List of Brand Names, Sizes of Recalled Chinese Tires

NEWARK, N.J. – Federal 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. (FTS), of Union, 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 — meaning the tires could fall apart on the road — a problem that led to the nation's largest tire recall in 2000.

According to a letter FTS sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 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.

Click here to read the entire letter, which also lists sizes, manufacturers and importers involved.

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. 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 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.

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 nation's largest recall 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, in Compton, Calif.; Strategic Import Supply, in Wayzata, Minn.; Omni United USA Inc., in Jacksonville, Fla.; Orteck International Inc., in Gaithersburg, Md.; K&D Tire Wholesalers LLC, in Carlsbad, Calif.; and Robinson Tire, in Laurel, Miss.