Goodyear's Lenders Extend Deadline for European Financials

AKRON, Ohio, May 18, 2004 -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced today that the lenders under its principal European credit facility have approved an amendment to extend until June 4 the deadline for Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe BV to submit audited 2003 financial statements.

These financial statements, which have historically been completed by the joint venture after Goodyear's Form 10-K has been filed in the United States, were previously required to be delivered by May 19.

Goodyear has announced that it will report fourth quarter 2003 results and file its 2003 Form 10-K on May 19. The company will hold an investor conference call at 9 a.m. that day. Shareholders, members of the media and other interested persons may access the conference call on the company's investor relations Web site: investor.goodyear.com or via telephone by calling (706) 634-5954 before 8:55 a.m. A taped replay of the conference call will be available at 2 p.m. by calling (706) 634-4556. The call replay will also remain available on the Web site.

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 about 86,000 people worldwide.

Certain information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, without limitation, the ongoing investigation by the SEC regarding Goodyear's accounting restatement, the implementation of the company's plan to improve internal controls, the completion of the audit of the company's 2003 financial statements and the completion of the preparation of its interim financial statements. Additional factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are discussed in the company's Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2002, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2003, and Form 8-K dated Feb. 11, 2004, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our estimates only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward- looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our estimates change.