The National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) has approved a waiver request by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. that will exempt the company from mandatory recall procedures for 484 tires with mislabeled sidewalls.
As published in the U.S. Federal Register, the petition involves 484 275/55R20 Cooper Mastercraft Courser HSX Tour tires manufactured between March 6 and March 15, 2017 that were mistakenly labeled with the manufacturer’s identification mark “UP” instead of “UT.” The NHTSA found that the company the company had been forthcoming in their handling of the error and that the misprinted tires were “inconsequential” to consumer safety.
“Cooper certified and stated that the subject tires meet and/or exceed all performance requirements and all other labeling markings required by FMVSS No. 139, and therefore NHTSA has no reason to believe that there are any operational safety issues for these tires,” the NHTSA said in its written decision.
The waiver will exempt the company from the requirement to inform owners, purchasers and dealers of the defect, as laid out under 49 U.S.C. 30118 and 30120.
The agency also notes that the determination applies only to Cooper’s obligation to inform dealers and consumers and that the waiver does not apply to the commercial sale of the tires, which would still be considered “non-compliant” under federal regulations, saying, “ the granting of this petition does not relieve equipment distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer for sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of the noncompliant tires under their control after Cooper notified them that the subject noncompliance existed.”