By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. auto safety agency and Goodyear Tire & Rubber sparred for months over whether the Ohio-based company should recall tires used on motor homes that have not been produced in nearly two decades.

Goodyear, under pressure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA), announced Tuesday that it will recall 173,000 G159 tires 275/70R22.5. tire used in recreational vehicles due to the possibility of tread separations that could cause catastrophic damage.

NHTSA opened an investigation first in December 2017. Goodyear was then asked to issue a recall on February. Goodyear argued that G159 tires were more susceptible to failures and occurred “relatively early in their service life.”

NHTSA February statement: It appeared Goodyear

(As of early 2002, the tires were still in good condition).

They were still in production, but they did not file for a recall.”

Goodyear replied to NHTSA with a March 19-page document. Goodyear claimed that its tires weren’t defective. Goodyear asked whether any of the tires remain in service and said no.

Goodyear claimed it wasn’t true that the tires had failed sooner than other ones, and NHTSA sent a letter to clarify a misinterpretation of the underlying data.

However, the manufacturer of tires said Tuesday that it accepted the recall to “resolve concerns that certain tires might still be on the marketplace or used”, but didn’t admit they were defective.

Goodyear stated that the RV manufacturer has “the primary role” of “recalling their vehicle to account for misuse”. Goodyear claimed that NHTSA tried to place responsibility for Goodyear’s recall of the tires, a departure from more than 20 years of experience.On Tuesday, the NHTSA urged all owners to make sure that the recalled tires were not used due to safety concerns.

NHTSA stated that G159 tires defects are “at the heart of 41 lawsuits” that involved 98 deaths or injuries between 1999 and 2016. Goodyear stated that NHTSA overestimated how many incidents were alleged.

NHTSA claimed that Goodyear regularly obtained court orders prohibiting disclosure of tire information found in lawsuits. Goodyear stated that the agency could not reasonably claim to be unaware of any incidents related to the tire prior 2017 and cited fatal incident reports from NHTSA.