Each company maneuvered to cast blame primarily on the other Ford announced in May 2001 that it would triple the size of the Firestone recall-a $2.S billion prospect, a cost Ford wanted to shift to the tire maker. Firestone, at that point ,severed its long relationship with Ford by refusing to supply the company with more tires. CEO Lampe maintained Ford was trying to divert scrutiny of the rollover prone Explorer by casting doubt on the safety of Firestone tires. Both parties suffered in this name calling and buck passing. By Fall 2001, sales of Explorers were off sharply, as consumers wondered whether the hundreds of Explorer crashes were due to the SUV's design, or Firestone tires, or both. Ford lost market share to Toyota and other foreign rivals in the SUV market. In July 2001, it reported its first loss from operations since 1992. It also faced 200 product liability lawsuits involving Explorer rollovers. Still, Ford was big enough to absorb problems with one of its models Smaller Bridgestone/Firestone faced a more dangerous situation. In 2000 its earnings dropped 80 percent, reflecting the costs of recalling millions of tires as well as a special charge to cover legal expenses. The Firestone unit, which accounted for 40 percent of the parent company's revenue, posted a net loss of $510 million after it took a $750 million charge for legal expenses. Sales were to plunge 20 percent in 2001, and costs of lawsuits could eventually reach billions of dollars, to the point where some analysts doubted Firestone as a brand could survive.