The Controversial Goodyear Tire Some Have Labeled 'The Worst Tire Made In History'

When you hear "worst tire ever made," you probably think of the tread wearing down too fast or cracking sidewalls. But these Goodyear tires have caused at least nine deaths. While the tire was causing accidents for over two decades, it wasn't recalled by Goodyear until 2022.

The Goodyear G159 was aimed at lower-speed delivery vehicles that don't travel over 65 miles per hour. However, Goodyear installed at least 40,000 of them on motorhomes between 1996 and 2003. One of those motorhomes was owned by Billy Wayne Woods, who was paralyzed and later died from injuries sustained in a crash when he was driving down to Florida with his family — the treads had come off one of the G159 tires, causing the vehicle to violently hit two embankments.

The Woods family is one of 41 lawsuits filed against Goodyear over the G159. "You cannot debate the defective nature of the G159," Attorney David Kurtz told Jalopnik. "There's nothing to discuss. It is the worst-performing tire ever made."

The Goodyear G159 was not meant to be on motorhomes, which can reach well above 65 mph on the highway. When the vehicles reach higher speeds, the G159 often experienced heat-induced failure, tread separation, and blow-outs. 

Tires have a temperature rating, which indicates how a tire handles the high temperatures built up from the road. Investigations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that the G159 tires produced temperatures exceeding 200 degrees when the speed reached 50 mph. Continued operation at this heat caused structural deterioration. 

Goodyear didn't conduct high-speed tests on the G159 tires until after it already started selling them — the tires blew out at 75 mph during two different tests, which Goodyear did not release. Instead, Goodyear claims it was user error, stating that blowouts can happen from overload and under-inflation. When 70-year-old LeRoy Haegar lost control of his motorhome after a tire blowout — causing all occupants to suffer serious injuries — Goodyear said in response to a lawsuit that Haegar caused the accident by slamming on the brakes. 

Jalopnik's investigation found nine deaths and 34 injuries linked to crashes involving the Goodyear G159 tire from just a seven-year period. There were over 700 complaints. 

Despite all the tragedies, investigations, and lawsuits surrounding the Goodyear G159 tire, nobody had really ever heard of it. This is due to Goodyear's attempt to cover it all up, according to Jalopnik's investigation. The company was able to until 2022, when the NHTSA opened an investigation. At this point, all the documents were unsealed and published. 

Court documents from 1996 to 2015 show the Goodyear G159 tire being accused of ongoing safety issues. The documents showed a pattern that can't really be denied — the same tire failed at highway speed across 17 brands of motorhomes and 39 different models. Goodyear was claiming all of these instances were caused by user error, but one case finally brought the previously mentioned testing to light.

In 2010, the Schalmo family sued Goodyear when the tread separated on one of their tires and led to a serious crash. As part of the case, the family demanded Goodyear to turn over its test data, which proved the tires were running at 229 degrees — beyond their capacity. And Goodyear knew this. "Goodyear admitted that exposure to prolonged temperatures greater than 200 degrees can lead to separation of the tire's structure," Kurtz wrote in a 2015 court filing. "Exposure above 250 degrees threatens the capability of the tire to stay together much longer." 

There are still Goodyear G159 tires on the road today. You can try to catch these early signs of a tire blowout if you're at risk while driving to get your replacement Goodyear tires from the recall. Want a different brand for your older RV? Michelin is the tire brand with the highest satisfaction rating, with the XRV made specifically for motorhomes.