
shoddy tires. Firestone faulted Ford for underinflating their tires. They were both
right: Ford and Firestone had each cut corners, sacrificing safety on the altar
of profits.

Penenberg holds scant faith in government
regulation and says litigation is the best way to hold irresponsible corporations
accountable. Yet his narrative also shows how skilled corporations have become at
discreetly settling lawsuits — and getting back to business as usual.

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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