‘Service campaign’ for Goodyear-shod VW ID.3

If a VW dealership informs an ID.3 owner during the course of a standard service appointment that the car’s tyres need to be replaced, it may not simply be a case of wear and tear. We’ve heard of one owner who was informed during a dealer workshop visit that the tyres on his VW ID.3 would need to be replaced if they were specific Goodyear original equipment tyres. He was told that there may be an issue with the tread, and the dealer replaced the Goodyear OE tyres with a new set of Continental tyres free of charge.

An online search brings various similar cases to light. Most of these talk of possible cracking – and of a related “service campaign” initiated by VW in the spring with the “recall number” 44T5 for the ID.3. We have tried to find out exactly what this is all about, both from Volkswagen itself and from Goodyear.

Precautionary measure

First, we asked Jochen Tekotte, e-mobility product line spokesperson at Volkswagen AG, what all this is about. “A number of ID.3 model vehicles from a clearly defined production period are fitted with 19-inch summer tyres from the supplier Goodyear. As our constant quality monitoring has shown, these tyres from a limited production period can, under certain circumstances, develop cracks on the inside of the tyre,” he says.

“These cracks can in turn lead to a slight, gradual loss of pressure in individual cases. For this reason, these tyres in question are now being replaced with new summer tyres from Continental, Michelin and Goodyear (from a specific DOT) as a precautionary measure.” However, he did not specify which Goodyear tyre model was involved in the VW service campaign, nor did he give information about DOT number or how many units are involved.

The product line spokesperson also left a further question unanswered – why did VW handle this issue as a service campaign and not as a recall? To find out more, we contacted Goodyear.

VW ID.3 & Cupra Born

The tyre maker told us that the service campaign applies to VW ID.3 as well as Cupra Born cars that left the factory with Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance tyres in size 215/50 R19 93T. This is already more information than Volkswagen offered, but it still leaves uncertainty about tyre production dates and the number of tyres involved. Instead, a statement from Kate Rock-Rees, Goodyear’s head of external communications EMEA, shares that “very few tyres that have been claimed so far and were exhibiting a sidewall condition.” She adds that the analysed tyres featured a “wear pattern compatible with an extended usage in underinflated conditions.” The analysis determined that the “observed condition is not a safety concern.”

Rock-Rees further states that as the service campaign was initiated earlier in the year by VW and not by Goodyear, the tyre maker has “no further update regarding this.”