News reports say that FTS is setting up procedures to recall and replace the subject tires – sold under the Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS brand names. NHTSA must approve the plan, and there remains some questions about FTS’ financial ability to conduct the recall.
Earlier, FTS said recalling all 450,000 tires in question would force the company into bankruptcy. NHTSA has no provision to facilitate a complete recall should that happen, and reports state that Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. refuses to provide financial assistance.
Last week, news reports said FTS suggested it may only be able to afford recalling perhaps 10% of the subject tires.
According to federal law and TREAD Act-born regulations, as the importer of record, FTS is the responsible party in the event of a tire recall, even though it did not produce the subject tires.
In addition to the potential cost of the recall itself, FTS may face penalties of up to $6,000 per “violation” – a maximum of some $16.4 million – if it fails to recall the subject tires.
FTS said it stopped selling the subject tires in 2006 after it, it claimed, it discovered the Chinese manufacturer had reduced or eliminated a gum strip designed to maintain adhesion between the belt package and tread. The tiremaker, though, denies it changed the construction of the tires, saying the accusation was “concocted out of thin air.”
“The structure of a tire can’t be decided by an individual,” said a spokesman for Hangzhou Zhongce. “Any change in the structure requires technical assistance.”
FTS said it began selling the subject tires in 2002.
Alleged problems with the subject tires same to light after a lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania this past May claiming failure of one of the tires caused an August 2006 crash that killed two men and injured another.
In a published statement, FTS said it “will make every effort to locate, identify and replace all of the affected tires it imported into the U.S. FTS has gone the extra mile in its testing and subsequent early notification of a possible problem."
In other news related to this recall, the Connecticut attorney general released the names of some 80 tire retailers it claims have sold the subject tires. However, many of those retailers claim no knowledge of having bough the tires or of making purchases from FTS.
