Report: Continental Hid Tire Troubles

CHICAGO--The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Continental General Tire Inc. never gave investigators dozens of letters, memos and studies detailing problems with its tires.

In 1993 Continental was under investigation by federal highway safety authorities for problems similar to those that led to the Firestone recall.

Court records examined by the Chicago Sun-Times “also show that Continental General Tire Inc. may have vastly understated the extent of the problem to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, prompting the federal agency to close its investigation,” according to Reporter Mark Skertic, who wrote the piece that ran Tuesday in the newspaper.

“The documents that detail problems federal authorities were never told about regarding tires sold under the General Tire brand are hidden in sealed court documents in California, Texas, Georgia and other states where Continental General Tire faces lawsuits alleging shoddy tire construction caused deadly wrecks,” Skertic wrote.

The investigation in March 1993 had been opened when the agency had five reports of people dying in crashes involving three General Tire models--GT52S, Ameri-Way and Ameri-Tech tires.

“Since the investigation was closed in July 1993, at least 13 people have died in wrecks involving one of the tire models the federal agency was looking at, court records show. The most recent death was last November in Texas. The deaths involved GT52S tires mounted on Ford Bronco II sport-utility vehicles,” the article said.

“Officials of Continental General Tire on Monday rejected any suggestion that they did not provide everything required during the investigation,” the piece reported, quoting the company as saying “we cooperated fully with the requests made by the federal government in its 1993 investigation regarding certain lines of our tires. NHTSA’s conclusion, that there was no defect trend found in the tires, concurred with our owninternal data.”

Skertic wrote that a spokesman for the federal highway safety agency said that investigators may re-examine their 1993 finding “in light of the new questions.”

Former NHTSA head Joan Claybrook was in charge of the agency when it oversaw the largest tire recall ever--which involved Firestone 500 tires--in the late 1970s. Claybrook who now runs Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog and lobby group.

“When told what information was held back in the General Tire investigation, Claybrook said she wasn’t surprised,” according to Skertic. He quoted her as saying “they lied. There’s no cop on the regulatory beat. And when there’s no cop on the beat, things like this happen.”

Withholding information from federal highway safety regulators can bring criminal penalties, including a fine and five years in prison. But the agency lacks the resources to do its job, Claybrook said, according to Skertic. “That echoed testimony from consumer advocates, as well as current agency officials, in recent Congressional hearings.

The Chicago Sun-Times has written numerous investigative pieces regarding problems with U.S. tires and the difficulties faced by investigators in uncovering them. Those stories can be viewed in their entirety at www.suntimes.com.