(Recasts to add details, comment from leading plaintiff's attorney)
DETROIT, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. has agreed to pay $51 million to settle U.S. states' claims against it stemming from deadly rollover accidents involving its popular Explorer sport utility vehicle, sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.
They said the settlement, which does not affect individual personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits still pending against Ford, was modeled after the financial agreement Bridgestone Corp's Firestone unit reached with U.S. state attorneys general late last year.
Tread separations involving allegedly faulty Firestone tires have been linked by U.S. safety regulators to at least 271 deaths in Explorer rollover accidents.
Ford declined immediate comment on the settlement, which was set to be announced on Friday. But the sources said it would require the world's No. 2 automaker to pay all U.S. states, together with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, a penalty totaling less than $1 million each.
The automaker has repeatedly denied claims by legal experts like Florida State Attorney General Bob Butterworth, who played a prominent role in state claims against Ford, that it knew the Explorer was highly susceptible to rollover accidents.
An all-new, redesigned Explorer was introduced by Ford last year, and the company says it remains the world's best-selling SUV.
One source close to the deal hammered out with state attorneys general after lengthy negotiations said the $51 million provided by Ford would be used to help finance U.S. consumer information campaigns and public safety announcements.
Tab Turner, a leading plaintiff's attorney in many individual Explorer rollover and wrongful death lawsuits, said the money was unlikely to do much good, however.
"Although it is always good to have consumer information, all the information in the world is not going to make a defective vehicle safe," Turner told Reuters.
He also stressed that the settlement with U.S. states would have no material impact on the many individual rollover lawsuits still pending against Ford and Firestone, many of which have been settled out of court in the past 1-1/2 years.
"There's at a minimum several hundred," said Turner when asked how many rollover suits were still pending against Dearborn, Michigan-based, Ford. "I filed one just last week," he added.