LTR TIRES HANGZHOU ZHONGCE RUBBER CO. LT

THIS PURSUIT IS BEING PULLED FORWARD FOR PUBLIC VIEW AND REPLACES EQ 07-002. TIRES IMPORTED BY FOREIGN TIRE SALES (FTS) THAT WERE FABRICATED BY HANGZHOU ZHONGCE RUBBER CO. LTD (HZR) IN CHINA HAVE BEEN DECLARED, BY FTS, TO CONTAIN A SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT (NHTSA RECALL NO. 07T-003). LIGHT TRUCK RADIAL TIRES CARRYING THE WESTLAKE, COMPASS AND YKS BRANDS IN THE FOLLOWING SIZES AND MODELS WITH A PHASE II BUILD DATE RANGE (SHOWN AS THE LAST FOUR DIGITS IN THE DOT NUMBER) OF 0404 (FOURTH WEEK OF 2004) THROUGH 0206 (SECOND WEEK OF 2006), ARE INVOLVED. SIZE MODEL DOT NO. LT235/75R-15 CR861, CR857 7DT5FTS... LT235/85R-16 CR860, CR861, CR857 7DT2FTS... LT245/75R-16 CR860, CR861, CR857 7DT3FTS... LT265/75R-16 CR860, CR861, CR857 7DT4FTS... LT31X10.5 R-15 CR857, CR861 7DT6FTS... PHASE I TIRES, WITH A BUILD DATE RANGE OF JOB 1 THROUGH 0404, CONTAINED A C-SHAPED BELT-EDGE (GUM) STRIP. PHASE III TIRES, BUILD DATE RANGE 0306 THROUGH CURRENT PRODUCTION, REPORTEDLY INCORPORATE BELT-EDGE WEDGES AND NYLON EDGE STRIPS IN AN EFFORT TO MEET THE MORE STRINGENT HIGH-SPEED TEST INCLUDED IN FMVSS 139. AT THIS TIME, NO DECISION HAS BEEN MADE THAT A SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT EXISTS IN EITHER PHASE I OR PHASE III TIRES. GUM STRIPS ARE A COMMON, BUT NOT MANDATORY, COMPONENT USED TO SLOW THE SEPARATION OF BELTS TO BEYOND THE USEFUL LIFE OF THE TIRE. FOR PHASE II, HZR ELIMINATED THE C-SHAPED GUM STRIPS PRESENT IN PHASE I TIRES, ALLEGEDLY WITHOUT INFORMING FTS OF THIS CHANGE. WHEN FTS DISCOVERED THE CHANGE, IT DECIDED THAT CONSTITUTED A SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT, AND RECALLED ITS PHASE II TIRES, 07T-003. THE PURPOSE OF THIS INVESTIGATION WAS TO DETERMINE IF OTHER TIRE IMPORTERS, INCLUDING THOSE IMPLICATED BY FTS IN THEIR DEFECT INFORMATION REPORT DATED JUNE 11, 2007, IMPORTED TIRES OF SIMILAR CONSTRUCTION TO THOSE INVOLVED IN RECALL 07T-003. THE SEVENTEEN (17) TIRE IMPORTERS THAT WERE SENT INFORMATION REQUESTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS INVESTIGATION ARE; AIR LAND SEA-WAYS INC., CAMBRIDGE, CARIBBEAN RUBBER, CO