Note 18. Pension, Other Postretirement Benefits and Savings Plans

We provide employees with defined benefit pension or defined contribution savings plans. Our hourly U.S. pension plans are frozen, except for certain grandfathered participants in the Cooper Tire hourly pension plans who continue to accrue benefits, and provide benefits based on length of service. The principal salaried U.S. pension plans are frozen and provide benefits based on compensation and length of service. Salaried employees who made voluntary contributions to these plans receive higher benefits. We also provide certain U.S. employees and employees at certain non-U.S. subsidiaries with health care benefits or life insurance benefits upon retirement. Substantial portions of retiree health care benefits are not insured and are funded from operations.

During 2023, we recognized settlement charges of $40 million in Other (Income) Expense, primarily related to the settlement of all plan benefits of the Cooper Tire U.S. salaried defined benefit pension plan with lump sum payments to electing participants and the purchase of a group annuity contract. After settlement, excess plan assets of $18 million were used to fund

obligations associated with our U.S. salaried defined contribution savings plan. During 2023, we recognized termination benefits charges of $1 million in Rationalizations related to the closure of the Fulda tire manufacturing facility.

During 2022, we recognized settlement charges of $124 million in Other (Income) Expense, primarily related to our U.S. pension plans. The settlement charges resulted from total lump sum payments exceeding annual service and interest cost of the applicable plans.

During 2021, we recognized settlement charges of $43 million in Other (Income) Expense, primarily related to our salaried U.S pension plans. The settlement charges resulted from total lump sum payments exceeding annual service and interest cost of the applicable plans.

Our U.K. pension plan obligations include $37 million to recognize the estimated impact to our plans from court rulings in 2018 and later, involving a plan with similar features to ours that was sponsored by another company, that required equal guaranteed minimum pension benefits for males and females. These amounts have been recognized in AOCL, including a $16 million actuarial loss in 2023 from an agreement with the plan trustees on implementation of changes for certain participants in one of our U.K. pension plans. The actual impact to our U.K. pension plans is still subject to the finalization of plan amendments for all impacted participants in response to the court rulings.

Service cost is recorded in CGS or SAG. Other components of net periodic cost are recorded in Other (Income) Expense. Net curtailments, settlements and termination benefits are recorded in Other (Income) Expense or Rationalizations if related to a rationalization plan.

We use the fair value of pension assets in the calculation of pension expense for all plans.

Total benefits cost for our other postretirement benefits was $5 million, $12 million and $5 million for our U.S. plans in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and $3 million, $4 million and $4 million for our non-U.S. plans in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act provides plan sponsors a federal subsidy for certain qualifying prescription drug benefits covered under the sponsor’s postretirement health care plans. Our other postretirement benefits cost is presented net of this subsidy, which is less than $1 million annually.

Significant actuarial gains or losses related to changes in benefit obligations for 2023 and 2022 primarily resulted from changes in discount rates.

Other postretirement benefits unfunded status was $195 million and $205 million for our U.S. plans at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and $92 million and $87 million for our non-U.S. plans at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

For 2023, a weighted average discount rate of 5.34% was used to determine interest cost for the U.S. pension plans. This rate was derived from spot rates along a yield curve developed from a portfolio of corporate bonds from issuers rated AA or higher by established rating agencies as of December 31, 2022, applied to our expected benefit payment cash flows. For our non-U.S. locations, a weighted average discount rate of 4.72% was used. This rate was developed based on the nature of the liabilities and local environments, using available bond indices, yield curves, projected cash flows, and long term inflation.

For 2023, an assumed weighted average long term rate of return of 6.27% was used for the U.S. pension plans. In developing the long term rate of return, we evaluated input from our pension fund consultant on asset class return expectations, including determining the appropriate rate of return for our plans, which are substantially invested in fixed income securities. For our non-U.S. locations, an assumed weighted average long term rate of return of 4.79% was used. Input from local pension fund consultants concerning asset class return expectations and long term inflation form the basis of this assumption.

The U.S. pension plan mortality assumption is based on our actual historical experience or published actuarial tables, and expected future mortality improvements based on published actuarial tables. For our non-U.S. locations, mortality assumptions are based on published actuarial tables which include projections of future mortality improvements.

Certain non-U.S. subsidiaries maintain unfunded pension plans consistent with local practices and requirements. At December 31, 2023, these plans accounted for $182 million of our accumulated pension benefit obligation, $222 million of our projected pension benefit obligation, and $32 million of our AOCL adjustment. At December 31, 2022, these plans accounted for $176 million of our accumulated pension benefit obligation, $211 million of our projected pension benefit obligation, and $28 million of our AOCL adjustment.

We expect to contribute $25 million to $50 million to our funded pension plans in 2024.

Our pension investment policies recognize the long-term nature of pension liabilities, and are primarily designed to offset the future impact of discount rate movements on the funded status for our plans, with target return-seeking allocations based upon given funded ratio levels. All assets are managed externally according to target asset allocation guidelines we have established. Manager guidelines prohibit the use of any type of investment derivative without our prior approval. Portfolio risk is controlled by having managers comply with guidelines, establishing the maximum size of any single holding in their portfolios, and using managers with different investment styles. We periodically undertake asset and liability modeling studies to determine the appropriateness of the investments.

The portfolio of our U.S. pension plan assets includes holdings of global high quality and high yield fixed income securities, short term interest bearing deposits, and private equity and credit securities. The target asset allocation of our U.S. pension plans is 95% in duration-matched fixed income securities and 5% in private equity and credit securities. Actual U.S. pension fund asset allocations are reviewed on a periodic basis and the pension funds are rebalanced to target ranges on an as needed basis.

The portfolios of our non-U.S. pension plans include holdings of global high quality and high yield fixed income securities, U.S. and non-U.S. equities, real estate funds, insurance contracts, repurchase agreements, and short term interest bearing deposits. The weighted average target asset allocation of the non-U.S. pension funds is approximately 90% fixed income, 5% equities and 5% in real estate funds.