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黏合帶缺陷可導致胎面分離:}
45萬中國製防滑輪胎全部回收Y
2007-06-27"/
星島日報P.*Gu
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 t#{Fy
( 美聯社新州紐瓦克25日電)監管公路安全的聯邦官員命令新州一家輪胎進口商，全部回收從中國進口的45萬個輪胎。由於這些中國製造的輪胎因缺陷容易出現胎面分離。目前，中國輪胎生產商已被這家進口商告上新州聯邦法庭，要求經濟賠償。#bnY'
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聯邦高速公路安全署發言人霍普金斯說，該部門的執法人員25日告訴新州友聯市的Foreign Tire Sales Inc. 公司(簡稱FTS) ，「讓他們知道，我們要全部回收著重輪胎」。FTS表示，他們自2002年起進口一批數量不明對的輕型卡車防滑輪胎。由於輪胎缺陷，可能導致胎面分離。據稱，這些進口輪胎由中國杭州中策輪胎公司(Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd.,)生產。~
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胎面分離問題曾在2000年，引起了全美最大規模的輪胎回收行動，當年有1470萬個Firestone 牌輪胎因質量問題被召回。T]"JX
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 LQK*
FTS公司在6月11日對聯邦高速公路安全署(NHTSA)表示，由於橡膠黏合帶 (Gum Strip) 這一應有的安全生產程序不符合標準，一批數量不明的輪胎存在嚴重缺陷。據稱，橡膠黏合帶是輪胎鋼絲和胎面間的一道黏合層。tU~.
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 dYyt^>
FTS公司稱，這批由杭州生產商出產的0.6毫米輪胎橡膠黏合帶，比該公司所要求的寬度少一半。FTS公司稱，相信其他進口商也從這家杭州公司進口了輪胎。rRMprQ
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 %P:-{<
FTS公司律師拉維格稱，杭州中策輪胎公司拒絕提供詳細出口數量，令他們無法確定到底有多少輪胎存在這類問題。拉維格稱，有近10名僱員的FTS公司，為調查所費不貲，但卻無法退貨。hb
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 Q#t)J
據稱，由杭州中策公司生產的輪胎，至少4個牌子，分別是西湖Westlake, Compass, Telluride和 YKS。涉及型號包括：LT235/75R-15、LT225/75R-16、LT235/85R-16、LT245/75R-16、LT245/75R-16、LT265/75R-16和LT3X10.5-15。bs"B=_
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 )JgoU/
FTS公司5月31日已將杭州公司告上了紐瓦克聯邦法院。訴訟稱，試驗證明，那些輪胎質量比杭州工廠原來提供的差。訴訟還指稱，回收將令公司倒閉。%OC
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 Hr
FTS公司在這起官司中，要求一筆經濟賠償和法庭發出禁制令，禁止這家杭州公司的輪胎出口美國。K)
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 -s
杭州中策輪胎公司接受《華爾街日報》查詢時表示，他們已了解這一事件，並正積極應訴。目前，該公司的生產和銷售仍然正常進行。>tl"p
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 (V.3
2006年8月12日，費城2名男子駕駛汽車在賓州高速公路行駛時因輪胎導致的車禍身亡。FTS公司今年5月4日成為被告，同時被告的也包括杭州這家輪胎公司。6K~
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_____________________________________________<z[do
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/business/worldbusiness/26tire.html?ref=worldbusiness +`4
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June 26, 2007AK*sM
Chinese Tires Are Ordered Recalled.!r
By ANDREW MARTINR
The New York Times5w
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Federal officials have told a small New Jersey importer to recall 450,000 radial tires for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans after the company disclosed that its Chinese manufacturer had stopped including a safety feature that prevented the tires from separating.zG
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Tread separation is the same defect that led to the recall of millions of Firestone tires in 2000. At the time, tire failure was linked to an increased risk of rollover of light trucks and S.U.V.’s.ts*V
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The company, Foreign Tire Sales of Union, N.J., had originally sought the federal government’s help with a recall, saying it did not have enough money to recall all the tires itself. Typically, importers are responsible for the cost of recalling defective foreign products.>vC7G
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But officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it remained the responsibility of Foreign Tire Sales to pay for the costs of the recall, said Heather Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the agency. She said the agency wanted “a full tire recall” by the company.i#
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The defective tires join a growing list of problematic products with origins in China. A huge recall of potentially tainted pet food in March was followed by widespread reports of toothpaste manufactured with a toxic chemical and toys coated with lead paint.H[l<
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Ms. Hopkins said the agency’s top officials were “outraged” that Foreign Tire Sales’ executives waited more than two years to pass on their suspicions about problems with the tires. The company first suspected problems in October 2005. Almost a year later, in September 2006, the Chinese manufacturer, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, a former state-owned company based in eastern China, acknowledged that a gum strip that prevents the tread from separating was left out of the manufacturing process.fdc
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Lawrence N. Lavigne, a lawyer for Foreign Tire Sales, said the company did not alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the problems until June 11 because officials had no definitive proof of a manufacturing flaw until it was revealed by further testing in May. He said it made no sense to initiate a recall based on suspicions.ft:J
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 U4$.u)
