Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled

NYT / June 26, 2007
Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled
By ANDREW MARTIN

Federal officials have told a small New Jersey importer to recall
450,000 radial tires for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and
vans after the company disclosed that its Chinese manufacturer had
stopped including a safety feature that prevented the tires from
separating.

Tread separation is the same defect that led to the recall of millions
of Firestone tires in 2000. At the time, tire failure was linked to an
increased risk of rollover of light trucks and S.U.V.'s.

The company, Foreign Tire Sales of Union, N.J., had originally sought
the federal government's help with a recall, saying it did not have
enough money to recall all the tires itself. Typically, importers are
responsible for the cost of recalling defective foreign products.

But officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
said it remained the responsibility of Foreign Tire Sales to pay for
the costs of the recall, said Heather Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the
agency. She said the agency wanted "a full tire recall" by the
company.

The defective tires join a growing list of problematic products with
origins in China. A huge recall of potentially tainted pet food in
March was followed by widespread reports of toothpaste manufactured
with a toxic chemical and toys coated with lead paint.

Ms. Hopkins said the agency's top officials were "outraged" that
Foreign Tire Sales' executives waited more than two years to pass on
their suspicions about problems with the tires. The company first
suspected problems in October 2005. Almost a year later, in September
2006, the Chinese manufacturer, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, a former
state-owned company based in eastern China, acknowledged that a gum
strip that prevents the tread from separating was left out of the
manufacturing process.

Lawrence N. Lavigne, a lawyer for Foreign Tire Sales, said the company
did not alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about
the problems until June 11 because officials had no definitive proof
of a manufacturing flaw until it was revealed by further testing in
May. He said it made no sense to initiate a recall based on
suspicions.

Jeffrey B. Killino, a personal-injury lawyer from Philadelphia, said
the company came forward only after it was named as a defendant in a
lawsuit, filed in May, involving an accident in which two construction
workers were killed and a third was severely injured when a van rolled
over. The lawsuit contended that the accident was caused by tread
separation in a Hangzhou Zhongce tire.

Earlier, an ambulance in New Mexico rolled over after a Hangzhou
Zhongce tire came apart, though there were no significant injuries,
according to documents supplied by Foreign Tire Sales to the federal
safety agency.

An official at Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, reached late Monday, declined
to comment. The defective tires are sold under the brand names
Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS, Mr. Lavigne said.

Tire separation led to a much larger recall in 2000. Firestone
recalled 6.5 million tires after at least 271 people were killed and
hundreds more injured in accidents involving its tires coming apart.

It is not clear how many defective tires might be on the road.

Hangzhou Zhongce has refused to tell Foreign Tire Sales' officials how
long it omitted the gum strip from its manufacturing process, Mr.
Lavigne said. Foreign Tire Sales said it believed that it purchased
about 450,000 of the tires in question from the Chinese company.

Hangzhou Zhongce sold the tires to at least six other importers or
distributors in the United States.

Foreign Tire Sales, which has just seven employees, buys foreign
tires, imports them and then resells them to domestic distributors.
Mr. Lavigne said the company did not physically handle the tires.

The company began negotiating with Hangzhou Zhongce in 2000 to design
and manufacture radial tires for light trucks. The tires were supposed
to exceed federal safety standards, partly by including a gum strip
between the plies to prevent separation, and ultimately passed a road
test in which they were driven 40,000 miles, Mr. Lavigne said.

In October 2005, the company said it became concerned because of a
sharp increase in customer complaints about the Hangzhou Zhongce
radial tires. In investigating the complaints, Foreign Tire Sales'
officials became suspicious that Hangzhou Zhongce was manufacturing
the tires without the gum strips or with inadequate gum strips, but
the Chinese company denied it.

Tests of tire segments conducted by an outside firm were not
conclusive but "seemed to indicate that there were no gum strips or
insufficient gum strips in the inspected tires," Foreign Tire Sales
wrote in its June 11 report to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.

Hangzhou Zhongce admitted in September 2006 that it had "unilaterally
decided to omit the gum strips" in the tires, the report says. The
Chinese company was "generally unresponsive" when asked how many tires
were involved and what they were going to do to resolve the problem,
the report says.

Foreign Tire Sales stopped buying the light-truck tires from Hangzhou
Zhongce in June 2006.

