No. 31 WASHINGTON: Congress has sharply criticized officials of Ford Motor Company and tire maker Bridgestone Firestone for tire problems. Bad tires are blamed for car crashes that killed more than 100 people. The head of Bridgestone Firestone, Masatoshi Ono, apologized for the tires. A congressional committee demanded to know when official of Bridgestone Firestone first learned about the tire problem. Senators had documents showing that company officials knew about the problem long before they announced it. One document shows that Bridgestone Firestone did not want to tell American safety officials about problems with the tires.