Another Tire Maker Faces Accusations
Oct. 4 -- Posing new questions about tire safety, a lawsuit accuses a tire maker of withholding damaging documents about its tires after the federal government requested such information in a safety investigation.
Lawyers suing Continental General Tire Inc. on behalf of crash victims link at least 18 deaths to the investigated tires, including several that have occurred since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded the tires were safe in 1993.
The lawyers want the government to determine if the NHTSA was told all it should have been.
They allege Continental General never gave federal investigators damaging documents dealing with the safety of the tires under investigation.
Federal investigators had asked for copies of all complaints, reports andstudies the company had on the tires.
But NHTSA never received word, passed to Continental General by a major tire distributor, of complaints about the tirescoming apart at the tread from 1990 to 1993.
‘Would Have Been a Different Story’
A former NHTSA investigator who is now an auto safety consultant says the documents should have been provided to the government.
“It would have been a different story,” says the former investigator, Mike Brownlee. “The investigations would have continued and they point strongly to a safety-related defect.”
The NHTSA opened itsinvestigation into the tires in March 1993. At that time, the agency had received reports of nine deaths linked to three Continental General tire models — GT52S, Ameri-Way and Ameri-Tech.
The GT52S came installed on 42,000 Ford Broncos. It is unclear how many of the three types of tires are still on the road.
The federal safety agency closed its investigation into the Continental Generaltires in July 1993, after deciding the failure rate on the tires was not out of line with expectations.
Dealer Passed Along Complaints
However, Big O Tires, a major distributor based in Colorado, hadpassed along complaints to General Tire, according todocuments filed in a Georgia lawsuit. Federal investigators were unaware of the complaints.
Related Stories
ABC News Live