WASHINGTON — Requests for new Department of Transportation (DOT) tire plant identity codes — necessary for selling road-going tires in the U.S. — dropped measurably in 2012, resulting in the issuance of just a dozen new codes following the 51 new codes issued during 2011 and 22 in 2010.
Two of the new codes issued last year were for the same plant, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.'s factory under construction in Rio Grande, Brazil. The $345 million car tire plant is scheduled to start production before year-end.
Of the remaining 10, seven are for plants in China and three in India.
The new codes, and the corresponding plants, are:
Code Company/Location
- D6 Fujian Haian Rubber Co. Ltd., Putian City, Fujian, China
- NA, WC Sumitomo Rubber do Brasil Ltda., Parana, Brazil
- RP Taizhou Taiyangfeng Rubber Co. Ltd., Xianju County, Zhejiang, China.
- WD Hebei Tianrui Rubber Co. Ltd., Handan, Hebei, China
- WH Shandong Fenglun Tyre Co. Ltd., Zaozhuang, Shandong, China
- WR JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India
- XV Tolins Tyres Pvt. Ltd., Kalady, Kerala, India
- XW Qingzhou Huachen Rubber Co. Ltd., Qingzhou, Shan- dong, China
- YT Birla Tyres / Kesoram Industries Ltd., Haridwar, Uttar Khand, India
- 7C Laiwu Sunshine Tyre Co. Ltd., Laiwu, Shandong, China
- 82 Shandong Wanshine Tire Co. Ltd., Zibo City, Shandong, China
Hebei Tianrui Rubber describes itself as a producer of agricultural, OTR, forklift and trailer tires, under the brand names Ruisen, Wanghua and Hengjiu. The company has a 600,000-sq.-ft. plant in Handan City, China.
Fujian Haian Rubber Co. Ltd. specializes in giant radial OTR tires up to 57-inch rim diameter at its plant in Fengting Industry Park of Xianyou County, Fujian Province, China.
Shandong Fenglun Tyre produces passenger, truck/bus and OTR radials at a plant in Zaozhuang, Shandong, China, using the brand names Fenglun, Itirestone, OK Tyre and Smartstone.
Shandong Wanshine Tire is an all-steel radial truck tire producer, established in 2010 by Shandong Tongji Wanshine Group, Shandong Wanshine Construction Co. and Russia's Ferromin Group, according to the firm's website. Brand names include Kunyuan and Wanshine.
Taizhou Taiyangfeng Rubber is listed as a subsidiary of Taizhou Enpower Rubber Seal Co. Ltd. making specialty and industrial tires for ATVs, go-karts, golf carts, lawn mowers, trailers, etc.. under the Sun.F brand name.
Tolins Tyres is a producer of car, light truck/van and farm/OTR tires and precured retreading products based in Kalady, Kerala, India.
Tire Business was unable to discover background information on Qingzhou Huachen Rubber Co. Ltd. and Laiwu Sunshine Tyre Co. Ltd.
In addition, China's Sentaida Group Co. Ltd. and Deestone Tire Co. Ltd. of Thailand have re-registered DOT codes under new names.
Sentaida changed the P2 DOT code issued originally under the Cenchelyn Tyre Co. Ltd. name to the name Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd.
Deestone's KA code is now registered to SVIZZ One Corp. Ltd., but the contact address is unchanged and the website still uses an @deestone suffix for emails. The renamed company lists Thunderer as its brand name.
The latest additions bring to 320 the number of tire plant DOT codes issued to tire factories in China, according to the DOT's database. As many as two dozen, however, are considered duplicates for the same plants.
The latest list from the DOT shows 956 codes issued, including 85 issued in the past three years.
Of the 956 codes listed, at least 130 are for plants that are closed or no longer make tires, with another 30 or so for retread plants, factories that don't make tires or make only bicycle tires and/or tubes.
The DOT symbol indicates the tire maker certifies tires bearing the mark meet all U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard requirements.
The manufacturer is not required to test the tires, but if they are sold in the U.S. they are subject to random testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), with penalties assessed if the tires aren't in compliance with federal standards.
Tires found not in compliance with these federal standards will be subject to recall, and the manufacturer is subject to civil penalties of up to $6,000 per tire—up to a maximum of $17.4 million for any related series of violations, according to agency documents.
Officially, the transportation department keeps codes for closed or sold plants in its active list for up to eight years after a change occurs, covering the limit of legal jurisdiction in which the DOT has to order a recall. Some of the codes in the active list, however, are for plants that are closed or no longer make tires, with another 30 or so for retread plants, factories that don't make tires or make only bicycle tires and/or tubes.
The DOT symbol indicates the tire maker certifies tires bearing the mark meet all U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard requirements.
The manufacturer is not required to test the tires, but if they are sold in the U.S. they are subject to random testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), with penalties assessed if the tires aren't in compliance with federal standards.
Tires found not in compliance with these federal standards will be subject to recall, and the manufacturer is subject to civil penalties of up to $6,000 per tire—up to a maximum of $17.4 million for any related series of violations, according to agency documents.
Officially, the transportation department keeps codes for closed or sold plants in its active list for up to eight years after a change occurs, covering the limit of legal jurisdiction in which the DOT has to order a recall. Some of the codes in the active list, however, are for plants that closed more than 30 years ago.