Goodyear Hid Evidence of 'The Worst Tire in History' Linked to at Least 9 Deaths
jalopnik.com
jalopnik.com
Of course, there's a simpler answer: because they think it will be profitable. The aggressive settlements described in the article might even have been a part of the original calculations in just how much money could be made.
That seems like an unwarranted assumption rooted in confirmation bias. It seems like everyone gets caught... because everyone we know about gets caught. There could be legions of cases like this that we never find out about.
I'd say it's rooted in statistics:
1. Take this tire. If you know that there's a high chance it will blow up, then ... the more you sell, the more tires blow up in the wild; the more tires that blow up, the more injured & dead. The more injured & dead - the more likely you are to get caught. The end-to-end equation is "the more tires you sell, the worse your chances to get away with it".
2. Dieselgate: it's different, in that nothing "blows up". But still, the more cars you put on the road, the higher the chance one owner/mechanic will notice it. Maybe your "chance of detection" doesn't increase dramatically with the success of the product (though it definitely does increase), but the impact of it being detected increases linearly with the number of cars sold! This is still a very bad equation, since VW had zero deniability - once the cheat was detected in one car, it could be easily reproduced in all.
It just doesn't seem to work out, from a risk-benefit perspective. Maybe only if you're looking very short term?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/20/european...
VW was surprised by the American response, since they simply did not expect the law to be enforced (they were apparently unaware of a similar diesel scandal that occurred with US truck manufacturers in the 90’s).
Source: Faster, Higher, Farther: The Inside Story of the Volkswagen Scandal Book by Jack Ewing
In this case the outcome was pretty straightforward. Tires were literally coming apart at the seams. I'd wager that oftentimes product failures are less obvious. Maybe a certain tire exhibits unexpected sliding on certain types of pothole filler. We probably identify 0% of product failures that don't follow a human recognizable pattern.
Some of these accounts probably unfold according to a "Breaking Bad" progression. Skylar never would have gotten involved in criminal activity except that her husband was already knee deep in it when she found out. A great deal of her rationale was keeping someone else from getting in trouble.
For example if 1,000,000 tires with a %1 failure rate were sold and each claim costs 1mm, the break-even on litigating to seal evidence would be 1bn.
So the product is already out there, it will be discontinued eventually anyway, and aggressive litigation in a small number of cases is cheaper then painting a bullseye on your back with a recall. Makes sense to me.
For the company, these kinds of systemic failures are unquestionably bad.
For the specific employees making each decision, this might have been the utility-maximizing choice. All they need to do is to keep the wheels rolling (sorry) and profit coming in until they are out.
No amount of punishing the company can fix this. In order to fix the problem, prosecutors need to go after the individuals who made the calls.
As an aside: A good number of people in Europe will apparently prematurely die as a result of their actions, so if nothing else, it will be incredibly difficult for many of these guilty employees to justify their actions even to themselves.
The US's approach to secrecy is... a mess.
In the US, do passengers in them have to wear seat belts? And do the vehicles undergo crash testing to the same standards as conventional truck cabs?
RV construction varies quite a bit from truck chassis to motor coach conversions.
There are lots of accident scenarios, but when it comes to crashing with other vehicles, RVs do have mass on their side. Mine is 10 tons. Passenger cars don't scare me. I don't want to have a tire blowout. I don't want to roll it. I don't want to tangle with tractor trailers. These things would go poorly.
Im surprised they don't have a rigid frame / internal roll bars etc. I suppose there's so much weight in the vehicle already it's just additional mass.
Your comment about passenger cars not scaring you made me laugh however... I drive a mx5/miata everywhere.. Literally every other vehicle on the road scares me, and I have a full roll cage :P
0.2% of these tyres have failed. I can completely believe that far more than 0.2% of tyres are driven overspeed, underinflated or overloaded in their lifetime.
I can't really blame a tyre company for making a tyre which fails when used outside it's advertised specifications.
Doesn't seem like there was much margin in the design. How was this even allowed to be sold?
https://www.caranddriver.com/columns/a-look-behind-the-tire-...
