The first intimation of trouble came in 1999 when, after 14 fatalities occurred. Ford began replacing tires of Explorers in Saudi Arabia and nearby countries. The tire failures were blamed on hot weather and under inflated tires. At the time, overseas fatalities did not have to be reported to U.S. regulators, so the accidents received scant attention in the media The media caught the scent in early 2000 when television reports in Houston revealed instances of tread separation on Firestone's ATX tires, and the National.Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) started an investigation. By May four U.S. fatalities had been reported, and NHTSA expanded the investigation to 47 million ATX, ATXII, and Wilderness tires In August 2000, as mounting deaths led to increasing pressure from consumers and multiple lawsuits, Firestone voluntarily recalled 14.4 million 15-inch radial tires because of tread separation. The plant in Decatur, Illinois was implicated in of these accidents. Ford and Firestone agreed to replace the tires, but estimated that 6.5 million were still on the road. Consumer groups sought a still wider recall charging that Explorers with other Firestone tire models were also prone to separation leading to rollovers In December 2000 Firestone issued a report blaming Ford for the problems claiming that the Explorer's design caused rollovers with any tread separations On April 20, 2001, Ford gave NHTSA a report blaming Firestone for flawed manufacturing In May 2001 Ford announced that it was replacing all remaining 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires on its vehicles, saying that the move was necessary because Ford had no confidence in the tires safety. "We feel it's our responsibility to act immediately," Ford CEO Jacques Nasser said. Ford said the move would cost the automaker $2.1 billion, although it hoped to get this money back from Firestone Firestone Chairman and CEO John Lamp defended his tires, saying"no one cares more about the safety of the people who travel on our tires than we do. When we have a problem, we admit it and we fix it.