The legal battle over recalled Firestone tyres made it to court on Monday as the first of many lawsuits began in Texas.

The action has been brought by Joel Rodriguez, whose Firestone-equipped 1998 Ford Explorer suffered a puncture in March 2000 causing the car to rollover.

The crash has left his wife confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life, and the Rodriguezes are seeking up to $1bn in compensation.

On the opening day of the trial Firestone said it was not responsible for the rollover, saying that the design of the Ford Explorer was to blame.

The trial is expected to last for two weeks.

Bitter dispute

Firestone and Ford have fallen out over a series of crashes which have killed over 100 people.

Firestone said the crashes were caused by the bad design of Ford's Explorer sports off-road car, saying it has a greater tendency to rollover when tyres burst than other vehicles.

Ford meanwhile has blamed the design of Firestone's tyres.

In August 2000 Firestone recalled 6.5 million tyres, and Ford recalled an additional 13 million tyres in May this year.

The public row between the 2 firms has led to the end of a century-old relationship.

Ignition settlement

In a totally separate case on Monday, Ford offered to settle a class action lawsuit over faulty ignition units.

The settlement would cover millions of Ford cars in California and at least 4 other states.

Ford refused to discuss the final cost of the settlement, but said reports that it could cost between $750m to $1bn were "substantially inflated."