>How hot does the tire get? Typical tires experience a temperature increase of roughly 50 degrees after running on the highway for a half-hour. If it's a 70-degree day, this suggests a tire temperature of about 120 degrees.
So even at 120 degree weather, you'd only expect the tires to reach 170 degrees. That's still far below the 194 that they're rated for.
Most I find are like this [1], which would allow a max road surface temp at 100F air temp at the equator with the sun directly overhead on a perfectly clear day to reach around 148F. (see equation 17 in the paper).
The rest of the literature I have found is similar. I doubt roads in the US south reach 175, and likely not even 150.
[1] http://www.ijirae.com/volumes/Vol2/iss8/01.AUAE10083.pdf
>Dr Howard Robinson, chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association, says most roads in the UK that experience a reasonable amount of traffic will start softening at 50C.
>[...]
>And dark road material can absorb a lot of heat. The typical summer ground temperature is higher than air temperature. Robinson says roads "regularly" reach a temperature of 50C and above. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23315384) //
50 deg C is 122F; but this is UK with air temps of ~30 deg C
The OP claimed 150-175 is common on a 100 degree day. No research I can find (except one single author) is anywhere near that amount.
[0]https://gizmodo.com/5807171/phoenixs-emerald-colored-cool-pa...
Given the all time high temp in Phoenix was 122F [1], I suspect this article is playing loose with the facts implying this temperature is a common occurrence, casting more doubt on the accuracy of the 170 claim. From a quick search, only two months in history recorded temperatures above 120, while the article implies this is common. It is not.
So yes, you can find people (like the above) stating these temps without attribution. I've not found anything in academic research with temperatures anywhere near that high, and there is a lot of papers on exactly this topic, with plenty comparing models to actual measured temps. I've been unable to find anything empirical in such papers near these claims.
I'm beginning to think these numbers are more folklore than fact.
[1] http://www.intellicast.com/local/history.aspx?location=USAZ0...
The road wasn't even blacktop, it was "tar and chip", which is much lighter in color and tends to absorb less heat than pure blacktop asphalt.
You don't need sports-car maneuverability on big, fairly light-traffic interstates.
From San Antonio to El Paso interstate 10 is 550 miles of extremely smooth, well designed divided highway with speed limits of 80 mph for much of the way. There is almost nothing of interest between those two points, esp. if your trip objective is somewhere west.
You'd be insane to not run at the maximum safe speed of your vehicle.
Many RV trailer tires are only rated to 65 mph, although there are some 80 mph rated ones becoming common because people are so tempted to gain back those extra hours of travel time slowing to 65 involves.
The maximum safe speed varies according to conditions, of course, but it is the actual maximum safe speed. By definition you can drive at maximum safe speed all day long with only the usually accepted risk of vehicular travel.
I've driven at high speeds, too, but only in a car with tires rated for high speed. I have an old Ford truck, and I never drive it over 60.
If you're going to drive fast, it's your responsibility to ensure your vehicle is in shape for it, with tires and brakes are in excellent condition and properly rated for the conditions.
I mentioned earlier that I was getting my hangar queen back on the road, and without question that means the brake system / suspension is getting thoroughly overhauled, and brand new tires. (Tires can look brand new, but they age and deteriorate and get unsafe.)
Of course, that's silly (but you know there will be moralizers ready to say that, often the sort who wouldn't yield the passing lane to speeders). First, we have highways with higher speed limits anyways (up to 85mph in the U.S.). Second, people speed -- our highways and cars are generally designed to tolerate much higher speeds. I have seen caravans of cars drive up the NJ turnpike at speeds in excess of 130mph.
http://www.rubbernews.com/article/19960812/ISSUE/308129970/t...
I might have thought that the Firestone 500 was "The Worst Tire in History."
Also I'm inclined to believe that many owners didn't inflate them properly. A high load range tire will have a much higher pressure than passenger car owners are accustomed to. Most people just inflate their tires to about 30PSI and that's generally fine for a passenger car.
Most consumer tire pumps or inflators would probably have difficulty getting to the proper pressure which can be twice that more than a normal passenger car tire.
