Transcript

Event Date(s): 09/12/2000 | Event Location(s): Washington, DC; | Description: A line of Ford Explorer Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) sits on an assembly line. Close up shot of a Firestone tire on the rim of an Explorer. Ford Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jacques Nasser sits before a Senate committee in Washington, DC. During his testimony Nasser says "I take no personal or professional pleasure in saying it Firestone failed to share critical claims data with Ford that might have prompted the recall of these bad tires sooner". Black and white footage of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford sitting at a rotating table with Firestone Tire & Rubber Company founder Harvey Firestone. Footage of the marriage of Martha Firestone and Ford's grandson seen. Shot zooms out from the Firestone tire on a parked Ford Explorer. Emergency personnel stand near a flipped over Explorer that was involved in an accident. During his testimony Nasser says "This is not the candid and frank dialogue Ford expects in its business relationships. A man (faces unseen) rolls a tire across a garage floor. A peeled off tire tread lies on the ground. During his testimony in front of the Senate committee Firestone executive vice president John Lampe says "We firmly believe however that the tire is only part of the overall safety problem shown by these tragic accidents. An Explorer drives down a road. Close up as a person fills a tire with air. Department of Transportation graphic with supers is seen. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater sits at the Senate committee meeting. During the meeting Democratic Oregon Senator Ron Wyden asks if it would be appropriate to have criminal penalty for companies who know their product is going to kill or injure. Slater responds by saying that the short answer would be clearly yes. Overhead shot of people that attended the committee meeting. Shot zooms in on a wrecked Explorer sitting in a grassy area. During the committee meeting Democratic Nevada Senator Richard Bryan says "It's a sorted chapter in the history of two companies that for over a century have become household names to the American public". Black and white footage of Ford and Firestone sitting at a rotating table. Overhead shot of those attending the Senate committee meeting dissolved into a shot of an Explorer drive down a road. NBC News correspondent Robert Hager closes on camera.