Total Recall: Now It is the Turn of Chinese Tires

It seems product recalls in the US have now become almost synonymous with Chinese goods. Product recalls are associated with poor product quality or defective parts. The steadily increasing number of Chinese products being recalled is painting a bad picture of quality control in China. The latest to join the recalled list is Chinese tires.

A tire distributor in Union, New Jersey, has recalled about 255,000 tires of Chinese make. The distributor in question is Foreign Tire Sales. The tires in question were in the market from 2004 till the middle of 2006. They were being sold as replacements for bigger vehicles such as pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans.

However, in the middle of 2006, the tires were found to be defective when one of the vans using these tires got into a serious accident in Philadelphia. The tire of the van blew up and got wrapped around the axle, causing the van to overturn. One person died and another two were injured in the crash.

Investigations showed the tire did not have the ‘gum strip.’ The gum strip is a safety feature that enhances the durability of tires. It is a strip of rubber between the steel belts.

Foreign Tires Sales placed the blame for this defect squarely on the tire manufacturer, Chinese tire manufacturing giant Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber. It accused Hangzhou Zhongce of altering the design of the tire without notifying it.

With officials at Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber denying this allegation, the result has been a legal battle between these two entities that is still on. Hangzhou Zhongce has, in fact, issued a written statement to the effect that they have not been able to gather any proof to support Foreign Tires Sales’ claims about missing safety features on the tires.

However, advocates of public safety in the United States have said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) should be hauled up first for its inability to raise a flag using its early warning database. NHTSA officials have responded to this allegation, stating there was nothing in its database to suggest there was something amiss.

Hangzhou Zhongce markets the supposedly defective tires under three brands - Compass, Westland, and YKS. While 1,100 tires were sold in Virginia, there were no sales in Maryland.