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Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, the Detroit automaker, appears in our library as a buyer and user of asbestos: Johns-Manville built-up roofing, corrugated Transite and asbestos cloth for its plants, asbestos fiber for molding compounds, and brake linings sold under the Ford name. Union Carbide sales files from 1969 to 1980 record Ford weighing asbestos in a premix and a car-body sealant while its safety and hygiene staff questioned it. Ford did not go bankrupt and has no asbestos trust; our case-law library holds more than 150 decisions naming it as a defendant.

Draft. The history on this page was written from the documents in our library and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

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History

Ford was founded by Henry Ford in Detroit in 1903 and grew into one of the largest carmakers in the world. This entry covers only what our library's documents show about Ford and asbestos.

Asbestos in Ford's plants

The J-M Circle, Johns-Manville's employee magazine, reported in April 1929 that Ford "purchases a large quantity of asbestos cloth from which they make asbestos clothing, particularly gloves and mittens for use in their factories and foundries."1 In July 1929 the magazine reported an order of about $100,000 from Ford for built-up roofing and 30 carloads of corrugated Transite for a new assembly plant at Los Angeles Harbor.2 In 1930 it reported that Ford's newly completed plant at Long Beach, California, was covered with 1,100 squares of built-up roofing and 2,800 squares of corrugated Transite.3 In November 1930 it reported a contract to install J-M Transite Boiler Wall Casing at Ford's new Edgewater plant, which it called the first installation of its kind for Ford.10

Brakes and friction materials

A 1954 history of the SCANDINAVIA brake-lining company, printed in the trade magazine Asbestos, says its linings for the Model T were so good that the Ford Motor Company "bought millions of feet as original equipment for its cars."11 That is the supplier's own account. Our library also holds an undated Ford flyer for Ford brake linings, including Ford authorized remanufactured linings, and for wheel cylinder repair kits.4

A 1981 position paper of the Asbestos International Association, "Asbestos & Health in the Friction Material Industry," cites a Ford Motor Company study of asbestos emissions from brake dynamometer tests.12 The paper reports that the Ford study found only a very small share of brake lining wear was released as free asbestos (the figures in our scan are too blurred to repeat).12 The paper's reference list gives the Ford study's title as "Asbestos Emissions from Brake Dynamometer Tests."13 In a call report on Chrysler from the late 1970s, Union Carbide salesman Edward J. Kleber wrote that on a later call at Ford, "Ford seems to feel it's impossible to have an asbestos-free brake."14

Asbestos fiber for molding: Johns-Manville and Union Carbide

Johns-Manville told its customers in 1974 that its bulk tank car for shipping asbestos fiber "was developed by J-M in conjunction with the Ford Motor Co. and Procor in Oakville, Ontario." The same text says six of these cars, each holding 55 tons of fiber, were then supplying Ford.15 Minutes of a 1971 safety meeting of General Electric, Hooker Chemical and Union Carbide record that Ford had experimented with a closed bulk system for Johns-Manville asbestos, and that the fiber packed so tightly that the tank car had to be entered to get much of it out.16

Union Carbide's 1969 business plan for its Calidria asbestos listed Ford Motor Company among its target accounts.17 A Union Carbide report of call on Ford's General Parts Division at Rawsonville, Michigan (dated 1973 in our library), says the effort to sell Ford an asbestos grade for polyester premix had stalled because of OSHA. It says Ford had studies under way to replace asbestos if safe-handling methods failed.18 The report says Ford's safety department placed its concern not in the mixing areas but in deflashing and drilling the finished molded parts, where it said exposures exceeded the TLV.18 A September 1973 Union Carbide marketing report says Ford "was successful in replacing asbestos with Wollastonite in their pre-mix, and was going to turn in that direction when and if the asbestos regs. became a major problem."19 The same report names Roger L. Wabeke as Ford's chief industrial hygienist and says Union Carbide had counted Ford's dust samples.19 That month Union Carbide sent Ford's Rouge Plant fiber counts of 0.4 to 0.5 fibers/cc on four air samples Ford had submitted.20

The sealant program, 1977–1980

Most of Union Carbide's Ford file concerns a vinyl plastisol sealant. In April 1977 a chemist at Ford's vinyl operations in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, told Kleber he had been ordered to start a sealant operation and that Calidria RG-244 would get a fair shot. As Kleber reported it, the chemist said that even if RG-244 worked, the biggest battle might be with Ford's hygienists.21 In October 1977 Union Carbide presented a seminar to a Ford task force on how to use its asbestos safely.22 Kleber reported that month that Ford was "not exactly thrilled" about using asbestos in the formulation but that only the Calidria grades had worked so far.23

In November 1977 Carolyn B. Zelek, a Ford senior engineer, showed Kleber a draft Ford policy on asbestos that had not been approved by corporate management.24 Kleber wrote that the draft said Ford would "continue to accept materials containing asbestos" and would check that its suppliers complied with OSHA rules, and that it applied only to friction products.24

