Goodyear Tire Deaths Alleged

LOS ANGELES--Media outlets today are reporting about an article in the LA Times, which alleges that after a series of complaints over tire failures, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. changed the tires’ design but did not recall those already sold.

The piece, written by Davan Maharaj, says that “a series of tire failures similar to the ones that have plagued Bridgestone/Firestone have afflicted Goodyear light-truck tires, killing at least eight people but so far drawing little attention from federal safety regulators.”

The paper, known nationwide for its investigative journalism, reports that the Goodyear tire failures involve 16-inch Load Range E tires manufactured mainly for commercial vehicles--trailers, passenger vans and large sport-utility vehicles. “Goodyear became aware of what one of its own engineers labeled an ‘alarming’ problem with the tires five years ago and made a design change to make the tires stronger. But it did not recall the older tires, millions of which are still on the road, including the popular Goodyear Wrangler AT and HT,” the article says.

“Goodyear defended its actions, saying it found no defects in the tires, but it has quietly settled several of at least 20 lawsuits resulting from the crashes. Settlement amounts and company documents turned over in these cases have been kept secret, a move that has drawn the ire of consumer groups and plaintiffs attorneys,” according to the piece, to which LA Times’ researchers John Tyrrell and Sunny Kaplan also contributed.

The suits blame tread separation, virtually identical to the problems experienced by Firestone, whose tires--fitted on Ford Explorers--have been linked to more than 150 deaths and more than 500 injuries worldwide.

“The Goodyear tire failures are the latest example of how deadly crashes caused by tread separations have transcended the Firestone-Ford Explorer case and are bedeviling the whole tire industry. In addition to the Firestone recall, Continental-General announced last month that it will replace 160,000 tires, mostly mounted on 1998 and 1999 Lincoln Navigators, because the tread showed a tendency to separate. Other large tire makers are also grappling with the problem,” according to the article.

“Although the deaths and injuries related to Goodyear’s light-truck tires are relatively small, attorneys say no one really knows how many casualties have resulted from failure of Goodyear’s light-truck tires because there has been virtually no publicity about them. Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration acknowledged Tuesday that during the last three years they have received 59 reports of tire failures--including one fatality--involving Goodyear light-truck tires. Asked whether the agency plans to open an investigation, NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said, ‘We’re continuing to monitor the situation.’” the piece reports.

The paper says that “Goodyear officials acknowledged this week that they began noticing a large number of complaints involving the light-truck tires as early as 1995. The company conducted extensive tests and reviewed its design and manufacturing processes to see whether they were at fault. Goodyear decided not to tell safety regulators about these complaints because the tests indicated the tires were not flawed.”

Goodyear in 1996 started putting an extra layer, known as a nylon cap, on Load Range E tires to make them “more robust,” a Goodyear spokesman is quoted as saying. “The more robust construction has resulted in fewer claims against Goodyear, a company engineer has testified. But millions of the older, unreinforced light-truck tires remain on the road, including the Goodyear Wrangler AT, Goodyear Wrangler HT, Goodyear Allseason Workhorse, Kelly-Springfield Power King and Kelly-Springfield Trailbuster. And, according to court records, fatal crashes involving these tires began piling up--from Saudi Arabia to Florida to California,” according to the LA Times.

Goodyear’s share of a lawsuit settlement in one case remains confidential. Goodyear says the information is proprietary and contains valuable trade secrets.

But a plaintiff lawyer involved, Christine Spagnoli of Los Angeles, tells the paper that she thinks the company is not giving the public all the facts about the safety of its light-truck tires. “From what we know so far, there appears to be a trend showing that these tires are failing,” Spagnoli is quoted as saying. She has recently compiled a list of 14 crashes involving more than 20 injuries resulting from Goodyear-related crashes. “I believe Goodyear knows that these tires are bad but, by keeping the documents secret, they’re playing Russian roulette with drivers and passengers on the road,” she tells the paper.

According to the article, documents exchanged in the suits revealed that the company was concerned about failures of its light-truck tires. “A top Goodyear engineer recalled that liability claims against the company were growing at an ‘alarming rate’ predominantly because of problems with the Load Range E tires. The numbers were spiraling ‘from a few, like 10, to a growing amount in a short period of time, to....or going up from there,’ said Beale A. Robinson, Goodyear’s technical chief, in redacted deposition testimony from August made available to The Times,” the paper says.

“In 1995, Goodyear appointed in-house tire experts to study the tread separation problem. Two years later, Goodyear asked another in-house team to zero in on a potential source of the problem: possible manufacturing problems at its plant in Gadsden, Ala. The focus on Gadsden came only after executives of Kelly-Springfield Tire Co., a wholly-owned Goodyear subsidiary, led a small revolt, saying they didn’t want their tires to be made at the Alabama plant. Kelly-Springfield executives, according to Robinson’s deposition, cited Goodyear’s own data of customer complaints, showing a ‘large percentage’ of Gadsden tires suffering tread separation,” according to the paper.

To read the entire piece, contact www.latimes.com.