Why aren't more RV tires recalled?

[Tireman9]

I have seen this question on an RV forum. It was asked by someone complaining that there were no recalls of what he considered "crappy" RV tires. Other posts in the thread went on to say that complaints to the BBB or the tire importer won't accomplish much. I posted a reply pointing out that expecting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), that is part of DOT, to recall tires when there had not been sufficient, usable complaints filed, was simply unrealistic.
NHTSA is the government agency charged with the responsibility of writing and enforcing the regulations necessary to achieve improved safety of vehicle systems and equipment. However they cannot order or even suggest that a vehicle or component be recalled without facts and data being collected and analyzed.

A while ago I worked with a reader of my RV Tire blog, John B., who understood the necessity of providing the information NHTSA needs. He had suffered three tire failures. Luckily he discovered the failures before the tires had complete detachments. In his case there was no loss of air and no flailing of tire pieces. What he did have was a tire that was no longer round or having a uniform tread contour.

Now lets be sure we all have the same understanding of the terms. In this case a "Detachment" would be when a part of the tread or tread & belt package came apart from the rest of the tire. This type of failure can result in damage to the RV as pieces flail around hitting fenders and the side and undercarriage of the RV.

John wanted to file a complaint with NHTSA and he wanted to be sure his complaints would be useful to the engineers. He understood that partial or incorrect information would result in no investigation and with no investigation there was no possibility of any action being taken to remove "crappy" tires from use. So John contact me and I walked him through the process of collecting all the details needed. He also wanted to dissect his tire so he could ship the important parts to me for further examination.


When I received the sample I first cut the tread in the locations John had identified but found no serious issues.

I then called upon my 40 years of experience and took the time needed to closely examine and take measurements with special tools to identify a location that was more probably of interest. After cutting the section at the location of interest and found the separation between the belts that was almost all the way across. This separation allowed the tread area to bulge out to the shape seen in the picture of the tire at the top of this post.
For those interested these tires were not made in China as we decoded the serial and learned they were made in Mexico.

With the physical examination complete, John was able to file the three complaints with NHTSA. Now it is important to remember that NHTSA has budget constraints so investigations need to be prioritized. Obvious defects that result in physical injury would receive top priority. Also a single or small number of complaints will be of lower priority than a large number so if the only complaints NHTSA receives on these tires are the three from John there may not be any action. The same situation would apply to any complaint you might file BUT it is important to remember that if the majority of people with tire problems only post to RV forums or grouse to others around the campfire nothing will ever happen or result in the quality of tires improving.

A quick review of the complaint on file with NHTSA will show that the majority are of little or no value to NHTSA as the owner didn't provide the crucial information of a correct and complete DOT serial. Many complaints don't even provide the tire size or even the correct tire brand. I believe that if people spent half the time they do on RV forums but provided complete and accurate information to NHTSA we might all end up with better quality tires on our RVs.


BOTTOM LINE
If you have a tire problem you need to collect the facts - Size, Brand, DOT serial and collect some good sharp pictures in case NHTSA needs them. Then make the effort to file a complaint. Who knows, you might just be able to grab the interest of the engineers and have an investigation started.

[TandW]

Heat damage from overweight condition?

[Old-Biscuit]

Nineteen years after the last one was made, Goodyear has agreed to recall more than 173,000 recreational vehicle tires that the US government says can fail and have killed or injured 95 people since 1998.

Goodyear’s G159 tires have been under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since December 2017.


Doesn't exactly bode confidence.

[TandW]

Betting 9 out 10 daily drivers aren't overweight. But on this board there are incessantly frequent pleadings from noobs and others who should know better about how much can they carry and should they carry up to the limit and even should they worry about going over the limit, with vehicles that are purposely built competitively to specs that don't allow the overloading that all that unused space allows. There is a lot of bad advice here to start with. And the manufacturers need to stop scrimping on those things known to commonly fail.
RVers need to stop overloading their rigs.

[rffowler55]

Along with substandard manufacturing and nominal quality control issues from certain manufacturer's, I would imagine part of the problem is that individuals have tires installed that do not have an adequate load rating for their coach or trailer. If the tires sidewall cannot support the weight the tire is going to overheat even if you have the coach within the targeted axle weight limits. To be safe I always go at least 1 load rating higher than what the maximum coach weight should dictate is necessary.

