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In Re Ford Motor Company Securities Litigation 00-CV-74233

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In Re Ford Motor Company Securities Litigation 00-CV-74233 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION Master C e No. 00-74233 In re FORD MOTOR CO. CLASS A TION SECURITIES LITIGATION The Honorable Avern Cohn DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL CONSOLIDATED COMPLAINT FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 l r" CJ'^ zti ^ OVERVIEW 1. This is an action on behalf of all purchasers of the common stock of Ford Motor Company, Inc. ("Ford") between March 31, 1998 and August 31, 2000 (the "Class Period"). This action arises out of the conduct of Ford to conceal from the investment community defects in Ford's Explorer sport-utility vehicles equipped with steel-belted radial ATX tires manufactured by Bridgestone Corp.'s U.S. subsidiary, Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. ("Bridgestone/Firestone"). The Explorer is Ford's most important product and its largest selling vehicle, which has accounted for 25% of Ford's profits during the 1990s. Due to the success of the Explorer, Ford became Bridgestone/ Firestone's largest customer and sales of ATX tires have been the largest source of revenues and profits for Bridgestone/Firestone during the 1990s. During the Class Period, Ford and Bridgestone had knowledge ofthousands ofclaims for and complaints concerning ATX tire failures, especially ATX tires manufactured at Bridgestone/Firestone's Decatur, Illinois plant during and after a bitter 1994-1996 strike, due to design and manufacturing defects in, and under-inflation of, the tires, which, when combined with the unreasonably dangerous and unstable nature of the Explorer, resulted in over 2,200 rollover accidents, 400 serious injuries and 174 fatalities by 2000. Nevertheless, Ford made materially false and misleading statements about the effectiveness and integrity of its product design, testing and manufacturing processes and the quality and safety of its products, while concealing its growing awareness of the problems with and defects in the Ford Explorers equipped with ATX radial tires. Ford also constantly expressed its concern for the safety of its customers and extolled its exemplary corporate social responsibility and citizenship and failed to properly account for or disclose the prospective cost of these product failures and associated remedial costs, thereby materially misstating its financial condition by reporting inflated earnings. 2. During the Class Period, Ford repeatedly told the investment community that its products, including components supplied by others, were ofthe highest quality, defect-free and safe, that Ford was focused on assuring the safety of its customers and was a socially conscious and exemplary corporate citizen, whose safe, high-quality products were enabling it to report increasing operating earnings every quarter, as summarized below: (a) Regarding the quality of its products Ford said: • "[EJverything we do must maximize the quality... ofourproducts for our customers ...." "[A]t Ford quality comes first." • "1TJhe best practices from around the world... give our customers products with higher quality ...." • Ford was "taking across-the-board actions to improve our quality" and had "tied executive compensation directly to ... quality, as measured by our warranty statistics." "We ... are continuing to improve quality ...." • Ford "delivers the highest quality products ...." • Ford was "developing cars and trucks that are defectfree" and "all our vehicles have world class quality." • Ford was "relentless in fits] drive to build the highest quality cars and trucks in the world." • Ford "made the biggest improvement in initial vehicle quality ofany manufacturer. Our quality is the best it's ever been." "Ford has its best quality ever." "Ford... delivered its best-ever quality...." "Our quality is the best it has ever been...." "Our quality is best-ever." • "Every member of the Ford team is committed to quality excellence." • Ford "insistlsJ our suppliers maintain Ford's stringent quality standards." • When Ford's use of ATX tires on its Explorer was publicly challenged during 2000, Ford said it was "extremely satisfied with the safety record of these vehicles" and blamed "driver error" for the Explorer rollover accidents following ATX tire failures due to tread separation. (b) Regarding the safety of its products, Ford stated: • "Ford is a worldwide leader in automotive safety .... At Ford, we want our customers tofeel safe and secure in their vehicles at all times. That 's why we're designing safety into our cars and trucks." • "[Our customer focus] starts with ... (sJafety .... We've dedicated ourselves to finding even better ways of delivering ... safer vehicles to consumers .... Our rallying cry is ... 