Goodyear Questions Washington Post Tire Story
9 October 2000
James C. Whiteley, Vice President Global Process and Product Quality,Goodyear Tire & Rubber CompanyAKRON, 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.