In May, Foreign Tire Sales conducted another round of road tests using
2005 Hangzhou Zhongce tires. This time, the tread separated after just
25,000 miles, the report said.

Mr. Lavigne said it appeared that Hangzhou Zhongce at times used no
gum strips on the tires and in other instances, used half the amount
of gum strip that was required by its agreement with the company.

Since Foreign Tire Sales maintains no inventory of tires, he said the
company would have to buy new tires for every tire that was returned
in the recall. That, added to the cost of disposing of the old tires,
he said, would cost about $200 for each tire.

"We don't really know where to start," he said. "There's no way F.T.S.
can recall this universe of tires. It will have to go belly up."

On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
> NYT / June 26, 2007
> Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled
> By ANDREW MARTIN
>

<snip>

> An official at Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, reached late Monday, declined
> to comment. The defective tires are sold under the brand names
> Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS, Mr. Lavigne said.

Thanks for posting this; this includes the important info. above that
was missing from the report I heard on the radio this AM. I wasn't
aware of any Chinese tires on the market; probably because they seem
to have deliberately chosen non-Chinese-sounding names for their
product.

Oddly enough, the Korean manufacturer Hankook seems to have figured
out how to turn out a quality product, and is actually competitive in
SCCA racing. They use their own name on their tires. There's a
lesson in there somewhere...

nate

On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
> NYT / June 26, 2007
> Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled
> By ANDREW MARTIN
>
> Federal officials have told a small New Jersey importer to recall
> 450,000 radial tires for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and
> vans after the company disclosed that its Chinese manufacturer had
> stopped including a safety feature that prevented the tires from
> separating.
>
> Tread separation is the same defect that led to the recall of millions
> of Firestone tires in 2000. At the time, tire failure was linked to an
> increased risk of rollover of light trucks and S.U.V.'s.
>
> The company, Foreign Tire Sales of Union, N.J., had originally sought
> the federal government's help with a recall, saying it did not have
> enough money to recall all the tires itself. Typically, importers are
> responsible for the cost of recalling defective foreign products.
>
> But officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
> said it remained the responsibility of Foreign Tire Sales to pay for
> the costs of the recall, said Heather Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the
> agency. She said the agency wanted "a full tire recall" by the
> company.
>
> The defective tires join a growing list of problematic products with
> origins in China. A huge recall of potentially tainted pet food in
> March was followed by widespread reports of toothpaste manufactured
> with a toxic chemical and toys coated with lead paint.
>
> Ms. Hopkins said the agency's top officials were "outraged" that
> Foreign Tire Sales' executives waited more than two years to pass on
> their suspicions about problems with the tires. The company first
> suspected problems in October 2005. Almost a year later, in September
> 2006, the Chinese manufacturer, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, a former
> state-owned company based in eastern China, acknowledged that a gum
> strip that prevents the tread from separating was left out of the
> manufacturing process.
>
> Lawrence N. Lavigne, a lawyer for Foreign Tire Sales, said the company
> did not alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about
> the problems until June 11 because officials had no definitive proof
> of a manufacturing flaw until it was revealed by further testing in
> May. He said it made no sense to initiate a recall based on
> suspicions.
>
> Jeffrey B. Killino, a personal-injury lawyer from Philadelphia, said
> the company came forward only after it was named as a defendant in a
> lawsuit, filed in May, involving an accident in which two construction
> workers were killed and a third was severely injured when a van rolled
> over. The lawsuit contended that the accident was caused by tread
> separation in a Hangzhou Zhongce tire.
>
> Earlier, an ambulance in New Mexico rolled over after a Hangzhou
> Zhongce tire came apart, though there were no significant injuries,
> according to documents supplied by Foreign Tire Sales to the federal
> safety agency.
>
> An official at Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, reached late Monday, declined
> to comment. The defective tires are sold under the brand names
> Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS, Mr. Lavigne said.
>
> Tire separation led to a much larger recall in 2000. Firestone
> recalled 6.5 million tires after at least 271 people were killed and
> hundreds more injured in accidents involving its tires coming apart.
>
> It is not clear how many defective tires might be on the road.
>
> Hangzhou Zhongce has refused to tell Foreign Tire Sales' officials how
> long it omitted the gum strip from its manufacturing process, Mr.
> Lavigne said. Foreign Tire Sales said it believed that it purchased
> about 450,000 of the tires in question from the Chinese company.
>
> Hangzhou Zhongce sold the tires to at least six other importers or
> distributors in the United States.
>
> Foreign Tire Sales, which has just seven employees, buys foreign
> tires, imports them and then resells them to domestic distributors.
> Mr. Lavigne said the company did not physically handle the tires.
>
> The company began negotiating with Hangzhou Zhongce in 2000 to design
> and manufacture radial tires for light trucks. The tires were supposed
> to exceed federal safety standards, partly by including a gum strip
> between the plies to prevent separation, and ultimately passed a road
> test in which they were driven 40,000 miles, Mr. Lavigne said.
>
> In October 2005, the company said it became concerned because of a
> sharp increase in customer complaints about the Hangzhou Zhongce
> radial tires. In investigating the complaints, Foreign Tire Sales'
> officials became suspicious that Hangzhou Zhongce was manufacturing
> the tires without the gum strips or with inadequate gum strips, but
> the Chinese company denied it.
>
> Tests of tire segments conducted by an outside firm were not
> conclusive but "seemed to indicate that there were no gum strips or
> insufficient gum strips in the inspected tires," Foreign Tire Sales
> wrote in its June 11 report to the National Highway Traffic Safety
> Administration.
>
> Hangzhou Zhongce admitted in September 2006 that it had "unilaterally
> decided to omit the gum strips" in the tires, the report says. The
> Chinese company was "generally unresponsive" when asked how many tires
> were involved and what they were going to do to resolve the problem,
> the report says.
>
> Foreign Tire Sales stopped buying the light-truck tires from Hangzhou
> Zhongce in June 2006.
>
> In May, Foreign Tire Sales conducted another round of road tests using
> 2005 Hangzhou Zhongce tires. This time, the tread separated after just
> 25,000 miles, the report said.
>
> Mr. Lavigne said it appeared that Hangzhou Zhongce at times used no
> gum strips on the tires and in other instances, used half the amount
> of gum strip that was required by its agreement with the company.
>
> Since Foreign Tire Sales maintains no inventory of tires, he said the
> company would have to buy new tires for every tire that was returned
> in the recall. That, added to the cost of disposing of the old tires,
> he said, would cost about $200 for each tire.
>
> "We don't really know where to start," he said. "There's no way F.T.S.
> can recall this universe of tires. It will have to go belly up."