Goodyear apparently marketed it to the RV industry:
In a lawsuit filed later against Goodyear, the Woods family accused the company of selling a defective tire that had been marketed to recreational motorhome makers, even though it knew the G159 couldn’t handle highway speeds when equipped on an RV.
What's not clear is whether or not the speed rating was known.
So to shift the volume of air needed to get your car tyre to 60psi you're going to be looking at c. 10 times the duration of pumping as getting a bike tyre to 125psi. If it's a racing tyre and an SUV tyre the duration multiplier would probably be much higher.
Every dealer who provides RVs to consumers does a pre-delivery inspection walkthrough covering proper operation of all the systems. Tires, their safety implications, how to read pressure, what proper pressure is, what kind of guages and inflators are needed are all quite prominent in those briefings.
This is not to say that owners aren't negligent about inflation pressure, in fact too many are. That's why it is covered so extensively. But it's negligence and plain old bone-headedness, not lack of information that is to blame for those who run with improper inflation.
No crash testing, no air bags, questionable electrical wiring for a moving vehicle. Flexible propane gas line running into moving slide systems.
I have a modern class A which I love, but its built like a 70's automobile, some real head scratching engineering decisions, some of which I have fixed.
If you get into RVing especially the larger ones the tire issue is one you worry about and see talked about constantly.
The article touched on it some in talking about how Goodyear defended themselves in the suit, and some of it is valid.
RV's tend to sit for long periods of time unused, this causes all sorts of issues including the tires. RV tire almost always age out rather than wear out. You should be replacing them at 7 years and they will have plenty of tread when you do. Many RV's are traveling around with 10 year old tires that the owners wont replace because they are very expensive and the tread look fine. There is some debate on if the sitting flat spots them that also contributes to failure issues. They also also typically have sidewall cracking due to long term UV exposure and sitting without flexing.
Large RV tires are very sensitive to weight and inflation pressure, much more so than any car I have ever owned. Large vehicles seem to be generally closer to failure limits on all components involved. A under inflated tire seems to be a common cause of blowouts. Again due to sitting for long periods, many will go to take a trip and not bother to check the tire pressure before leaving. Also very few large RV's have TPMS systems, there is a large industry of after market TPMS for RV's that pretty much every recommends you should purchase one of. TPMS should be required by law as I believe they are on cars now. My RV requires at least 82 psi minimum, I run 90 and make sure its maintained.
The article mentions the G159's where only rated for 65 mph, a little low, most RV tires including mine are only rated for 70mph. I drive my RV at 65 and below and stay in the rightmost lane except in a very rare passing circumstance. Driving above 65 and especially 70 mph is a menace IMO and I have seen it plenty of times with a large class A passing everyone in the left lane towing a car. There was a video that was going around the RV site not long ago showing a bad blowout of someone doing that [1].
There is a whole aftermarket of parts designed to make RV's safer in a blowout, a popular one is safe-t-plus [2], because if you do have a front blowout like that video RV's are very difficult to control due to the weight shift forward. It is actually recommended to not hit your brake but accelerate slightly to stay in control and prevent the brake dive, then slowly come to a stop. Hard to remember in that situation.
RV overloading is pretty common too. Many people don't understand the gross weight ratings and many RV's are built with so many features and heavy materials that there have actually been cases of them being over the weight rating if you fill them with gas and have two people on board. My RV has 2500 lbs of carry capacity with a full fuel tank and 5000 lbs of towing. If I fill the water tank that's 600 lbs off the carry capacity, then people and gear. Its recommend to go on a scale and weigh after loaded up to make sure your within your limits. I tow a 4500 lbs Jeep, again many don't pay attention to tow rating and tow their full size pickup weighing 6000 lbs plus a 1000 lb golf cart in the bed.
Bottom line the Goodyear was under specced but RV's are not like cars but many people treat them the same, no training is required to drive one unlike a large semi or bus. They really need to be regulated for crash safety and tpms. More headroom is needed in design such as tire speed rating and chassis weight ratings or perhaps more training required to operate them.
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LkLeljt4t0 2. http://www.safe-t-plus.com/
> Those numbers are almost certainly higher in reality: in court, Goodyear admitted it has received at least 98 injury and/or death claims over the tire.