After several fatal accidents in France and the “pugnacity”--to use the the words of the Besançon public prosecutor--of Sophie Rollet, the widow of a lorry driver who died in July 2014 in an accident on the A36 motorway in the Doubs department, an investigation into manslaughter is underway after lorry tyres burst and caused these accidents.

“An examining magistrate in Besançon has since been investigating three cases of fatal collisions involving HGVs [heavy goods vehicles] fitted with Goodyear tyres, which killed a total of four people. In May 2024, the investigation led to searches at Goodyear sites in France, Luxembourg and the company's European headquarters in Brussels,” explains the AFP news agency. For each of these cases, “different experts concluded that the burst tyres were not due to an external cause but to a manufacturing defect.”

Potential “involuntary manslaughter” and “deception”

As the tyres in question were manufactured by Luxembourg-headquartered Goodyear Operations, the company has been summoned, along with SAS Goodyear France--the distributor of the tyres in France--as a legal entity, to appear before the examining magistrate in Besançon on 13 May. The outcome could be a possible indictment for “involuntary manslaughter” and “deception.”

“The American giant is accused of having been aware of a manufacturing defect in its tyres but not having warned its customers,” AFP adds.

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