WASHINGTON—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has submitted two petitions with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for decisions of inconsequential noncompliance for various mismarked Mastercraft, Big O and Cooper Multi-Mile tires.
One of the petitions involves a large population of tires—22,188 tubeless radial tires manufactured between Jan. 10 and April 30, 2016.
The tires are Mastercraft LSR Grand Touring tires, size 215/60R16; Mastercraft LSR Grand Touring tires, size 225/60R16; Big O Legacy Tour Plus tires, size 215/60R16; and Big O Legacy Tour Plus tires, size 225/60R16.
Because of a mold error, the tires are marked “TREAD 1 PLY NYLON + 2 PLY STEEL + 2 PLY POLYESTER” instead of the correct “TREAD 1 PLY NYLON + 2 PLY STEEL + 1 PLY POLYESTER,” Cooper told NHTSA.
The error has no effect on the performance or durability of the tires, and all tires meet or exceed all federal performance requirements, Cooper said.
The second petition involves 37 Cooper Multi-Mile Grand Tour LS tires, size 205/70R15 tires manufactured March 24-29, 2016.
The tires in question bear on their outboard sidewalls the manufacturer's identification mark “Y9,” denoting they were manufactured at a facility in Indonesia, instead of the correct “U9,” denoting the tires were made in Tupelo, Miss.
Cooper told NHTSA the noncompliance was inconsequential because the U9 marking is molded on the inboard sidewalls.
Also, Cooper said it has informed all internal personnel responsible for manual processing of tire registration cards of the error, so registration cards containing the “Y9” designation will be processed as “U9” when all other information correctly identifies the tires.
Both notices appeared in the Aug. 3 Federal Register. One can be found here. The other is available here.