Goodyear recalls defective tires

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is conducting a precautionary customer satisfaction campaign to exchange certain size P215/70R14 tires sold under a variety of names in the United States and Canada. The tires were made from 2003 to 2006 under 23 names of Kelly, associate brand and private label tires including Douglas, Kelly, Mohave and Republic.

The company estimates approximately 400,000 of these tires might still be in use. The tires will be replaced with the Goodyear Regatta II.

"This precautionary campaign is in response to our internal analysis and review of early warning data we monitor on our tires," says Sim Ford, manager of Goodyear's government and customer compliance.

"The company has determined some of these tires have experienced adverse service conditions that have led to a tread separation, and in the interest of customer satisfaction has decided to replace qualifying tires.

"After an exhaustive analysis, no design or manufacturing defect was found in the tire."

The replacement tires were sold through a variety of locations. The tires were predominantly made for application on older-model compact pickup trucks and minivans which mostly were manufactured in the mid-1990s.

A complete list of the private label brand names involved in the program can be seen at Goodyear's Web site, www.goodyear.com.

Consumers can have their tires checked at any Goodyear dealer location, or at their original point of purchase.