Millions of tire valve stems manufactured in China could cause cracking and air loss in tires-a situation with the potential for major repercussions in the tire industry.
The biggest problem, industry experts agree, is that there's no sure way to know which tires have the valves in question, or even to tell if a tire valve stem is defective unless the tire is dismounted and inspected from the inside.
On June 2, Tech International Inc., a Johnstown, Ohio-based supplier of tire repair materials and an importer of tire valve stems, voluntarily recalled 6 million TR413 snap-in tire valve stems made by Chinese firm Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. Ltd. between July and November 2006.
The rubber portion of the valve stems, Tech International said, may crack and allow air loss, leading to tire failure. The company promised to replace not only all recalled valve stems free of charge but all tires that showed damage from valve stem cracking.
Tech International notified distributors May 13, three weeks before the official recall, of potential issues with TR413 valve stems. There was, however, a major caveat.
``Tech International does not know the identity of any end-users of the TR413 valves and has no realistic method of determining the identity of such individuals,'' the company said in a submission to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). ``Further, there is no realistic method for Tech International to identify the production dates of any specific TR413 valves.''
This recall followed closely on NHTSA's May 15 announcement of a preliminary evaluation of up to 30 million TR400 Series snap-in tire valve stems made by Topseal, a subsidiary of Shanghai Baolong, for Oxford, N.C.-based distributor Dill Air Controls Products L.L.C.
Dill executives met with NHTSA officials April 30 to discuss potential defects with the valve stems, according to an agency notice. Some valve stems made during a five-month period in 2006 seemed to have problems with cracking due to ozone exposure, Dill told NHTSA.
Not all of the valve stems shipped to Dill during that period are suspect, according to Brian Rigney, Dill general manager.
The 30 million figure is the number of valves made during a time period, Mr. Rigney said. ``We haven't bookended it yet, but we are working with an independent laboratory to determine which lots have problems.''
Once Dill has determined which lots of valve stems are bad, it will share the information with both its distributors and NHTSA, he said. The firm also plans to post a consumer bulletin soon about the valve stems on its Web site, www.dillaircontrols.com.
Dill and Scottsdale, Ariz.-based tire retailing giant Discount Tire Co. Inc. have been named as defendants in a product liability case filed March 18 in Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit Court by the family of the late Robert A. Monk, who was killed in a rollover crash near Gainesville, Fla., on Nov. 11, 2007.
The lawsuit alleges that a Dill TR413 valve stem, installed in the vehicle's right rear tire at a Discount Tire outlet, caused the tire to fail, in turn causing the accident.
Plaintiffs seek compensatory damages, costs, interest and other relief against Dill and Discount Tire.
Richard Newsome and Frank Melton, attorneys for the Monk family, also filed for certification of a class-action suit June 12 with the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, seeking the recall of the tire valve stems and compensation for their owners.
Mr. Rigney and Jeff Stine, Discount Tire senior vice president in charge of marketing and corporate communications, both declined comment on the pending litigation.
Dill issued a statement about the lawsuit from its legal counsel. ``Dill Air Controls takes very seriously any concern raised about the quality of products it makes, as well as products manufactured by others that Dill sells under the Dill brand name,'' the statement said.
``There's no way of determining whether a valve stem is subject to cracks before it's installed,'' Mr. Stine said, regarding tire valve stems in general. ``We have to rely on what the manufacturer tells us.''
While there may be visible cracking on the outside of a tire around the valve stem if the stem is defective, the only real way to tell is to dismount the tire and check the inside, said industry spokesmen and safety advocates alike.
``If you bought tires during this (2006) time frame, you really ought to be checking your valve stems,'' said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies (SRS) Inc., a Rehoboth, Mass.-based safety consultancy with close ties to plaintiffs' attorneys.
The valve stem probe brought agreement on one point between SRS and the Rubber Manufacturers Association. Both organizations said the situation once more pointed to the importance of motorists checking their tires regularly for proper inflation.