Goodyear covered up defective RV tires for 20 years despite 8 deaths, dozens of injuries, feds say

Goodyear covered up a defect in its RV tires for 20 years while eight people died and dozens more were injured, according to federal investigators.

The tires were manufactured between 1996 and 2003 but were just recalled Tuesday after a years-long investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The feds said G159 tires would disintegrate at high speeds, with the treads separating from the body and drivers subsequently losing control of their vehicles. Goodyear claimed that the tires were not defective and only failed when “underinflated” or on “overloaded” motor homes.

A Goodyear office is pictured in 2020. (Shutterstock/)

The NHTSA said 41 different lawsuits blamed the tires for a total of 98 combined deaths and injuries on roads between 1999 and 2016. Investigators confirmed eight death claims and 69 injury claims against Goodyear.

According to the feds, the lawsuits were settled confidentially and sealed, preventing regulators from noticing the pattern. In one case, a family was traveling in an RV when a front tire disintegrated, leading the RV across a median and into an embankment, the NHTSA said. The driver was paralyzed and three passengers suffered spine and pelvic injuries.

Goodyear only landed in hot water after a 2017 case in which the court documents were made public and the feds began investigating. However, the company knew about the problem for almost two decades, according to the NHTSA.

“The existing record aptly demonstrates that Goodyear was aware of chronic overloading and underinflation as early as February of 1998, and by January 2002 had reached the conclusion that the G159 was not, according to its own specifications, suitable for use in Class-A motorhomes,” the NHTSA wrote to Goodyear in a February 2022 recall request.

Goodyear initially refused the recall request, but later bowed to federal pressure. The recall affects 173,000 tires, according to NHTSA documents. They are G159 tires size 275/70R22.5. Goodyear will replace any tires currently on RVs and provide $500 refunds for any unattached tires.

Though the NHTSA cannot criminally charge anyone, the Justice Department could prosecute Goodyear for the reported cover-up. In a comparable situation, General Motors was charged for failing to report an ignition switch defect and settled for $900 million in 2015.

With News Wire Services