'JsJafer.'" • "Every... day, we get smarter about how we carefor the safety ofour customers." • "We want to make customers ' lives ... safer...." -2- (c) Regarding its corporate citizenship, Ford stated: • "Ford ... recognizes an essential business need to be a good and responsible corporate citizen ...." • "We want to be clear leaders in corporate citizenship." • "Corporate citizenship directly affects Ford's reputation .... A strong reputation makes good business sense. It helps sell Ford products ... and enhances Ford's ability to grow profitably." • "The Ford Lean: also is going to lead in corporate social responsibility.... Being a leading corporate citizen is ... one of the attributes that defines us. It also is increasingly affecting purchase and investment decisions. It's a strength we are going to build on." • "[CJorporate citizenship is crucial to a company's market value." (d) Regarding its increasing operating profits, Ford stated: • "Ford also delivered its best-ever quality ... and ninth consecutive quarter ofhigher profits ...." • "Our quality is the best it has ever been.... As a result, we were able to achieve our eleventh consecutive quarter of improved operating earnings." • "Our strong earnings momentum over the last 13 quarters is the result of our intense drive to improve quality ...." • We continued our strong earnings momentum ...." " Our earnings momentum is as strong as ever...."' 3. Ford's statements about the quality and safety of its products, its concerns for the safety of its customers, its good corporate citizenship and its strong earnings momentum due to the sales generated by its high quality were materially false. In fact: (a) Ford's most important and profitable product- the Explorer- especially when equipped with Bridgestone/Firestone ATX tires - was not a high quality, safe, defect-free product, as the tires had never been adequately or properly tested by Ford, were defective in design and workmanship and prone to sudden failure due to tread separation , causing large numbers ofExplorer "first event" rollover accidents; 'Here, as elsewhere, emphasis has been added unless otherwise added. -3- (b) Ford was not as concerned with the quality of its products or safety of its customers or a worldwide leader in safety as it represented, because it was knowingly selling defectively designed Explorers equipped with defective ATX tires, which were improperly designed and manufactured , inadequately tested and under-inflated at Ford ' s recommendation and likely to fail suddenly due to tread separation causing the Explorer to roll over; (c) At Ford, quality did not come first, was not its best ever, nor was it a top priority as represented, as Ford was covering up and concealing the defective and highly dangerous nature of the Explorer equipped with ATX tires, so sales of that high-profit product would continue at high levels and Ford would not incur the public relations harm, brand damage and huge costs which would result from a product recall; (d) Ford had not made the biggest improvement in initial vehicle quality of any automobile manufacturer as represented, as Explorers were defectively designed and exceptionally unstable and came equipped with defectively designed, poorly manufactured and inadequately tested ATX tires, which used defective, old, out-of-specification or inappropriate raw materials and were prone to sudden tire failure due to tread separation, which, in combination, made the Explorer unduly prone to rollover accidents; (e) Ford was not dedicated to finding better ways of delivering safer vehicles, getting smarter about how it cared for the safety of its customers and committed to improving the quality of its products, and thus compensating its executives based on quality which was leading to improved product quality enabling Ford to achieve the best quality ever, as represented; in fact, Ford's Explorer was defectively designed and dangerously unstable and came equipped with defectively designed, poorly manufactured and under-inflated ATX tires, which utilized bad, out-of- specification or inappropriate raw materials that Ford had not adequately tested and which were prone to sudden failure, which made the Explorer unduly prone to rollover accidents; (f) Ford was not insisting that its suppliers follow high quality standards as represented, because it permitted its largest supplier of tires (Bridgestone/Firestone) for its most -4- important product (Explorer) to supply defectively designed and/or improperly manufactured ATX tires which utilized bad, out-of-specification or inappropriate raw materials, and had only a "C" heat/temperature rating - the lowest rating permitted under federal regulations - which was inadequate for Explorer, especially when run at 26 psi, Ford's recommended pressure; (g) Ford was not extremely satisfied with the safety record of the Explorer as represented , as
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