Broadcaster Arte releases documentary “Sophie Rollet Takes On Goodyear”

Earlier this month, European broadcaster Arte screened a documentary about a series of accidents involving heavy trucks. Titled ‘Sophie Rollet Takes On Goodyear’, the French documentary looks at the possible connection between these accidents and tyre failure. It is available to watch with English subtitles in the Arte archive.

Sophie Rollet is the widow of a French truck driver who died in an accident in July 2014 when a truck heading in the other direction crossed the central reservation after experiencing a steer axle tyre blowout. In an attempt to come to terms with the loss of her husband, Rollet closely followed the investigation into the accident and began to research similar cases online. Eventually she came across an apparent pattern – trucks fitted with Goodyear Marathon tyres.

She brought a lawyer specialising in traffic law into her research and was undeterred when the public prosecutor’s office closed the case in 2015 and also by people who disapproved of her persistent search for clues, including at least one acquaintance who recommended Rollet seek treatment for “pathological grief”. Over time she gathered a great deal of information and filed a lawsuit for involuntary manslaughter in October 2016. The court ordered an expert report, and when the results became available at the beginning of 2020 they confirmed the initial suspicion of a defective tyre in the case involving her husband.

In the meantime, Sophie Rollet discovered that Goodyear had conducted an official exchange programme (but not a recall) in Czechia in response to potential tread separation affecting a number of tyre lines, including tyres from the Marathon series. According to the documentary, a Goodyear letter to Czech customers states that this separation of tread and tyre could lead to a sudden loss of air pressure and potential loss of vehicular control. Similar programmes allegedly also took place in other European markets. When Rollet brought an investigative journalist on board to assist her, further research revealed a “non-disclosure agreement” between the tyre manufacturer and a haulage company in connection with an accident in France in 2014 that claimed the life of a British person. Rollet says this agreement involved a “nine-figure” sum. “Which seemed outrageous to me,” she added.

In August 2022, Rollet was summoned to a court hearing in Besançon, France to present her case to the investigating judge. According to the documentary, Ms Rollet had “absolutely no financial interest at all” but was “leading this fight on her own with nothing but a moral objective.” Public prosecutor Étienne Manteaux states that the work done by Ms Rollet has “really opened the justice system’s eyes,” describing her work as “similar to a whistleblower’s.” As a result, he says there are now “complex transnational cases that are still ongoing” related to 76 accidents involving burst tyres. He cannot currently say when this case will be closed.

The makers of the documentary asked Goodyear for comment. The tyre maker replied that “there is no reason to association the Marathon LHSII and LHSII+ tyres to any series of accidents at all.” The documentary also shares that Goodyear “refused to reveal the number of tyres replaced in the program.”

In February 2023, a court in Nanterre, France ruled that Goodyear was to blame for one of the accidents that Rollet stumbled upon. The company, which was ordered to pay half of the damages caused, has appealed.

We reached out to Goodyear for comment and received the following statement:

Goodyear statement in reply to the Arte documentary “Sophie Rollet against Goodyear”

We are very sorry for the loss of Mrs. Rollet and her family following the accident which occurred in 2014, which we first learned of through news reports in June 2020. Nothing is more important to Goodyear than the safety and quality of its products and the people who use them.

Every tire developed, manufactured and distributed by Goodyear complies with all applicable regulations and is duly homologated by the competent authorities.

Goodyear implements rigorous procedures to monitor the performance of its products and takes appropriate actions, such as customer satisfaction campaigns, exchange programs or recalls based notably on feedback from the field.

As an example, in 2014, in response to feedback from the field, Goodyear voluntarily carried out an exchange program, for the Marathon LHS II + tire in its 385/65R22.5 size. As part of that exchange program which ended in 2016, Goodyear directly and proactively contacted its distributors and customers. Goodyear kept the relevant authorities informed throughout the implementation of the exchange program, which was implemented rigorously, mobilizing significant resources, in order to exchange as many tires as possible. Following that exchange program and taking into account the normal lifecycle of a tire, it can be concluded that no tire covered by the exchange program is still in the field.

The tire referenced in the accident of Mrs. Rollet’s husband, the Marathon LHS II 385/55R22.5, was never part of an exchange program. In fact, this tire, while similar in name, is a completely different tire from the tires involved in the 2014 exchange program. It is indeed of a different size and generation. The field performance of this tire (LHS II 385/55R22.5) did not warrant any field action.

We again offer Mrs. Rollet and her family our greatest sympathy and will continue to cooperate with the authorities on the case.