[johnhicks]

Weren't those Goodyears used inappropriately to their designed use? I believe they were designated 62mph/delivery.

[Kid Gloves]

Originally Posted by TandW

Betting 9 out 10 daily drivers aren't overweight. But on this board there are incessantly frequent pleadings from noobs and others who should know better about how much can they carry and should they carry up to the limit and even should they worry about going over the limit, with vehicles that are purposely built competitively to specs that don't allow the overloading that all that unused space allows. There is a lot of bad advice here to start with. And the manufacturers need to stop scrimping on those things known to commonly fail.
RVers need to stop overloading their rigs.

By “daily drivers” do you mean the family grocery getter?

We’re talking RV tires. It’s been widely reported that when folks plop their pride and joy on a scale, somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% are overweight on at least one limit or rating.

The challenge we face when encouraging others to operate their vehicle within the limits provided by the manufacturer, is that in almost every case, nothing fails when those limits are exceeded. And boy do we hear about it. So, people keep pushing those limits.

Like almost everything in life, it works great until it doesn’t.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Kid Gloves

By “daily drivers” do you mean the family grocery getter?

We’re talking RV tires. It’s been widely reported that when folks plop their pride and joy on a scale, somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% are overweight on at least one limit or rating.

The challenge we face when encouraging others to operate their vehicle within the limits provided by the manufacturer, is that in almost every case, nothing fails when those limits are exceeded. And boy do we hear about it. So, people keep pushing those limits.

Like almost everything in life, it works great until it doesn’t.

I agree, close to 80% of all tire failures are the result of underinflation/overloading.
reference: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api...ication/811617
https://www.ustires.org/ustireassoc-...-your-pressure

[geordi]

As I remember it (and it's been 19 years since they were last made, so ALL of them are far beyond safe age limits anyway)... Yes, they were classed as regional / city delivery and NOT for long duration highway use. They were also very close to their limits before a single customer item was added to the coach above them, so invariably with lower pressures specified or the slightest owner inattention, they would be underpressure, overweight, and accumulating excessive heat from flexing. That's a guaranteed recipe for failure.

My coach originally came with 275/75/22.5 (Not Goodyear) Load Range G tires, which puts them perilously close to the measured axle weights I got when I bought it. I have since stepped up to 295/75 and still some G load range, but I also have an H Continental that I'm very happy with and plan to look for more of those when I need more tires in the future. Since increasing the size and carrying capacity, I now have over 2000 lbs of safety factor in the carrying capacity per axle and the tire temperatures barely move over ambient. I could probably run them at a lower pressure, but I'm OK with it for the moment.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by geordi

As I remember it (and it's been 19 years since they were last made, so ALL of them are far beyond safe age limits anyway)... Yes, they were classed as regional / city delivery and NOT for long duration highway use. They were also very close to their limits before a single customer item was added to the coach above them, so invariably with lower pressures specified or the slightest owner inattention, they would be underpressure, overweight, and accumulating excessive heat from flexing. That's a guaranteed recipe for failure.

Exactly my point
NHTSA didn't even open an investigation until 2017.....14 yrs after last production of the tires in question ---none of which should still be in use in 2017

Goodyear ignored the issue...just paid off with settlements


"Hello, I'm from the Government and I'm here to help"

[Kid Gloves]

Obviously, they needed some additional time to present more data to the engineers.

[geordi]

Thing is - there were HUNDREDS of failure reports about them, and multiple deaths and injury reports. NHTSA did jack squat. They aren't the investigative body that anyone thinks they are, clearly.

[Ray,IN]

Just enter your TIN for each tire you have here:

https://recallinfo.ustires.org/

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by TandW

Betting 9 out 10 daily drivers aren't overweight. But on this board there are incessantly frequent pleadings from noobs and others who should know better about how much can they carry and should they carry up to the limit and even should they worry about going over the limit, with vehicles that are purposely built competitively to specs that don't allow the overloading that all that unused space allows. There is a lot of bad advice here to start with. And the manufacturers need to stop scrimping on those things known to commonly fail.
RVers need to stop overloading their rigs.

Agree with 9 of 10 but most cars have a 20 to 30% Reserve load while a majority (over 50%) of RV are overweight with those that are not overweight having less than 10% reserve load.