Goodyear Questions Washington Post Tire Story

9 October 2000

                      
    AKRON, Ohio - Goodyear believes The Washington Post's use of Florida accident 
statistics in a Monday story titled, "Explorer has Higher Rate of Tire Accidents" 
misrepresented the role of Goodyear tires in "tire-related" accidents 
investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol.

    The Post story focused on a "tire-related" category used by the FHP to
classify potential causes of accidents.  That category was broadly defined as
"blowouts and punctures," both of which could be road hazard related and
totally unrelated to the manufacture of a tire.

    The Post was provided claim history from Goodyear's own product warranty
claims, which had previously been provided to NHTSA for comparative
evaluation, and would show total number of claims filed with Goodyear for
damages deemed product-related in any way.

    We believe this claims data combining Goodyear tires on Ford Explorers,
whether involving vehicles in Florida or nationwide, demonstrates that tire
performance was not a contributor to the "tire-related" accidents in question.