The head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has told a Senate committee that federal safety regulations are not adequate to deal with motor vehicle equipment importers refusing to recall defective products.
"Present law does not contemplate the problem of an importer of compliant motor vehicle equipment who simply refuses to perform a recall of a defective product because of financial reasons," NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason said.
"With the growing tide of imported motor vehicle equipment, the prospect of an importer actually being financially unable to conduct a safety recall may some day pose a risk to American consumers," she warned.
Nearly 450,000 Chinese tires imported by a New Jersey company from Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., China's second-largest tire maker are possibly defective.
Tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce were imported to the U.S. by Foreign Tire Sales and were sold under several names including Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS.
The N.J. company said it was unable to conduct a thorough recall because of a lack of money.
Nason told the Senate committee that in 2006, 46 percent of the 306 million car, light truck and medium truck tires sold in the U.S. were imported.
"Ten years ago, imports constituted just 19 percent of total tire sales. Of tires imported in 2006, 23 percent were imported from China, making China the leading country of origin for imported tires, she said.
In 2000, Chinese tires were just six percent of imported tires," Nason said.
NHTSA has asked 14 tire makers to submit details on any imported tires from Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co.
Foreign Tire Sales said Hangzhou Zhongce altered the production of tires, removing a gum strip used to prevent tread separation. FTS first had concerns about tires produced by Hangzhou in October 2005, after a jump in warranty claims, and ceased buying them in June 2006.
On May 31, Foreign Tire Sales sued Hangzhou in U.S. District Court in Newark, claiming it had received improperly made tires.
The lawsuit came after FTS was sued May 4 in Philadelphia in connection with the August 2006 deaths of two men when the van they rode in crashed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. That lawsuit blames Hangzhou-made tires for the crash.
Hangzhou issued a statement saying it "remains steadfast in its commitment to provide all of our customers with excellent quality, safe and reliable products and outstanding service.
Hangzhou officials met with NHTSA last week. Chinese regulators in Beijing said the tires met U.S. safety standards.
Tread separation is an especially important issue to automakers, in light of the deaths linked to Bridgestone Firestone tires on Ford Explorers and other vehicles in 2000. That year, 13 million tires were recalled on vehicles that were linked to nearly 280 deaths.