One lesson for consumers is to not buy off-brand tires no matter how
local the name sounds. Telluride tires indeed.

In article . com>, N8N wrote:
> On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
>> NYT / June 26, 2007
>> Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled
>> By ANDREW MARTIN
>>
>
><snip>
>
>> An official at Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, reached late Monday, declined
>> to comment. The defective tires are sold under the brand names
>> Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS, Mr. Lavigne said.
>
> Thanks for posting this; this includes the important info. above that
> was missing from the report I heard on the radio this AM. I wasn't
> aware of any Chinese tires on the market; probably because they seem
> to have deliberately chosen non-Chinese-sounding names for their
> product.
>
> Oddly enough, the Korean manufacturer Hankook seems to have figured
> out how to turn out a quality product, and is actually competitive in
> SCCA racing. They use their own name on their tires. There's a
> lesson in there somewhere...

The lesson is that Chinese manufacturing / engineering culture isn't the
same as Japan's, Korea's, or any one elses.

Just like the pet food and the toothpaste, this is just typical
made-in-china random design, process, and material changes. Now that more
critical items are being made in china, the results of these practices
are making the news. It wasn't going to make news back when they kept
changing process and material on the plastic housings of the product I was
working on a few years back. Afterall, it just meant someone's new
electronic gizmo broke. Now, these random changes kill pets and
could kill people so they make the news.

