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Feds Recall Chinese Tires Blamed for Fatal Van Accident

Light Truck Radial Tires Prone to Tread Separation

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 26, 2007

An inspection of several tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd. in China found that the light truck radial tires were made without a gum strip or with an insufficient gum strip between the belts. The gum strip keeps the belts of a tire bonded.

Foreign Tire Sales Inc. of Union, New Jersey asked NHTSA to recall four tire models the company found to have separations at the belt edges.

The Chinese tire manufacturer has not provided NHTSA with a remedy or recall schedule for the faulty tires.

In ordering the recall, NHTSA stated that “these tires fail to comply with the requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 119” the regulates pneumatic tires.

NHTSA warned that treads on the recall tires could separate “while driving at highway speeds, possibly resulting in a crash, property damage or death.”

The problem with the recalled tires is similar to that which led to the nation’s largest tire recall in 2000, involving Bridgestone and Firestone tires when the two companies recalled 6.5 million Firestone tires.

Those tires, which were mounted mostly on Ford Explorers, were blamed for causing 148 deaths and more than 500 injuries in the United States.

Foreign Tire Sales Inc. said it imported an unknown number of the light truck radials from 2002 to June 2006. The tires were shipped directly to distributors.

FTS also warned that other importers may have sold tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce. The Chinese company has failed to provide information that would allow FTS or NHTSA to determine exactly how many tires, and which batches, have the problem.

The Hangzhou tires were sold under at least four brand names -- Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS. The tires were sold in sizes LT235/75R-15; LT225/75R-16; LT235/85R-16; LT245/75R-16; LT265/75R-16; and LT3X10.5-15.

FTS on May 31 sued Hangzhou in U.S. District Court in Newark, charging that its tests found that the tires may fail earlier than those originally provided by Hangzhou and that a recall would put FTS out of business.

FTS reported in its filing that Hangzhou sold tires Tireco, in Compton, California; Strategic Import Supply, in Wayzata, Minnesota; Omni United USA Inc., in Jacksonville, Florida.; Orteck International Inc., in Gaithersburg, Maryland.; K&D Tire Wholesalers LLC, in Carlsbad, California; and Robinson Tire, in Laurel, Mississippi.

History

According to Foreign Tire Sales report to NHTSA, it contracted the Hangzhou Rubber Company in 2000 to design and manufacture light truck tires that FTS, of Union, N.J., would import and sell. Hangzhou worked with FTS engineers to ensure that the tires could meet all federal safety standards.

At a May 2002 meeting, FTS stressed the importance of tire safety, informing the Chinese manufacturer that light truck tires had been the focus of many recalls and were under government scrutiny. FTS urged Hangzhou to produce tires with nylon cap plies to increase their endurance.

Initially, the tires passed endurance tests, the report said. But once the warranty claims rose in 2005, FTS began conducting its own tests. A visual analysis revealed that some tires seemed to have an insufficient or missing gum strip -- a key safety feature to preserve the integrity of the belts.

After the May crash, FTS said it removed tires from other ambulances and found insufficient or missing gum strips on tires manufactured in 2004 and 2005. In September 2006, Hangzhou finally admitted to FTS that it had reduced or omitted the gum strip from an unspecified number of tires, FTS alleges.

But Hangzhou officials told FTS that in January 2006, it began to reintroduce some amount of the gum strip back into the tires. In March 2007, FTS did further testing and analysis on Hangzhou tires and found that they experienced tread / belt separations at 25,000 miles.

"These tires could pose an immediate danger to consumers and should be removed," said Sean E. Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, a safety advocacy and consulting firm that has been pushing for tougher tire safety standards.

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