— A Goodyear G159 tire failure investigation is over after federal safety regulators announced a Goodyear tire recall should have taken care of the problem.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the investigation into about 40,000 Goodyear G159 tires installed on Class-A motorhomes.
The 1996-2003 Goodyear G159 tires (275/70R22.5) allegedly failed while driving which caused injuries and deaths.
However, NHTSA had trouble knowing the facts because most of the failure claims came from lawsuit settlement agreements sealed by courts.
The government finally got its eyes on the data as the result of a court order authorizing the release of Goodyear records to NHTSA.
In addition to the data from litigation records, 10 customer complaints were filed alleging failures of the Goodyear G159 tires, including two complaints that said the blowouts caused crashes.
Goodyear also submitted nine claims alleging one death and 13 injuries.
According to NHTSA, using the Goodyear G159 tires on motorhomes showed high failure rates.
According to federal safety regulators, Goodyear should have recalled the G159 tires in 2002, but it wasn't until June 2022 that Goodyear finally issued an official recall of G159 tires.
While the investigation included about 40,000 tires, the recall involved all Goodyear G159 275/70R22.5 tires manufactured between February 1, 1996, and January 31, 2003.
This covered the entire period of production for the G159 tires, a factor that caused NHTSA to close its investigation.
