Jason Vines, who led communications for Ford in the early 2000s during the Firestone tire crisis, alleges in a new book that the company tapped his phone and car with surveillance devices during the crisis.

wwjdWaldorf Publishing sent the Detroit News an advance copy of Vines' new book, "What Did Jesus Drive? Crisis PR in Cars, Computers and Christianity," in which he writes that a Ford security official told him his office and vehicle were bugged.

Ford was reportedly concerned about leaks to the New York Times during the massive Firestone tire recall crisis connected to deaths in Ford Explorer vehicles.

Vines alleges that Ford general counsel John Rintamaki turned up the radio in his office during a meeting with Vines, telling the PR exec that "they're listening."

Vines was fired with CEO Jacques Nasser in late 2001 and Vines alleges that Ford executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. was the Times leaker, hastening the executives' exit.

Current global corporate communications manager for Ford, Susan Krusel, told the Detroit News that the company is "not aware of anything of this nature happening" and noted the crisis took place more than a decade ago under "very different leadership" at Ford.

Read the report at detroitnews.com.

Vines, who writes for the Detroit News and is a PR consultant based in DC, held top PR posts at Nissan North America and Chrysler during the 2000s. He was recently a senior VP for FleishmanHillard.

His book weaves through his various corporate PR stints, including when he orchestrated a cattle drive for the launch of a new Dodge Ram truck and tried to dissuade his CEO at Compuware from backing embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.