Feds Order At Least 4 Tire Brands Recalled

(AP)  U.S. safety officials have ordered a New Jersey tire importer to recall as many as 450,000 tires that it bought from a Chinese manufacturer and sold to U.S. distributors.

Foreign Tire Sales Inc., of Union, New Jersey, said an unknown number of the light truck radials it imported since 2002 from Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., of Hangzhou, China, could suffer tread separation, a problem that led to the largest tire recall in the U.S. in 2000.

FTS said an unknown number of the tires it sold were made without a safety feature, called a gum strip, which helps bind the belts of a tire to each other, the company said in a filing to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some of the tires had a gum strip about half the 0.6 millimeter width that FTS expected, it said.

Heather Hopkins, a spokeswoman for NHTSA, said its enforcement officials spoke to FTS on Monday to "let them know we want a full tire recall to take place."

"It is FTS' responsibility to do this," Hopkins said.

FTS failed to add a "remedy" in its June 11 filing, which is essentially a description of how a company will notify customers and provide proper consumer compensation, Hopkins said.

FTS attorney Lawrence N. Lavigne said the tires appear to meet federal standards but could still pose a risk to motorists.

"FTS, at great expense, investigated this," Lavigne said. The company, which has about a half-dozen employees, does not have the money to pay for a recall, he said.

FTS does not have a warehouse. It has tires shipped directly to distributors, who in turn send them to retail outlets, Lavigne said.

FTS said it believes other importers also sold such tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce. The Chinese company has failed to provide information that would allow FTS to determine exactly how many tires, and which batches, have the problem, Lavigne said.

According to the filing, the Hangzhou tires at issue were sold under at least four brand names - Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS - in these 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. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and an injunction that would bar Hangzhou products from being imported.

The lawsuit was reported Monday by The Wall Street Journal.

A Hangzhou Zhongce spokesman contacted by The Associated Press in China said he could not immediately comment. A Hangzhou official reached by the Journal said: "We are aware of this matter, and we are now in the process of responding to the lawsuit. Production and sales at our company remain normal."

FTS said it became concerned about Hangzhou tires in October 2005 amid an increase in warranty claims and began talks with the Chinese company, and then commissioned its own tests.

FTS was sued in Philadelphia on May 4 by the families of two men killed when a van they were riding in crashed last year. Also suing are the driver and passenger in the van, which the lawsuits claim had Hangzhou tires.

The largest tire recall in the U.S. involved 14.7 million Firestone tires in 2000, said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, a consumer group. "I wouldn't expect this to rise to that number," he said.

FTS, in its filing, said it sold Hangzhou tires to these 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; and Robinson Tire in Laurel, Mississippi.
By Jeffrey Gold and Matthew Verrinder

[bareemperor]

First your pets.

Now YOU.

This is the price we pay for Bu$h selling America.

[dan9111]

By their logic, they should "recall" every motorcycle ever made. The risk factor is enormous.

[moosbrth]

here's a shocker of Chinese goods, go to

nikenow.com for a virtual plethora of knock off goods! Have fun and be sure to pay by Western Union to get those goods in a hurry!

[ubikvalis2]

Consumers want to buy every product for as close to $0 as possible. This is what fuels Wal Mart and China, Inc. It's not a surprise that corners are being cut somewhere.

[weareone2]

Libertarians would be happy living in China. This is what you get when there is too little regulation. Of course, there can also be too much. Like most things in life, a balance is best.

[canyoutellme-2009]

i buy American whenever i can... just bought a brand new Dodge Nitro R/T - manufactured in OHIO! How about that! (however, i bet a lot of parts they used in it are made overseas).

[dukeudevil]

Yep, there seems quite the problems with far too many Chinese-made products, from foods (pet & human) to automobile tires.

Another example? I was looking to buy a scooter just last week. The brands from China (e.g., SUNL) are literally half the price ($1,000 vs. $2,000) of those from Japan (e.g., Honda, Kawasaki), but I cannot find a single entry on the internet where the consumer has had nothing but problems with their Chinese-made scooter.

What have I decided? Pay twice the price and purchase a product that somewhere brushed up against the word "quality."

As it stands now, the vast majority of Chinese products seem to be very poorly made at their best, and absolutely deadly at their worst.

[Syndicate]

I want American made poroducts. I look for them but they are hard to find.

[hsinco-2009]

IMO, China uses products made for export as a place/way to dispose of some hazardous waste. Melamine, anti-freeze ingredients in toothpaste, lead in paint, etc, I can go on, but won't.

I avoid buying Chinese made products as musch as possible.

[ioweign]

I didn't even have to read the whole article - I knew they came from China. Thank Corporate America -AGAIN!