2007 recall of Chinese LT tires prompted greater scrutiny

It recalled the tires — originally estimated at 450,000 — after submitting to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) a report showing that the Hangzhou tires lacked sufficient gum strips between the belts to prevent tread separation.

FTS also estimated that the recall would cost $50 million to $80 million and told NHTSA it could only pay 10 to 15 percent of the cost.

A while later, FTS reduced the number of tires involved to 255,000, and estimated the recall cost at less than $20 million.

Mr. Lavigne, who was FTS' attorney at the time of the recall, became a company executive at that time.

The final tally of tires returned in the recall was only a small percentage of the total, according to Mr. Lavigne, with 7,254 tires from dealer stock and 1,650 from consumers.

“We went way beyond the requirements NHTSA set forth,” he said. “We were one of the first companies to use YouTube to alert customers to a recall.”Mr. Lavigne, however, was less than pleased by NHTSA's response to FTS.

“Because we are a small company, we asked NHTSA for help,” he said. “The response we got was, ‘Quit shirking your responsibility.'”

Since 2007, many new tire factories have opened in China, and the new owners seem to understand their legal responsibilities well, according to Mr. Lavigne.

“I like to say that the Great Wall is cracking,” he said. “There's a lot more cooperation between manufacturers and importers, and manufacturers understand much better what will happen if there's a recall.

“Chinese companies used to think that if you met NHTSA standards, that was enough,” Mr. Lavigne said. “They didn't realize that was just what you had to do to get into the U.S. It didn't mean your product was high-quality or safe.”

Besides attending to the fine print in the contracts, FTS also performs its own, extremely thorough testing of every tire it sells, according to Mr. Lavigne.

“We have a full-time engineer who goes to every factory for testing,” he said. “The factories say we're a pain in the neck to deal with, but they've come to understand why we do it. They know they can't stick their heads in the sand.”

Mr. Lavigne said FTS imports ProMeter car, light truck/SUV and medium truck tires from China, the Flagship brand, Otani truck, bus and OTR tires from Thailand, along with the Danzig and Brutus labels. He noted that “95 percent of our tires are sourced from China.”