Possible Goodyear G159 tire failure dangers may be entering the light as an Arizona judge ruled in favor of releasing to the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) previously confidential court documents.
The motorhome tires recently attracted the attention of federal safety regulators who opened a formal investigation in January 2018 seeking whether Goodyear has been concealing defects with the G159 tires.
The saga goes back to at least 2003 when 70-year-old LeRoy Haeger was driving his RV equipped with Goodyear G159 tires. A blown tire caused the RV to crash and severely injure Mr. Haeger, requiring 17 surgeries until his death from cancer in 2008.
Also injured in the crash was his wife, son and daughter-in-law, all who claim a defective Goodyear tire was solely to blame.
The resulting lawsuit, Haeger v. Goodyear, was finally settled in 2017, but thousands of documents remained confidential until the Center for Auto Safety intervened and convinced the Arizona judge to make the documents public.
According to CAS, Goodyear has spent years in courts to keep documents confidential, documents CAS says could prove the G159 tires are defective and dangerous.
The motorhome tires are no longer manufactured, but CAS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) believe thousands of tires could still be on the roads. Based on documents released when NHTSA opened its investigation, the agency estimates 40,000 tires could be affected.
Although NHTSA said in January it had been left in the dark about the G159 tires due to court documents that were sealed by request of Goodyear, yesterday the agency sent a 23-page letter to the company requesting specific details about the tires.
Regulators say Goodyear must provide data going back to 1996 about the G159 tires, and in addition must submit information related to the tires Goodyear used to replace the G159 tires.
NHTSA said in January it knew of claims that involved deaths and injuries related to the tires, while Goodyear admitted to knowing about 13 injuries and one death.
CAS says it's time the public knows the truth about the tires because previous lawsuits claim hundreds of crashes are blamed on the tires, yet Goodyear has never recalled the G159 models.
In addition, a federal judge in a 2012 case found Goodyear made “repeated, deliberate decisions" to conceal documents and the company and two of its attorneys outright lied in court.
The Arizona judge ruled the public's right to know about potential safety risks far outweigh Goodyear's alleged need to maintain confidentiality concerning the G159 tires.
"That information -- primarily concerning the tire’s design, its testing, the decision to market it for use on motor homes, and the adjustment data generated by consumer experience with it -- should be made public because it relates to and reveals a substantial potential risk to public health or safety.” - Judge John R. Hannah
Read Judge Hannah's ruling here.