Hundreds of accidents and dozens of injuries and deaths: American tyre giant Goodyear has been accused of avoiding a recall of defective tyres manufactured in Luxembourg, despite being aware of their defects.
French newspaper Le Monde launched recent investigation entitled "the Goodyear affair."
The Le Monde investigation has made damning allegations against Goodyear accusing the firm of failing to protect the safety of their customers in order to protect their image. According to the investigation, Goodyear failed to organise an emergency recall of their defective tyres, despite alarming expert reports and a series of accidents with cars equipped with Goodyear tyres manufactured in Luxembourg. Goodyear did not take the defects as seriously as they should have as they only organised a voluntary tyre exchange programme.
The investigating journalists at Le Monde used Goodyear's internal documents, which reveal that the company sought to avoid an official recall in order to prevent any media backlash and to protect the company's reputation. They also assured truck manufacturers and tyre retailers that there were no safety concerns with the tyres, as shown by documents verified by RTL. The tyres were said to only burst under specific conditions, such as extreme heat or insufficient inflation.
Goodyear's exchange programme began in Spain in 2013 after accidents started to occur, gradually expanding across Europe and Asia. The programme extended across four tyre models and ran until 2016. The tyre model with the most problems was the Marathon LHS II+ model in the size 385/65 R22.5. Moreover, the exchange programme was not just for tyres that were produced at the time but also for the tyre models produced as far back as four years ago that were causing issues.
According to Le Monde, an expert report dating back to October 2014 investigated a fatal accident occurring during the summer of the same year, pinpointing the tyre's construction flaw as the primary cause. Notably, Goodyear was consulted on this report, which was made two years before the conclusion of the exchange programme. The tyres involved in the fatal summer 2014 accident, which claimed a father's life, qualified for Goodyear's voluntary exchange programme.
Le Monde claims that Goodyear was aware of the severity of the reports but chose to not take the necessary steps in preventing further accidents. Goodyear continued the exchange programme on a voluntary basis rather than mandating an official recall. This contrasts how other tyre manufacturers such as Continental have handled similar situations. In 2015, Continental organised an official truck tyre recall as can be verified through the European Commission's Safety Gate.
What Goodyear did do, however, is internally document accidents and the amount of compensation they would have to pay for material damage or injuries and fatalities. According to a document verified by RTL, Goodyear tyres were linked to approximately 247 significant incidents from 2013 to 2017 in Spain, France, and the Netherlands. For the fatal accident in 2014, Goodyear reportedly designated nearly €1 million for liability expenses and provisioned €10 million for compensation purposes.
The Prosecutor's Office of Besançon has repatriated a series of accident cases linked to Goodyear. Currently, there are two ongoing judicial investigations for involuntary manslaughter, but an indictment is still pending. For the moment, the prosecutor declined to comment upon RTL's request. Goodyear declined to grant an interview to RTL and also declined to answer any further questions. However, the company's communications department provided the following statement:
"Nothing is more important to Goodyear than the safety and quality of its products and the people who use them.
Ten years ago, following customer feedback, Goodyear took the initiative to launch an exchange programme for certain categories of heavy-duty tyres that were being sold at that time. This program was implemented rigorously and transparently, in coordination with the competent authorities, to exchange as many tyres as possible.
Goodyear wishes to clarify that none of its latest generation product lines were part of the above-mentioned exchange programme implemented ten years ago."