In May 1978 the Ford chemist told Kleber he was under extreme pressure to remove RG-144 from his formulation.25 In March 1979 Ford industrial hygienist Dr. Larry Roslinski told Union Carbide, as Kleber reported it, that Ford had no objection to asbestos in the sprayable sealer if exposures stayed below OSHA limits, which Roslinski would define as 0.1 fibers/cc over an eight-hour average.26 In April 1979 Kleber wrote that "Ford will go to almost any lengths to avoid having to put asbestos in this formulation."6 He gave three reasons: breaking bags of raw asbestos, exposure during spraying, and Robert M. Gerrity, the manager of Ford's paint and vinyl operations. Kleber wrote that Gerrity was known in the company as "the man who single-handedly got rid of asbestos in Ford's heater housings."6 In February 1980 Roslinski confirmed to Kleber that Ford was "investigating" removing asbestos from its cars. Kleber recorded the reasons as the generic carcinogen standard, possible regulation changes and public-relations problems.7

In court

Our case-law library lists more than 150 court decisions that name Ford Motor Company as a defendant.9 In Ford Motor Co. v. Boomer (2013), a case over brake dust from garage work, the Supreme Court of Virginia rejected the "substantial contributing factor" jury instruction and reversed a verdict against Ford and Honeywell (as successor to Bendix).27

References

  1. The J-M Circle, April 1929, p. 21
  2. The J-M Circle, July 1929, p. 16
  3. The J-M Circle, May–June 1930, p. 17
  4. Advertisement: Ford brake linings (brand-new and Ford authorized remanufactured) and 1 other product, ACL Doc 15265; Brake linings (Ford); Wheel cylinder repair kits (Ford)
  5. UC-580: Union Carbide Calidria Customer Call Reports on Ford Motor Company (1977–1980)
  6. UC-580, call report of April 19, 1979, pp. 1–2
  7. UC-580, call report of February 12, 1980, p. 21
  8. Asbestos trusts A–Z
  9. Ford Motor Company, company page: court cases
  10. The J-M Circle, November 1930, p. 15
  11. Asbestos, August 1954, p. 31
  12. AIA-21: Asbestos International Association, "Asbestos & Health in the Friction Material Industry" (1981), p. 9
  13. AIA-21, p. 15
  14. UC-589: E. J. Kleber's Union Carbide Call Reports on Chrysler, Trenton, MI (1975–1979), p. 4
  15. Johns-Manville, A Condensation of Environmental Facts on Asbestos and Health, Customer Seminars (1974), pp. 29–30
  16. UC-4050: R. W. Schwartz to Bound Brook Distribution on GE/Hooker/Union Carbide Safety Meeting Minutes Covering Asbestos (1971), p. 5
  17. UC-811: F. D. Dexter to J. Clayton Stephenson Transmitting Calidria Asbestos Discussion Outline and 1969 Business Plan (1969), p. 14
  18. UC-4612: Report of Call on Ford Motor Co., General Parts Division, on SG-200 in Polyester Premix and Asbestos Handling (1973), p. 1
  19. UC-4629: T. P. Norris Marketing Intelligence Report on Harwick Chemical Call re Wollastonite Skin Sensitivity and Ford Dust Counts (1973), p. 1
  20. UC-1353: Edward J. Kleber to Charles Plasters (Ford Motor Company, Rouge Plant) Reporting Fiber Counts on Submitted Air Samples (1973), p. 1
  21. UC-580, call report of April 12, 1977, p. 9
  22. UC-580, call report of October 6, 1977, p. 8
  23. UC-580, call report of October 20, 1977, p. 7
  24. UC-580, call report of November 19, 1977, p. 6
  25. UC-580, call report of May 9, 1978, p. 3
  26. UC-580, call report of March 2, 1979, p. 19
  27. Ford Motor Co. v. Boomer (Virginia Supreme Court, 2013)

Asbestos products

2 products our documents name Ford Motor Company as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

Court cases

155 court decisions in our case-law library name Ford Motor Company as a defendant, newest first.

And 5 more: search the case law.

In our library

1 document in our library name Ford Motor Company, by collection.

Other library documents (1)

In the Union Carbide documents

Ford Motor Company is named in 32 Union Carbide documents dated 1971 to 1983 (32 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. 31 of them are published in our collection.

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for Ford Motor Company, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: Ford Motor Co · Ford · Ford Motor · Ford Motor Co., General Parts Division.

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names Ford Motor Company, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.

Mentioned on this site

Cite this page

“Ford Motor Company.” AsbestosClaims.Law Library. https://asbestosclaims.law/library/organizations/ford-motor-company.

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This page is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Every asbestos case turns on its own facts, exposure history, diagnosis, deadlines, available evidence, and applicable law. Reviewing this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, call 833-4-ASBESTOS for a free case review.