Logos Quiz Level 3-21 Answers

About Firestone

Firestone is a tire and rubber company founded in 1900. Harvey Samuel Firestone started creating tires for wagons and buggies before the popularization of automobiles. When automobiles became common in the country, Firestone capitalized on an empty market and began the mass production of automobile tires. Because Firestone was friends with Henry Ford, he was able to become the supplier of tires to the entire Ford company, making him very wealthy. Both Firestone and its main competitor, Goodyear, were founded in Akron, Ohio.

When Firestone was founded, it employed 12 people. Today, it employs 40,000 around the world. Its first foreign workplace was a rubber plantation in Liberia, opened in 1926. Its headquarters are now in Indiana and Firestone has operations in 23 U.S. states and 10 countries around the world. Firestone has experienced difficult times, though. In 1950, along with other companies, Firestone was convicted of criminal conspiracy to end streetcar business in cities across America. In 1978, the company recalled over 7 million tires because of poor quality. This recall caused Firestone to lose money and a lot of its reputation. They have managed to bounce back from this loss today, bringing in about $3 billion in revenue yearly.

In 1998, Firestone was sold to the Japanese section of the Bridgestone Corporation. Firestone has faced a fair amount of controversy, between the 1978 recall, a 2000 and 2006 recall of the Firestone tires found on Ford Explorers and issues with the Liberian plantation. In 1990, a rebel army of Liberians invaded the plantation, causing Firestone to evacuate their workers. It took 6 months of negotiating and 2 years to restart the plantation, although work would be halted again as the Liberian Civil War raged on. There has been much discussion of whether the company’s work in Liberia is appropriate or legal.