09.05.2018 07:14 AM

Tire-gate: I feel like I’m a character in a John Grisham novel

You have all heard about my, er, involuntarily near-retirement by now. Corus Radio has reported on it, the Hill Times is about to, and last night there was this national Sean O’Shea Global TV report:


On social media, Sean has reported that he has heard from Goodyear employees who allege the company is compromising safety to save on costs. Sean and Global are pursuing those leads, I am told.

And, this morning, the dogged TV veteran has found this:

DETROIT—The U.S. government’s road safety agency says it has received allegations that defective Goodyear motor home tires caused crashes that killed or injured 95 people during the past two decades.

The allegations were revealed in an information-seeking letter dated Tuesday that was sent to Goodyear by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency began investigating whether the company’s G159 tires are unsafe last year after a judge ordered the release of Goodyear data that had been sealed under court orders and settlement agreements.

Yikes. Makes me feel lucky to be alive.

So, later this morning, I’m getting the tire checked out by an expert, to try and determine the cause. And I’ve retained a lawyer to see what else can be done.  We need to ensure what happened to me doesn’t happen to someone else, among other things.

I usually need a fight to keep myself feeling alive. This is my new fight.

8 Comments

  1. Ryan H says:

    Not to take away the great work by Sean O’Shea, but the website Jalopnik has been doing really great original reporting on the Goodyear for quite a while now

    https://jalopnik.com/tag/goodyear-g159

  2. doconnor says:

    This could be bigger news then when we found out out that actor needed to take a second job to make ends meet.

  3. Robert White says:

    When Goodyear BIG Law litigators realize who they sold a defective tire to they will instantly opt to ‘settle out-of-court’ without any equivocation whatsoever.

    TireGate is a slam dunk knockout punch, Warren.

    P.S. I’m presently researching Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Six Sigma Crash event of the Ontario Provincial Police population via the three recent suicides of OPP Police Officers that were on Long Term Disability. Whilst researching the daily grind of First Responder Police Officers I came across a Fleet Vehicle Carbon Monoxide Poisoning of Dallas Texas Police Department officers. The recall from Ford on police service vehicles is massive and the Dallas Police Department has to replace a whole fleet of police cars that Ford sold them. Not only are parts defective off the assembly line but whole vehicles are deemed unsafe due to Carbon Monoxide leaking into the cabin of these fleet vehicles. In brief, First Responders are ‘at risk’ due to the poor Quality Control during the manufacturing process.

    RW

  4. Vaughan Hines says:

    The car site Jalopnik has been reporting on this for some time.

    Long reads, full of journalist and lawyerly intrigue:

    “How Goodyear Destroyed the Alleged Smoking Gun on the ‘worst tire made in history'” https://jalopnik.com/how-goodyear-destroyed-the-alleged-smoking-gun-on-the-w-1823155947

    and “Goodyear Know of Dangerous RV Tire Failures for over 20 years: Court Docs” https://jalopnik.com/goodyear-knew-of-dangerous-rv-tire-failures-for-over-20-1824997252

  5. Sam says:

    I bought a new truck that has Goodyears on it, first thing I usually do is put a set of Michelins on a vehicle when I get it, but haven’t got around to it yet with this one. They’re noisy and shitty riding and I’m getting rid of them asap.

    I worked at a gas station / tire shop as a high school student. It was also a Michelin dealer, and I mounted & balanced all brands. I still buy Michelin 40+ years later. There’s lots of other good rubber out there though, like Bridgestone, Nokian, Hankook etc.

    I’ve only actually bought Goodyears once, about 25 years ago when I had a bad flat that ruined a tire so I decided to get a full set, local dealer in new town I was living gave me a good deal on Goodyears so I gave them a try.

    Never again, they were so out of round in a year they would not balance, and this was their “best” light truck tire.

    I wouldn’t buy a Goodyear tire for my wheelbarrow now.

    • Fred from BC says:

      Me too. Michelins for summer, and Nokians for the winter (now replaced by Pirellis after damaging one of the Nokians).

      You can’t go wrong with quality tires, and two sets of rims is a necessity as well in my mind.

      • Sam says:

        I ran Michelin performance XVS-P on my hotrodded VW Beetle and XWX on my Porsche back in the 70’s. Then I ran some Pirelli P6 tires on my Scirocco, they stuck like glue on the corners but I had tread separation on 3 out of 4 of them at about 50% wear so I went back to Michelins.

        In those days the Pirelli P7 was THE tire to have if you had a sports car..

  6. Sam says:

    I ran Michelin performance XVS-P on my hotrodded VW Beetle and XWX on my Porsche back in the 70’s. Then I ran some Pirelli P6 tires on my Scirocco, they stuck like glue on the corners but I had tread separation on 3 out of 4 of them at about 50% wear so I went back to Michelins.

    In those days the Pirelli P7 was THE tire to have if you had a sports car..

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