30 million defective tire valve stems

[Terri Kennedy]

Yikes! Fatal Rollover Prompts Probe into Chinese-Made Tire Valve Stems Safety (http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080612/pl_usnw/fatal_rollover_prompts_probe_into_chinese_made_tir e_valve_stems_safety)

As many as 30 million replacement rubber valves stems, imported to the U.S. from China beginning in August 2006, can crack prematurely, causing tires to lose air. Air loss at highway speeds may result in a tire failure and loss-of-control crash.

[Plaz]

:ack:

Glad I have metal TPMS stems.

Oh, but wait... my GY F1 GSD3s are of the Chinese made variety... :eeps:

[lupinsea]

Hm.

I like my rubber valve stems, epsecially on my Jeep. If I had the metal ones they'd probable get knocked off on the rocks. Where as the rubber flex a bit.

Still. This sucks.

[Pinecone]

Well, if people actually knew what to do when a tire went flat, and actually knew how to drive, it wouldn't be such a big deal. :)

[lupinsea]

And if pigs had wings they could fly.

[Terri Kennedy]

Yikes! Fatal Rollover Prompts Probe into Chinese-Made Tire Valve Stems Safety

It only took another half a year to get an official recall out:

http://www.tirevalverecall.net (http://www.tirevalverecall.net/)

Of course, there is still no way to determine what cars these valve stems are on. So if you bought a car or had tires mounted between July 2006 and now, you are at risk. But I bet they're not going to send out a hardcopy recall notice to a population that big.

The NHTSA page (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/results.cfm?rcl_id=08T028&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=email) says "DILL WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND REPLACE THE AFFECTED VALVE STEMS FREE OF CHARGE." I don't see how they expect to be able to accomplish that, as these stems went to independent shops. While Dill might have info as to what shops purchased the affected batches, I don't think that shop records will show what wheels the valves were used on.

[ff]

All that matters is that American companies maximized profits by sending the tire stem work overseas, and by requiring the use of inferior raw materials, production techniques, and QA/testing methodologies. The shareholders are happy, which means big daddy CEO gets to buy another mega-yacht after collecting his year-end bonus.

[clyde]

Bren, sound familiar? :lol:

We both had valve stem failures on your cheap ass trailer tires due to premature cracking