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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. is bracing
to defend a case in which a family charges tires the company later recalled
are responsible for an accident that left a woman permanently brain damaged,
a published report said Friday.
The case, expected to begin in federal court in McAllen, Texas, Monday, is
the first one focusing on whether the tires recalled last year were more to
blame for hundreds of rollover deaths than Ford Motor Co.'s Explorer, on
which the tires were installed as original equipment, the Wall Street
Journal reported.
The embattled tire maker was preparing its defense as Tokyo-based parent
company Bridgestone posted a $250 million loss
in the first half of 2001 directly related to the recall of 6.5 million
15-inch Wilderness AT, ATX and ATX II tires.
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Firestone
CEO John Lampe (Source: Bridgestone/Firestone)
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The
tires have been linked to more than 200 deaths in the U.S., mostly in
accidents involving Ford's Explorer SUV.
The case in Texas involves Marisa Rodriguez, a 40-year-old mother of two who
has been hospitalized with permanent brain damage since the Explorer in which
she was a rear-seat passenger rolled over in Reynosa, Mexico, in March 2000.
The tread on the right rear Wilderness AT tire separated as Rodriguez and her
family were on their way back to Texas.
Firestone recalled the tire six months later, and the family sued both Ford
and Firestone. Ford since has settled with the family for an undisclosed sum,
the Journal reported.
As part of its defense, Firestone, which severed its nearly 100-year-old bond
with Ford earlier this year, plans to emphasize evidence of design problems
with the Explorer. Ford has been pinning the blame squarely on the tires.
"We have been very clear in the past few months about our feeling that
the Explorer has serious safety issues," Firestone spokeswoman Jill
Bratina told the Journal. "We certainly believe that when a car
experiences a tread separation or a blowout, the driver should be able to
pull over to the side of the road and change the tire." 
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