Goodyear G159 tires prone to blowouts

[tmsnyder]

I just looked at a 2000 class A with all 6 tires Goodyear G159.  They look to be original to the coach.  There's something like 100 deaths caused by blowouts of these tires.  They can't dissipate heat fast enough at 65mph plus, especially when under inflated.  The one front tire I looked at was severely dry rotted on the sidewall.  Recently passed a NYS inspection!   

[tmsnyder]

I'm kind of surprised at the lack of info on this forum related to this tire.   A search of G159 here only gets a hit on this one post.  Which leads me to believe that there are a bunch of people on here that haven't heard about this and could be driving around on these tires.   


They were a very common RV tire, more than 40,000 were installed on RVs between 1996 and 2003.


If you have Goodyear G159 tires, which were designed as a low speed, short distance, local delivery tire, and not designed for long distance, highway speed RV travel then you should be interested in this. 


Check for recall here:  https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/tires/recall


Read about the blowouts causing lots of deaths here:  https://autoweek.com/article/recalls/nhtsa-probes-goodyear-tires-may-have-caused-dozens-deaths-or-injuries


Worst tire made in history:  https://jalopnik.com/how-goodyear-hid-evidence-of-the-worst-tire-made-in-his-1822200424


https://jalopnik.com/why-didnt-goodyear-recall-an-rv-tire-thats-linked-to-at-1826608206


"Goodyear’s G159 and a Class-A Motor Home was always a bad match. The tire was designed for urban delivery vehicles and speed-rated for only 65 mile per hour continuous use.  Nonetheless, Goodyear had marketed the G159 to the RV industry for nearly a decade in the 1990s and 2000s, even though the tire design was prone to overheat on RVs that typically travel at greater speeds for extended periods. Goodyear knew it was dangerous for motor homes, but didn’t want lose a market segment. So, in 1998, after speed limits increased nationwide, Goodyear bumped the speed rating of the G159 to 75 miles per hour."


http://www.safetyresearch.net/blog/articles/goodyear-g159-tire-failures-rvs-finally-dragged-public-eye


https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/04/05/goodyear-motorhome-tires-may-have-caused-95-deaths-injuries-government-report-claims/488815002/


Check your tires, if they are G159 then see if they are recalled.  You may end up with a new set of tires.  At a minimum, you'll know what you have and treat them accordingly; keep your speeds low and don't drive them continuously for hours.

[Rickf1985]

2003 was 15 years ago so that may not be why there is much response. Considering most tires that sit go bad in five to seven years all of those tires would be gone by now. I am sure that if that designation is still in use today it has been upgraded to better standards. Have there been failures recently with this tire?


On edit, I just did a quick search and I don't see any for sale that show available but the ones that are still listed show a speed rating of "B". That is 31 MPH. So if buyers do their homework they will realize that this tire is not a true highway tire even though this one was listed as a long haul tire.


https://simpletire.com/goodyear-8.75-r16.5lt-139357359-tires

[tmsnyder]

Well, let's hope that's true. Maybe the 90's RV I looked at, that had 6 of them on it, was an exception and not a rule.