Jeffrey B. Killino, a personal-injury lawyer from Philadelphia, said the company came forward only after it was named as a defendant in a lawsuit, filed in May, involving an accident in which two construction workers were killed and a third was severely injured when a van rolled over. The lawsuit contended that the accident was caused by tread separation in a Hangzhou Zhongce tire.]H^
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Earlier, an ambulance in New Mexico rolled over after a Hangzhou Zhongce tire came apart, though there were no significant injuries, according to documents supplied by Foreign Tire Sales to the federal safety agency.{2
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An official at Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, reached late Monday, declined to comment. The defective tires are sold under the brand names Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS, Mr. Lavigne said.g
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 mU
Tire separation led to a much larger recall in 2000. Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires after at least 271 people were killed and hundreds more injured in accidents involving its tires coming apart.nj
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It is not clear how many defective tires might be on the road.Vy
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 E|/mK
Hangzhou Zhongce has refused to tell Foreign Tire Sales’ officials how long it omitted the gum strip from its manufacturing process, Mr. Lavigne said. Foreign Tire Sales said it believed that it purchased about 450,000 of the tires in question from the Chinese company.6L
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 (0M)&
Hangzhou Zhongce sold the tires to at least six other importers or distributors in the United States.d`f?=}
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Foreign Tire Sales, which has just seven employees, buys foreign tires, imports them and then resells them to domestic distributors. Mr. Lavigne said the company did not physically handle the tires.3W:G
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The company began negotiating with Hangzhou Zhongce in 2000 to design and manufacture radial tires for light trucks. The tires were supposed to exceed federal safety standards, partly by including a gum strip between the plies to prevent separation, and ultimately passed a road test in which they were driven 40,000 miles, Mr. Lavigne said.)cDs
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 [&8[S>
In October 2005, the company said it became concerned because of a sharp increase in customer complaints about the Hangzhou Zhongce radial tires. In investigating the complaints, Foreign Tire Sales’ officials became suspicious that Hangzhou Zhongce was manufacturing the tires without the gum strips or with inadequate gum strips, but the Chinese company denied it.Q_
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Tests of tire segments conducted by an outside firm were not conclusive but “seemed to indicate that there were no gum strips or insufficient gum strips in the inspected tires,” Foreign Tire Sales wrote in its June 11 report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.zEe^
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 }S/IY5
Hangzhou Zhongce admitted in September 2006 that it had “unilaterally decided to omit the gum strips” in the tires, the report says. The Chinese company was “generally unresponsive” when asked how many tires were involved and what they were going to do to resolve the problem, the report says.+}$
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 i`=5
Foreign Tire Sales stopped buying the light-truck tires from Hangzhou Zhongce in June 2006.QQ:Mq
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 9J:
In May, Foreign Tire Sales conducted another round of road tests using 2005 Hangzhou Zhongce tires. This time, the tread separated after just 25,000 miles, the report said.QW
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 +7I>>Q
Mr. Lavigne said it appeared that Hangzhou Zhongce at times used no gum strips on the tires and in other instances, used half the amount of gum strip that was required by its agreement with the company.I<_0c
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 8n
Since Foreign Tire Sales maintains no inventory of tires, he said the company would have to buy new tires for every tire that was returned in the recall. That, added to the cost of disposing of the old tires, he said, would cost about $200 for each tire.J #"Ra
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 *W(7
“We don’t really know where to start,” he said. “There’s no way F.T.S. can recall this universe of tires. It will have to go belly up.”I
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