Distributor Asks NTHSA To Recall 450,000 Chinese Tires
A death and injury
lawsuit has prompted a U.S. tire importer and distributor to ask the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for help in recalling nearly
half a million Chinese-made light truck tires.
In June, Foreign Tire Sales appealed to NHTSA for aid in recalling an
estimated 450,000 light truck tires sold under the names Westlake,
Telluride, Compass and YKS after the company allegedly learned that the
manufacturer, the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company, had left a critical
component out of the tire. But the number of defective tires could be much
higher, FTS told NHTSA, because Hangzhou has refused to specifically
identify by Tire Identification Number, which tires are missing or were
built with an insufficient gum strip - - a feature that helps to keep the
tire belts from separating.
The Hangzhou tires join tainted pet food, lead-coated children's toys
and toxic toothpaste as some of the latest Chinese imports deemed hazardous
to American consumers. According to the New York Times, Chinese products
now account for 60 percent of all product recalls today.
"This is a prime example of a private lawsuit with a substantial public
benefit," said Jeffrey B. Killino, an attorney with Woloshin & Killino,
which represents the families of the deceased and injured. "There are
nearly half a million of these substandard tires out there, unbeknownst to
consumers. The Hangzhou Rubber Company deliberately and secretly removed a
safety feature from these tires and two young men died as a direct result.
This was a tragedy that didn't have to happen, but hopefully we can prevent
future fatal crashes."
According to a report FTS filed with NHTSA, the company suspected that
something was wrong with the tires in October 2005, when it noticed a sharp
increase in the number of warranty adjustments on the tires, but Hangzhou
officials assured them that the tires were sound. The company confirmed its
suspicions in May 2006, after an ambulance crash in New Mexico prompted FTS
to examine the blown tire that caused the rollover. The company found that
the Chinese manufacturer had failed to include the 0.6 mm gum strip between
the belts to keep them from separating. FTS stopped buying tires from
Hangzhou in June 2006, the report said.
On August 12, 2006, Rafael B. Melo, Claudeir Jose Figueiredo and Carlos
Souza, were passengers in a 2000 Chevrolet Express 2500 Cargo Van, bearing
a Compass Telluride steel belted radial made in China in 2004. The van was
traveling south on Pennsylvania Route 476, when the tire experienced a
tread / belt separation causing the van driver to lose control. The vehicle
rolled over and the three passengers were ejected. Melo and Figueiredo died
in the crash. Souza suffered a permanent brain injury. The driver, who
remained in the vehicle, suffered less severe injuries.
The families of three passengers sued FTS on May 4. The van driver also
filed suit. The Melo, Figueiredo, and Souza lawsuit filed by Killino
prompted FTS to file an $80 million lawsuit against the Hangzhou Rubber
Company and notify NHTSA of the defect.
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. "Unfortunately, we saw during the Ford Explorer-Firestone
tire scandal how deadly a defective tire can be -- especially if it is
paired with a light truck. It is important that consumers are notified
immediately, retailers and wholesalers stop selling them, and they are
removed from vehicles until we get some answers."
This is not a definitive list, but consumers should be on the lookout
for steel-belted radial light truck tires sold under the names Westlake,
Telluride, Compass and YKS in the following sizes:
-- LT235/75R-15
-- LT225/75R-16
-- LT235/85R-16
-- LT245/75R-16
-- LT265/75R-16
-- LT3X10.5-15
According to FTS, tires manufactured by Hangzhou were also sold by the
following distributors:
-- Tireco, Compton, California
-- Strategic Import Supply, Wayzata, Minnesota
-- Omni United USA, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida
-- Orteck International, Inc. of Gaithersburg, Maryland
-- K&D Tire Wholesalers LLC, Carlsbad, California
-- Robinson Tire in Laurel, Mississippi.