Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 21:22:03 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject: Re: Recall on LT Tires
In-Reply-To: <004201c7bd15$ce4e7680$0b0ba8c0@RON>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
This total BS. If it were tainted dog food we were talking about (and
it was, remember?) the media would have listed every variation and
brand name and where it was sold. But this is about people... and
everyone is acting like they can't say for sure what brands the tires
are sold under. Baloney. Who is protecting who here?
Jim
On Jul 2, 2007, at 8:59 PM, The Bus Depot wrote:
> LT (light truck) rated tires from a Chinese factory, sold under a
> variety of
> off-brand names, are being recalled. The belts were improperly
> bound and the
> tread could separate.
>
> So far the recall involves tires sold between 2002 and 2006 under the
> Westlake, Compass and YKS brand names. But the distributor
> indicated that
> the same factory sold the tires to other distributors as well, so
> they may
> also be labeled under other (as yet undisclosed) brand names.
>
> I do not know if this factory made tires in the popular Vanagon
> sizes or
> not, but if you have off-brand tires on your Vanagon you'd better
> look into
> it just in case.
>
> Full text of article below.
>
> - Ron Salmon
> The Bus Depot, Inc.
> www.busdepot.com
> (215) 234-VWVW
>
> _____________________________________________
> Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
>
>
>
> TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A tire importing company ordered to recall
> thousands of
> light truck radial tires that were purchased from a Chinese
> manufacturer
> said Monday it had submitted a recall plan to the federal government.
>
> Foreign Tire Sales Inc., a small importer based in Union, N.J.,
> said it
> hopes to begin the recall July 16. The company said it would soon
> release
> details of the plan on its Web site, , and would establish an 800
> number for
> consumers and dealers.http://www.foreigntire.com
>
> A spokesman said the company is setting up procedures to replace
> tires for
> free and to render the recalled ones unusable.
>
> The company was required to submit the plan by Monday to the National
> Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which must approve the plan
> before
> the recall can start. It could involve up to 450,000 possibly
> unsafe tires.
>
> Heather Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the agency, said late Monday it had
> received the plan and would review it.
>
> The safety administration last week notified Foreign Tire Sales
> that the
> company is responsible for the recall and faces penalties of up to
> $6,000
> per violation, with a maximum of nearly $16.4 million, if it
> doesn't remedy
> the problem. The New Jersey Attorney General's Office has joined the
> investigation.
>
> Foreign Tire Sales said in a statement that its tire engineer
> determined at
> some point that the company "was being sold tires that did not meet
> our own
> standards and posed a safety hazard."
>
> The tires in question, manufactured by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber
> Company,
> could suffer tread separation because they were made without a safety
> feature that helps bind the belts of a tire. They were sold between
> mid-2002
> and mid-2006 under the brand names Westlake, Compass and YKS.
>
> The company said that because the manufacturer is not assisting,
> the recall
> is jeopardizing the "very existence" of Foreign Tire, which has
> only 13
> full-time and three part-time employees.
>
> "FTS will make every effort to locate, identify and replace all of the
> affected tires it imported into the United States," the statement
> said. "FTS
> has gone the extra mile in its testing and subsequent early
> notification of
> a possible problem."
>
> The tires in question all bear the letters "LT" for the tire size,
> plus DOT
> numbers starting with "7D" and ending in "02,""03,""04" or "05."
>
> Foreign Tire Sales said it believes the Chinese company sold the
> same tires
> to other companies.
>
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