For months, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Goodyear fought over whether the Ohio-based business should recall tires used on RVs – tires that had not been manufactured in almost two decades.
Under pressure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Goodyear said on June 7, 2022, that it will recall 173,000 G159 tires 275/70R22.5 used on recreational vehicles due to the risk of catastrophic tread separation and a resulting tire blowout.
The NHTSA launched an inquiry in December 2017 and then formally requested a recall from Goodyear in February, claiming G159 tires had increased failure rates that “occurred quite early in the service life.”
According to the NHTSA, Goodyear was aware of a safety flaw “as early as 2002 when the tires were in production but did not file a recall.”
In a 19-page response to the NHTSA in March, Goodyear stated that it did not believe its tires were faulty and questioned if any of those tires were still in use, although they had not been manufactured since 2003.
Goodyear stated that it was “not accurate” that specific tires failed sooner than others, and that the NHTSA letter showed a misunderstanding of the underlying facts.
The tire maker consented to the recall on Tuesday “to address concerns that some of these tires may still be in the marketplace or use,” but did not admit the tires were faulty.
Goodyear maintained that the “primary duty” in “recalling their vehicles to account for owner abuse” belongs to RV manufacturers. It said that NHTSA’s attempt to hold Goodyear accountable for the tire recall was “an abrupt and unacceptable break from over 20 years of practice.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommended owners on June 7, 2022, avoid using recalled tires due to safety concerns.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated in February that G159 tire faults were “at the core of 41 cases involving 98 deaths and injuries filed between 1999 and 2016.” According to Goodyear, the NHTSA “inaccurately” exaggerated the number of reported occurrences.
According to the NHTSA, Goodyear consistently sought court orders prohibiting the distribution of tire information revealed in cases. According to Goodyear, the agency “cannot fairly claim it was uninformed” of accidents involving the tire before 2017, citing fatal incident records in an NHTSA database.
Tire Blowout Accident Attorney
If you’ve been hurt by G159 tires 275/70R22.5 used on recreational vehicles, then you should contact a tire blowout lawyer. We can conduct an investigation and assist in determining who was at fault for the collision. We have helped many critically wounded clients nationwide recover money for amputations, asphyxiations, burn injuries, spinal cord injury, brain damage, death, and other catastrophic disabilities caused by tire blowouts. David P. Willis is board certified as a personal injury trial law specialist. We’ve put in a lot of effort to get the best results for our clients, and we’ll do the same for you and your loved ones. Call us at 713-654-4040 or 1-800-883-9858 to tell us your story about the defective tire.