WASHINGTON (June 13, 2008) — Tech International Inc. is voluntarily recalling 6 million TR413 valve stems made by a Chinese firm because they may fail.
The Johnstown, Ohio-based importer of tire valve stems said Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. Ltd. made the valve stems between July and November 2006. The rubber portion of the valve stems may crack and allow air loss, leading to tire failure, Tech International told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Tech International will replace for free all defective valve stems and also all tires that show any damage related to defective valve stems. However, the company told NHTSA that it doesn't know the identity of the valves' end-users and has no way of knowing when any of the valves it sells were made.
As many as 30 million defective Chinese valve stems, and possibly more, could have come into the U.S. beginning in August 2006, according to Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a Rehoboth, Mass.-based auto safety advocacy group with close ties to plaintiffs' attorneys.