Goodyear's Assurance Featuring TripleTred Technology Wins IDEA Design Award

AKRON, Ohio, June 27 -- Goodyear's popular "any condition" tire, Assurance featuring TripleTred Technology, won a Silver IDEA in the 2005 Industrial Design Excellence Awards, North America's leading tiremaker announced today.

The competition, co-sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and BusinessWeek magazine, evaluates designs for five areas of excellence: innovation, aesthetics, user benefits, business impact and ecological responsibility. Products from companies such as Apple, Nike, BMW and Microsoft were awarded IDEAs in the competition. Goodyear's Assurance featuring TripleTred Technology was the only tire honored.

"Winning an IDEA award for Assurance featuring TripleTred Technology is a tremendous distinction for our design team," said Joseph M. Gingo, Goodyear's executive vice president, Quality Systems and chief technology officer. "The award indicates a design is one of the very best in the world."

Goodyear's Assurance featuring TripleTred Technology was designed to be visually arresting, and its eye-catching sinuous and sculpted directional tread pattern is as attractive as it is functional. The aggressive appearance also helps retailers explain the tire's benefits and technology to consumers.

The tire incorporates three unique tread zones for superior traction in any kind of weather. A unique Water Zone consisting of deeply carved Aquachutes propel water away from the tire's tread to assure more tire contact with the road when the surface is rain-drenched. An interlocking tread pattern creates an Ice Zone which translates into more gripping power on icy or snow-covered roads. A Dry Zone rounds out the three tread element areas, enhanced by reinforced tire shoulders for confident maneuvering around curves, potholes and unexpected road debris on dry pavement.

Assurance featuring TripleTred technology also incorporates scientific advances in rubber compounding, including the use of fiberglass fibers and volcanic sand in the tire's winter formulated compound, which allows the tire to maintain flexibility in cold weather.

The extremely popular tire is one of Goodyear's most-awarded products ever, including recent recognition from Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines and a finalist for the Automotive News PACE Award. The critical praise has translated into tremendous commercial success, as the Assurance line is the most successful new product launch in Goodyear's history.

The Industrial Design Excellence Awards are dedicated to fostering business and public understanding of the importance of industrial design excellence to the quality of life and the economy.

Goodyear is the world's largest tire company. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, the company manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 80 facilities in 28 countries. It has marketing operations in almost every country around the world. Goodyear employs more than 80,000 people worldwide. More information about Assurance can be found at http://www.goodyearassurance.com/.