The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (NYSE: GT (http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=GT)) was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. It is one of the largest tire and rubber companies in the world, and is based in Akron, Ohio. Although the company was not connected with him, the company was named in honor of the inventor of vulcanized rubber, Charles Goodyear.
Goodyear is known throughout the world because of its famous blimps. For many years it maintained an aerospace subsidiary, first named Goodyear Aircraft Company and then after World War II renamed Goodyear Aerospace Corporation. The subsidiary was sold in 1987 to Loral Corp., in the aftermath of Sir James Goldsmith's greenmail attack attempting a hostile takeover of Goodyear.
1942, Goodyear is awarded a contract to produce F4U Corsair fighter planes for the US military.
1956, a Goodyear-operated U235 atomic processing plant opens in southern part of the state of Ohio (USA)
1958, attempting to counter a "stodgy" marketing image, Goodyear officially reenters racing.
1969, Goodyear's annual sales top three billion dollars as a result of significant expansions over the preceeding years
1974, Goodyear's annual sales reach five billion dollars and the company now has manufacturing facilities in 34 countries
1978, the company announces that an idle Akron tire plant will be converted into a new 75 million dollar Technical Center to support research and tire design efforts
1979, Goodyear Aerospace produces the MPP computer, a massively parallel supercomputer, for NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center
1984, worldwide sales exceed 10 billion dollars
1986, Sir James Goldsmith and an investment group initiate a takeover attempt by purchasing 11 percent of outstanding Goodyear stock
1987, in order to fend off the Goldsmith takeover and prevent other attempts, Goodyear completes a massive restructuring, selling subsidiaries and closing plants. Goodyear also announces the completion of a California to Texas "All American" oil pipeline and the Kelly-Springfield subsidiary announces the construction of a new headquarters in Maryland.
1988, plans are announced to begin construction on a new state-of-the-art tire plant in Napanee, Ontario, Canada for a cost of $320 million.
1990, sales top 11 billion dollars.
1994, Goodyear opens an "electronic store" on the CompuServe network
Goodyear was notified that the agency opened a preliminary investigation today, and company officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Goodyear spokesman Chris Aked said Monday evening that the Load Range E tires have been used as original equipment on large trucks made by Ford Motor Co. and Daimler-Chrysler AG, including the Dodge Ram 4250 and 350 series trucks.
Goodyear began putting an extra layer of nylon in the tires in 1996 after discovering that some of the tires were prone to failure at high speeds and at high temperatures.
Crowston sued Goodyear and Kelsey-Hayes, alleging negligence and strict liability in tort in the design, manufacture, and sale of their component parts of the tire/wheel assembly.1 Crowston alleged that, when the component parts of the tire/wheel assembly were sold, they were defective and unreasonably dangerous and failed to include adequate warnings.
Goodyear became aware of safety hazards associated with the use of the multi-piece "K" rim after the rim was manufactured and before the plaintiff's injury.
The court affirmed the jury's finding that Goodyear breached its post-sale duty to warn, holding that the evidence was such that the jury could have found that post-sale warnings given by Goodyear in that case were inadequate to reach K-rim users.
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