US firm recalls China-made tires

[ineedmorehp]

US firm recalls China-made tires
http://business.inquirer.net/money/b...ticle_id=81621

Agence France-Presse
Last updated 09:16pm (Mla time) 08/09/2007

WASHINGTON -- A US importer announced Thursday the recall of 255,000 Chinese-made defective automobile tires, saying they lacked a key safety feature that could be dangerous.

Foreign Tire Sales Inc. (FTS) of Union, New Jersey, said in a statement on its Internet site that the steel-belted radial tires, used for light trucks and sport-utility vehicles, did not have gum strips, or had too-small gum strips, which help protect the tread and steel belt from separating from the tire.

"Independent tests conducted by FTS in May, 2007, determined that the tires without gum strips or with insufficient gum strips posed a safety hazard," the company said.

FTS said the tires were manufactured by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., and sold between early 2004 and mid-2006 as replacement tires under the brand names Westlake, Compass and YKS.

Hangzhou Zhongce "changed the construction of the tires without informing FTS," the company said.

In June the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was reported to be pushing the company to recall some 450,000 suspect tires. The company reportedly first took note of problems in October 2005, but only reported its concerns to the regulator in June.

According to reports, the firm was sued after two people died in an accident allegedly caused when a faulty tire split in Pennsylvania. It in turn has sued the Chinese company, which has denied any defects in the quality of its tires.

The tire recall comes in the wake of a slew of recalls of China-produced tainted food, toys, and other products adding new tensions between Washington and Beijing over China's huge export surplus with the United States.

[BlueBimmer]

hot na hot na china n US...

[Lucius]

Sunod nyan yung quality of weapons na hahahaha

[VtEC]

boycott nadin ang olympic he he he he..panis naman kasi talaga ang quality ng china e

[niky]

The tire recall comes in the wake of a slew of recalls of China-produced tainted food, toys, and other products adding new tensions between Washington and Beijing over China's huge export surplus with the United States.

How stupid... people are looking for a connection where there is none... this issue has been going on since the start of this year. It's only now that FTS has publicly announced it, as they spent a long time deciding on whether to recall or not... it's merely a coincidence that the decision came now.

They're not a highly-capitalized company. This recall could very possibly bankrupt them, but they've known for months that they would have to do it or face a huge legal case.

Some dolts in the media are blowing this US versus China thing waaaaaay out of proportion. If it wasn't a Chinese company subcontracted here, they'd be focusing on the fact that FTS has basically been selling unsafe tires and they'd link it to the Ford Firestone scandal.

[uwak18]

I guess that the recalled tires will reach our shores. Baka lang naman. Where will they stash their tires when its returned to China?