Posted on 06/25/2007 3:50:23 PM PDT by ears_to_hear
First it was pet food, then toothpaste, then toy trains. Now it's tires.
A lawsuit blames cheap Chinese tires for a fatal traffic accident in Pennsylvania. The suit says tread separation caused a cargo van carrying four passengers to crash, killing two passengers and injuring the other two. The light truck tires were sold under the names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS...
The case is reminiscent of the huge Firestone tire recall of 2000, when faulty tires were blamed for a series of accidents and rollovers, many involving the Ford Explorer.
"This is a prime example of a private lawsuit with a substantial public benefit," said Jeffrey B. Killino, an attorney with Woloshin & Killino, which represents the families of the deceased and injured. "The Hangzhou Rubber Company deliberately and secretly removed a safety feature from these tires and two young men died as a direct result. This was a tragedy that didn't have to happen, but hopefully we can prevent future fatal crashes."
The tires were manufactured by China's Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. and imported by Foreign Tire Sales Inc. (FTS), of Union, N.J. FTS says a crucial safety feature was omitted from as many as 450,000 tires it imported from the Chinese company since 2002.
(Excerpt) Read more at consumeraffairs.com ...
"These tires could pose an immediate danger to consumers and should be removed," said Sean E. Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, a safety advocacy and consulting firm that has been pushing for tougher tire safety standards. "Unfortunately, we saw during the Ford Explorer-Firestone tire scandal how deadly a defective tire can be -- especially if it is paired with a light truck. It is important that consumers are notified immediately, retailers and wholesalers stop selling them, and they are removed from vehicles until we get some answers."
Tires Identified This is not a definitive list, but consumers should be on the lookout for steel-belted radial light truck tires sold under the names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS in the following sizes:
• LT235/75R-15 • LT225/75R-16 • LT235/85R-16 • LT245/75R-16 • LT265/75R-16 and • LT3X10.5-15
According to FTS, tires manufactured by Hangzhou were also sold by the following distributors:
• Tireco, Compton, California • Strategic Import Supply, Wayzata, Minnesota • Omni United USA, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida • Orteck International, Inc. of Gaithersburg, Maryland • K&D Tire Wholesalers LLC, Carlsbad, California • Robinson Tire in Laurel, Mississippi. Safety Research & Strategies, Inc.
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One more to add to the list
I don’t buy chinese tires. Because they’re slanty instead of round, getting them balanced costs too much.
If Americans start looking at China closely, in no time folks will realize that they are creating a Frankenstein’s monster. However, the lure of cheap ChiCom $2 cr@p is too enticing for most, I guess.
$2.00? I guess they’ve gone up on the price of crap.
Personally, I don’t buy “Yikes” (YKS) tires.
Did you account for inflation?
There really needs to be some big changes in the way business is done.
“There really needs to be some big changes in the way business is done.”
Can’t. Bush put us in hock to the Chinese.
lol
Reminds me of the younger years, we called 'em "MayPops".
May pop any time.....but they were American tires. No tread left, but we knew where they were made!
I remember the Firestone 500 problem that occurred in the late 70s. Same thing (tread separation).
We’ll take care of the Chinese industrial threat - our lawyers will be our front line of defense!
“No tread left, but we knew where they were made!’
That’s when we’d run them into town and get them recapped.
Then we’d watch over time as the recap came off in strips of perfectly good, unadhered, American tread.
That’s what happens when you pay someone $3.00 a day to work a 60 hour work week. You buy Sh** you get Sh**. Welcome to the Global economy.
Firestone paid out the ying-yang, but the chinks will just change the name and keep pumping them out.
Unfortunately the top tier GOP candidates aren’t going to make a peep about it. The cowards don’t want to upset the guys giving them the big donations.
Hysteria trumps personal responsibility.... again
It has gone beyond “enticing”.
You cannot find made in USA for some products.
To be fair, clinton and Bush working together have put us in hock to the Chinese. Clinton, with help from Republicans in congress, gave China most favored nation status.
The result has been omething like the Kennedy-Bush pact, which will put us in hock to Mexico. Come to think of it, that one's a clinton-Bush cooperative effort too, since clinton also kicked off the Mexican with NAFTA in 1993.
Sue the greedy importers and their agents too.
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