Feds: Goodyear knew of defective RV tires as early as 2002

DETROIT — Federal investigators say Goodyear knew that some of its recreational vehicle tires could fail and cause severe crashes, yet it didn’t recall them for as many as 20 years.

Goodyear wouldn’t recall the tires even as late as March of this year, despite investigators finding that their failure caused crashes that killed eight people and injured 69 others from 1998 through 2009.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration made the allegations against Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear in a Feb. 22 letter sent to the company seeking a recall of 22.5-inchdiameter G159 tires.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. responded to the agency in a March 8 letter refusing to do a recall, but later it decided to conduct one, according to NHTSA documents.

NHTSA had threatened a public hearing and court action if the tires weren’t recalled. The agency posted documents Tuesday showing that Goodyear had agreed to recall about 173,000 of the tires, which have been out of production since 2003.

The NHTSA letter says the company should have recalled the tires within five working days of becoming aware of a defect, which it apparently knew of as early as 2002.

“The safety-related defect is clear, identified failure that leads to a loss of vehicle control, causing crashes and potentially catastrophic consequences such as death and serious injury,” NHTSA wrote in the letter.

Documents say the tire tread can separate from the body, causing drivers to lose control and increasing the risk of a crash. In one case, a front tire on an RV failed as a man and his family were returning from a vacation. The driver heard a loud pop and lost control of the 40-foot-long RV, which crossed the median and hit an embankment. The driver was paralyzed and three other passengers suffered broken spine and pelvic bones, the letter said, without saying where or when the crash occurred.

In its response letter to NHTSA, Goodyear maintained that the tires were rigorously tested and fully qualified to operate at highway speeds. “No subject tire inspected by Goodyear engineers ever revealed or even suggested a defect of any kind,” the company wrote.

On Tuesday, Goodyear said the tires are not defective and said few, if any, are still on the road.