WASHINGTON — In the end, the hang-up was not the $6-million settlement agreed to by the Ford Motor Co.

The problem was that Ford wanted the damage amount in the $23-million lawsuit over a disastrous accident kept secret, and the Miller family of Carlsbad, Calif., said it would go along only if Ford would alert its customers to what the family contends is a need to equip rear seats with shoulder harnesses instead of only lap seat belts.

Ford refused, arguing that damage suit settlements are not the proper forum for setting seat belt policy, and the amount became public--a rare breech in the increasing secrecy surrounding product and environmental safety cases and medical malpractice matters.

The case revolved around the 1988 head-on collision in a Ford Escort that killed one of James Miller's 11-year-old twin sons and left the other a paraplegic.

By keeping such settlements secret, lawyers for plaintiffs argue, the public is denied vital truths on health, safety and the environment that could protect the people from injuries and even death.

Ford and other defenders of the push for silence counter that making public seven-figure settlements can stimulate others to bring suits and that civil damage actions are "private matters" brought by private litigants. Disseminating the information threatens privacy and property rights, according to secrecy advocates.

The issues were drawn into sharp focus Wednesday at a Washington conference organized by the Assn. of Trial Lawyers of America and the Society for Professional Journalists.

"I think many judges have shirked their responsibilities" in not seeing that suits over product liability have import beyond the two parties and can affect the public, Justice Lloyd Doggett of the Texas Supreme Court told the conference.

Doggett is the author of recent sweeping changes in Texas court rules that establish a presumption of openness for civil suits and sharply restrict the practice of sealing court records. The rules, adopted by a 5-4 vote of his court, take effect Sept. 1.

Doggett said the struggle over revealing matters that are increasingly being withheld "has to be defined in terms of openness vs. secrecy and public involvement vs. public exclusion."

Individuals like James Miller who insisted on making public the Ford settlement are "rare," said Eugene I. Pavalon, a Chicago plaintiffs' attorney.