October 26, 2000
BY MARK SKERTIC STAFF REPORTER
In 1996--faced with the same problem that would force a massive recall by Firestone--Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. changed the way it made some tires.
The company added a layer of nylon between the rubber tread and steel belts on some light truck tires, a step that Goodyear said made the tires "robust."
The problems with some Goodyear models give more evidence to critics who contend the problem with faulty tires is not limited to Firestone. That tire maker voluntarily recalled 6.5 million tires in August.
Although Goodyear changed the way it built the tires, it never recalled the millions of older versions still on the road. They include the Wrangler AT and HT models, as well as other 16-inch Load Range E tires.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it knew of 58 complaints involving the Goodyear tires. The complaints were received from January 1998 until the present.
Goodyear tires have been blamed for at least eight deaths, according to court documents. Each accident involved tread separation--where the rubber tread peels away from the steel belts beneath.
The same problem has plagued some other tire makers, and led to Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.'s recall of three tire models in August. The Firestones, which came as standard equipment on the best-selling Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle, were blamed for more than 100 deaths and 500 injuries.
Goodyear's problems with tread separation were first reported Wednesday by The Los Angeles Times. That same day, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Arizona officials in May ordered removal of a line of Continental General Tires from state cars because of tread-separation problems.
Also, last month, Continental General announced it would replace 160,000 tires on 1998 and 1999 Lincoln Navigators because of tread separation.
Adding nylon is an inexpensive way of making tires more durable, experts say. The nylon, which costs less than $1, tugs in the steel belt edges, lessening the chance of separation.
"It doesn't prevent tread separation," but makes it less likely, said Goodyear spokesman Chuck Sinclair. He called it "one of the tools" engineers have when designing a tire.
There have been 30 lawsuits brought against Goodyear for injuries or fatalities blamed on the tires, Sinclair said. In each case, evidence has shown a problem such as a puncture or running a tire under-inflated was to blame for the tread separation, not faulty tire construction, he said.
But lawyers representing people who have been hurt or killed in accidents say it's sometimes impossible to know whether the way a tire is made is a problem, because manufacturers refuse to provide information.
"They tell you one thing in a case in California, and take a different position in a case on the East Coast and hope you don't find out," said Adam K. Shea, an attorney in Santa Monica, Calif. His firm has brought cases against Goodyear alleging problems with light truck tires.
Next week in New Jersey, Shea and attorney Christine Spagnoli will argue that Goodyear should release 33 documents detailing internal analysis of the tires.
"They're concealing from the public hazards they don't want the public to know and that they haven't told the government," Shea said.
Goodyear's Sinclair disputed that claim, arguing that business reasons necessitate keeping some information secret. "Whether they want to believe it or not, as the world's largest tire maker we do have proprietary information in there," he said.
Federal investigators and lawyers suing tire makers have complained for years that the manufacturers make it difficult to know where they have been sued and what complaints have been brought against them.
Earlier this month, Congress passed a series of reforms in response to the Firestone problem intended to force tire and other auto parts makers to provide more information. But restrictions in the legislation, which President Clinton has said he will sign, will prevent much of that information from becoming public.
Also Wednesday, a federal panel of judges ruled that 53 federal lawsuits against Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford will be combined for pretrial evidence gathering.
Chief Judge Sarah Evans Barker of the Southern District of Indiana will oversee the pretrial proceedings. The cases will ultimately be tried where they were filed.