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The Goodyear G159 275/70 has been the source of major controversy as of late. The tires, made for recreational vehicles, have been exploding and industry experts are warning consumers of the dangers of their continued use. Goodyear has only had a limited recall on the tires and has said that it thinks the problem lies with consumers over or under inflating the tires – a comment that has angered many owners.

Rick Morrison, an attorney who specializes in product liability from Montgomery, Alabama, is one of the tire’s biggest critics. Morrison explained, “Goodyear started marketing the tire, model G159 275/70, in 1995/6 and it was being sold for larger, Class A recreational vehicles. Shortly thereafter, they started having problems with the tire. They had problems with de-treads where the tire simply falls apart. Once the tread failure occurred, you were driving a vehicle that weighs 33,000 pounds at highway speeds. Sometimes, you don’t have the stability problems like an SUV, but once you have a de-tread, it’s going to become very difficult to control and often this has led to loss of control and unfortunately, a lot of serious injuries and death in too many instances.”

No warning signs

Unfortunately for consumers, there are no warning signs. Many owners have reported tires simply exploding as they drove their RVs down the highway. Morrison confirmed that there really are no signs for consumers to be aware. “There are no signs. In fact, some of the problems with the 275/70 is that the failures were occurring within 2,000 miles of use. They were occurring almost immediately. You’re talking about a tire that’s designed for 200,000 miles of use, so there are no signs whatsoever.

Of course you need to always make sure your tires are inflated properly. You need to always make sure you check your tires. You need to make sure you balance your tires. But there is no way a consumer could ever tell that this tire is defective. I’m an attorney who does a lot of this work and I need to consult with an engineer to get their help in identifying the specific defect as well so there’s no way you can tell.”