Bridgestone Tire Recall

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Debt-limit worries send stocks down slightly

NEW YORK -- One day after the Dow Jones industrial average had its best day this year, the stock market edged lower on Wednesday.

Analysts said concerns about lifting the U.S. debt limit outweighed strong earnings from Apple and a slew of new corporate deals.

Bridgestone to expand Aiken plant, add 122 jobs

COLUMBIA -- Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations will expand its facility in Aiken County by 2013, adding 122 full-time and contractor jobs, the state Commerce Department announced Wednesday.

The $135 million investment will expand the facility by 266,000 square feet and allow the plant to produce an additional 4,750 passenger and light-truck tires each day starting the second quarter of 2013, according to Bridgestone.

For job information, call 803-232-2228.

Wells Fargo resolves mortgage case for $85 million

WASHINGTON -- Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $85 million to settle civil charges that it falsified loan documents and pushed borrowers toward subprime mortgages with higher interest rates during the housing boom.

The fine is the largest ever imposed by the Federal Reserve in a consumer-enforcement case, the central bank said Wednesday.

Wells Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage lender, neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The bank agreed to compensate borrowers who were steered into higher-priced loans or whose income was exaggerated.

The Fed said a unit of Wells Fargo inflated borrowers' incomes on loan documents to qualify for mortgages they otherwise couldn't afford from 2004 until 2008. Between 3,700 and roughly 10,000 people could be compensated under the settlement, the Fed said. The payments will likely range from $1,000 to $20,000.

Home sales on pace for worst showing in 14 years

WASHINGTON -- People are buying homes at the weakest pace in 14 years.

Sales of previously occupied homes fell in June for a third straight month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

This year's pace is lagging behind the 4.91 million homes sold last year -- the fewest since 1997. In a healthy economy, people buy roughly 6 million homes per year.

National Tire Safety Week Reminds Drivers Even After Firestone Recall

National Tire Safety Week began in the wake of the Ford Explorer / Firestone tire safety recall of 2000. On August 3, 2000, the NHTSA launched an investigation into delamination of Firestone tires after receiving some 193 complaints, most relating to the Ford Explorer. Ford simultaneously announced a separate investigation into the safety of Firestone tires on Ford vehicles. On August 9, Firestone announced the recall of some 6.5 million tires , kicking off the second-largest tire recall in U.S. history. The resulting hysteria crashed Firestone’s website almost immediately, and Firestone retailers soon encountered shortages of replacement tires. By August 12th, Ford had authorized their dealers to replace Firestone tires with other brands, citing availability problems with replacement Firestone tires. For both Firestone and Ford, things would get worse long before they got better. found that both Ford and Firestone had prior knowledge of Firestone tire failures on Ford Explorer models sold in Venezuela, dating back to 1998. By 2001, with both manufacturers mired in lawsuits and pointing blame at each other, the 100-year relationship between Ford and Firestone was officially terminated by John T. Lampe, then CEO of Bridgestone / Firestone, who announced that the company would no longer enter into supply agreements with Ford Motor Company. Ten years later, it’s still not clear where the bulk of the blame lies. The original Explorer had a relatively narrow track and a high center of gravity, which made the SUV more prone to rollover than a contemporary sedan or station wagon. The Firestone tires in question did suffer from a higher incidence of delamination, especially when underinflated. Rather that point fingers and place blame, it’s important to look at how vehicles have improved in the years since. Beginning with the 2007 model year, manufacturers began incorporating tire pressure monitoring systems into new vehicles. These TPMS readouts give warning when tire pressures drop below an acceptable threshold, advising drivers of a potentially dangerous situation almost as soon as it occurs. Modern vehicles have improved standards for both rollover protection and occupant safety, and today’s Ford Explorer is lower and wider than earlier counterparts, making it less prone to rollover even in extreme situations.

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