Tennessee was the first state to get court approval of the settlement, presenting the complaint and agreement to Davidson County Circuit Judge Thomas Brothers last night.

Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers, who announced the settlement today, said all the states and territories will be seeking approval from their courts by tomorrow.

Bridgestone/Firestone wired the $41.5 million to Tennessee for distribution to the other states and territories over the next few months.

Tennessee led a group of attorneys general from throughout the nation who spent more than a year investigating whether Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford were aware of problems with Firestone tires, most on Explorers, before a recall was announced in August 2000.

Ford investigated

Summers said the settlement does not affect the investigation into Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone has agreed to cooperate with the attorneys general.

Neither he nor Bridgestone/Firestone officials would elaborate on what type of assistance the tire maker would offer.

Bridgestone/Firestone, however, has said repeatedly that a faulty design causes the Explorer to roll over when a tire blows or loses its tread.

But Ford spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes says "the data shows it was bad tires put on a good vehicle."

She said the automaker has provided the same information to the attorneys general as to federal investigators and the company expects they will reach the same conclusion: "that the Explorer is a safe vehicle and no more prone to rollover than other comparable SUVs."

Millions of tires recalled

Under pressure from the federal government, Bridgestone/Firestone agreed last year to recall 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires.

Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its investigation after Bridgestone/Firestone agreed to recall 3.5 million more Wilderness ATs.

At that time, NHTSA downplayed the role of the Explorer in accidents that killed more than 270 and injured at least 700. But a NHTSA official later said that the agency is still examining the evidence and will likely decide by year's end whether to begin a formal investigation into the Explorer.

Federal investigators found the design of the Wilderness AT and the ATX produced before May 1998 could cause higher stress at the edge of the steel belt and lead to a separation.

Bridgestone/Firestone added a thicker strip of rubber between the two steel belts on the sides of the tire and changed the tire's material composition in the spring of 1998.

The federal investigation focused attention on tire safety and had far-reaching consequences for consumers and Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford. Congress passed a law last year updating the nation's tire standards, requiring government tests of rollover risk and other changes to auto safety laws.

Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone worked together at the beginning of the investigation, but their century-long relationship unraveled and in May, the two companies severed ties.

Bridgestone/Firestone chief executive John Lampe said in a written statement that the settlement with the attorneys general "permits us to focus our energies and our resources on rebuilding our company and the Firestone brand."

"While we take serious issue with many of the states' allegations, we believe that significant portions of the settlement, such as those related to consumer education, are very much in line with the company's own initiatives," he said.