The Wall Street Journal reported on people with knowledge of the matter and documents reviewed by the newspaper, and the U.S. Justice Department is investigating Goodyear Tire Rubber Co for its handling of a recalled tire that has been linked to eight deaths and dozens of injuries.
The federal prosecutors have sought company records and depositions from an Arizona plaintiffs' attorney who was part of a civil lawsuit filed against Goodyear years ago, according to a grand jury subpoena seen by WSJ.
The company said in an emailed statement to Reuters, we fully cooperated with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's NHTSA review of the G 159 275 70 R 22.5 tire.
Goodyear's shares were down 2% at $11.10 in premarket trading on Wednesday.
In June of last year, Goodyear said it would recall 173,000 G 159 tires used in recreational vehicles because of the potential for catastrophic tread separations.
The move was made after the U.S. auto safety regulators asked the manufacturer to replace them. The company said in October that it did not believe its tires were defective.
The report said that the subpoena was issued as part of a criminal investigation and involves prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office of the Central District in California and the DOJ's consumer-protection branch.