On Jun 26, 7:08 am, (Brent P)
wrote:
> In article . com>, N8N wrote:
> > On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
> >> NYT / June 26, 2007
> >> Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled
> >> By ANDREW MARTIN
>
> ><snip>
>
> >> An official at Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, reached late Monday, declined
> >> to comment. The defective tires are sold under the brand names
> >> Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS, Mr. Lavigne said.
>
> > Thanks for posting this; this includes the important info. above that
> > was missing from the report I heard on the radio this AM. I wasn't
> > aware of any Chinese tires on the market; probably because they seem
> > to have deliberately chosen non-Chinese-sounding names for their
> > product.
>
> > Oddly enough, the Korean manufacturer Hankook seems to have figured
> > out how to turn out a quality product, and is actually competitive in
> > SCCA racing. They use their own name on their tires. There's a
> > lesson in there somewhere...
>
> The lesson is that Chinese manufacturing / engineering culture isn't the
> same as Japan's, Korea's, or any one elses.
>
> Just like the pet food and the toothpaste, this is just typical
> made-in-china random design, process, and material changes. Now that more
> critical items are being made in china, the results of these practices
> are making the news. It wasn't going to make news back when they kept
> changing process and material on the plastic housings of the product I was
> working on a few years back. Afterall, it just meant someone's new
> electronic gizmo broke. Now, these random changes kill pets and
> could kill people so they make the news.



And the right wing flag waving "patriots" among us seem to love being
in the pockets of China.

On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
> Mr. Lavigne said it appeared that Hangzhou Zhongce at times used no
> gum strips on the tires and in other instances, used half the amount
> of gum strip that was required by its agreement with the company.

When there are no repercussions for the Chinese company to skimp on
quality, why would they not? What are you going to do sue them? The
worst you can do is cut off new orders and hope they don't sue you in
the international court system for economic harm. They will just
change their name and sell to another importer or another country.

I know that within the tidal wave of Chinese imports this is probably
a small number, even with all the issues in the past 6 months, but it
does give you pause to the level to which we have abrogated our
manufacturing and responsibility for many critical items. How many
other critical items like medical equipment, avionics, or gas pipes
have been produced with substandard parts that can't be readily
identified? How many life affected or lost before stricter guidelines
are imposed on imports?

-Eric
http://brontide.blogspot.com/

> And the right wing flag waving "patriots" among us seem to love being
> in the pockets of China.

Care to walk around your house and count how many "Made In China"
products you have?

Oh, wait, I forgot, they "forced" you to buy them.

On Jun 26, 10:26 am, Brontide > wrote:
> On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
>
> > Mr. Lavigne said it appeared that Hangzhou Zhongce at times used no
> > gum strips on the tires and in other instances, used half the amount
> > of gum strip that was required by its agreement with the company.
>
> When there are no repercussions for the Chinese company to skimp on
> quality, why would they not? What are you going to do sue them? The
> worst you can do is cut off new orders and hope they don't sue you in
> the international court system for economic harm. They will just
> change their name and sell to another importer or another country.
>
> I know that within the tidal wave of Chinese imports this is probably
> a small number, even with all the issues in the past 6 months, but it
> does give you pause to the level to which we have abrogated our
> manufacturing and responsibility for many critical items. How many
> other critical items like medical equipment, avionics, or gas pipes
> have been produced with substandard parts that can't be readily
> identified? How many life affected or lost before stricter guidelines
> are imposed on imports?
>
> -Erichttp://brontide.blogspot.com/

Ah, yes, but who will be the first to walk away from bargain prices.
Whether it is lawnmowers and toohpaste at WalMart, low priced tires,
generic drugs or equipment we shop for the lowest price.

On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
> NYT / June 26, 2007
> Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled
> By ANDREW MARTIN
>
> Federal officials have told a small New Jersey importer to recall
> 450,000 radial tires for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and
> vans after the company disclosed that its Chinese manufacturer had
> stopped including a safety feature that prevented the tires from
> separating.

Just saw this...

"Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., the No. 2 U.S. tire maker, told Bloomberg
News on Monday that it had imported tires manufactured by Hangzhou
Zhongce, but stopped in November."

http://www.tirereview.com/default.as...Text&item=8490

So this will probably entangle more tires before it's over.

-Eric

On Jun 26, 10:26 am, Brontide > wrote:
> On Jun 26, 8:31 am, wrote:
>
> > Mr. Lavigne said it appeared that Hangzhou Zhongce at times used no
> > gum strips on the tires and in other instances, used half the amount
> > of gum strip that was required by its agreement with the company.
>
> When there are no repercussions for the Chinese company to skimp on
> quality, why would they not?

The product has been recalled. What more do you want? How is that
different from any American made product that is defective?