New Pressure on Safety Agency
A name-brand tire ad once pointed out that even the most expensive vehicles relied on the common denominator of four small contact areas of rubber on the road. Choosing your tires wisely was the obvious point, but it requires some extraordinary efforts to be an informed consumer these days.
On the heels of the massive Bridgestone/Firestone tire recall over defects now linked to more than 150 deaths worldwide comes a remarkably similar story about certain Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. tires. Once again a federal watchdog agency, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, is being sorely tested on its ability to protect the public in a timely fashion.
Goodyear has been quietly replacing thousands of failed tires--its 16-inch Load Range E--fitted on vans, light trucks and sport-utility vehicles for more than four years. But in most cases it took a tread separation for a consumer to even know there was a safety controversy over these tires. Goodyear also has been replacing its Load Range D 15-inch tires, fitted mainly on recreational vehicles, after RV owners and manufacturers reported widespread tire failures. Many tire owners said it was only after they had experienced repeated tread separations that they learned Goodyear would replace the tires free.
Goodyear acknowledged strengthening its Load Range E tires as early as 1996, after its own data showed what one company official described in court testimony as an alarming rate of tread separation. A voluntary tire recall would remove the need for consumers to be their own safety detectives, but Goodyear has resisted, claiming it found no defects in the tires. The company has blamed a variety of other factors, such as punctures, impact damage, overloading and underinflation, for accidents that caused at least 15 deaths and 125 injuries.
This past week, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said it was stepping up its inquiry into the deaths involving Goodyear’s light-truck tires. That the agency is just now doing this speaks to its broader problems. A tough new auto safety law, recently signed by President Clinton, will allow the NHTSA to hire more investigators. But the agency can’t wait until then to show dramatic improvement in its ability to ferret out product defect information and put pressure on automotive manufacturers.
