OXFORD, NC-One year after a fatal crash and seven months after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a defect investigation into 30 million Chinese-manufactured tire valve stems that could crack prematurely, Dill Air Control Products has finally announced a recall.

In early December, the North Carolina-based distributor agreed to recall 1.8 million tire valve stems, acknowledging that three models of valve stems, the TR 413, 414 and 418, were manufactured without an additive to protect the rubber from deteriorating under exposure to ozone. The recall covers a fraction of the population that could be affected by the defect. An estimated 30 million tire valve stems were manufactured during the period in question.

The announcement closes a NHTSA Engineering Analysis into the defective valve stems.

Dill claims that the defect affects fewer than 200,000 valve stems confined to two lots manufactured by Topseal, a division of the Chinese conglomerate, Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. Ltd, in July 2006. (Topseal and Dill share corporate ownership. In March 2005, Shanghai Baolong and Zhongding Group purchased an ownership stake in Eaton Corporation’s Roxboro, North Carolina plant. The Chinese manufacturer renamed the company Dill Air Control Products and relocated the facility to Oxford.)

But Dill said it would recall all the valve stems manufactured in 2006, because it is impossible to identify the suspect lots. This campaign follows a customer satisfaction program, a recall of the defective tire stems from another distributor, two separate defect investigations – all emanating from a wrongful death lawsuit. On November 11, Robert Monk of Orlando, Fla. died when the right rear wheel of his 1998 Ford Explorer failed, triggering a rollover crash. The tire failure was linked to a cracked Dill TR413 valve stem and in March, the Monk family filed suit against Dill. The following month, Dill officials met with NHTSA to discuss the potential snap-in tire valve defect. Dill described a problem with valves leaking from cracks due to apparent ozone exposure and indicated that an early investigation had traced the concern to a five-month manufacturing period in 2006 – even though discussions about the integrity of the tire valve stem had taken place within the company two years earlier.

Three days after its meeting with NHTSA, Dill sent a Technical Bulletin to some major tire retailers advising them that the company had received complaints of surface cracks appearing on the outside of the rubber near the rim hole in several models. Despite this acknowledgement to dealers, the company didn’t initiate a recall to alert consumers.

In May, NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigations opened a preliminary evaluation into the safety of the TR413 and Dill announced a customer satisfaction program. In June, another distributor of Topseal valve stems, Tech International of Johnstown, Ohio filed a separate defect report recalling six million valve stems, after customers reported problems with premature cracking. Tech International also claimed that the defect was actually confined to only 8,600 TRI 413 valve stems, manufactured between July and November 2006, but, like Dill, offered free replacements for any of the 6 million sold — and compensation for any tire damage caused by the defective part — because it was impossible to identify the defective lots or the end users.

“NHTSA was not even notified until the Monk family filed suit against Dill. Sadly, it took this fatal crash, a great deal of publicity, and a federal investigation before the company decided to recall” said Rich Newsome, the Orlando, Florida attorney representing the Monks.

In its Safety Defect and Non-Compliance Report, Dill said that it and Topseal engaged independent rubber engineering experts to perform mass spectrometry analysis on samples from lots produced from June to November 2006. According to Dill, the analysis revealed that two lots demonstrated “substantially different chemical properties than samples from other control periods.” Topseal admitted that, around that same time period, it had changed its distributor of the anti-ozone chemical agent used in the rubber compound. Dill concluded that the rubber used in the suspect lots was compounded using sub-standard anti-ozone chemicals.

Even before this NHTSA-inspired inquiry and the change in anti-ozone suppliers, Dill and Topseal were aware that its valve stems in 2006 had problems. In April 2006, the board of Dill Air Control Products Corporation met, with members from the U.S. and China attending. This was the first such meeting since Shanghai Baolong purchased the company. Amid the discussions about business strategy and future goals, the group discussed current challenges. At a technical exchange between Dill and Topseal, the managers discussed “problems such as tire valve leaking, core of tire valve not firm and so on,” according to a Shanghai Baolong report of the meeting.

While the recall signaled the closing of one probe into Dill-distributed valve stems, other Topseal valve stems remain under investigation. In late September, Safety Research & Strategies requested that NHTSA open a defect investigation into the Topseal tire valve stems used as OEM equipment in some Ford vehicles.

SRS was persuaded by its brief field survey that found prematurely cracked TR414 valve stems on 2007 Ford models, all bearing the Topseal symbol on the base of the stem and all demonstrating the failure modes identical to those in the Dill-labeled models. SRS also conducted an independent analysis of the agency’s complaint records and found that Ford was a standout among OE valve stem failure complaints, with 35 unique vehicle reports alleging valve stem failures on 2007 and 2008 Ford vehicles.

And on October 14, ODI opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE08-060) into the valve stems, citing the possibility that they may crack due to poor ozone resistance. Although Ford claims that loss of tire air pressure doesn’t represent a safety hazard, the investigation is still pending.

Copyright © Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. 2008

Finding other complaints about this distribution company is easy enough for anyone with a passing familiarity with Google. You can read the dire warnings from consumers, or horror stories from former dealers who malign the products, the warranties and the company itself or about the fist fight that nearly erupted at the company’s exhibition booth at the Indianapolis scooter show in 2005, when a group of dealers showed up demanding access to repair parts. In July, the Consumer Product Safety Commission forced the importer to recall about 144 ATVs intended for 12-15-year olds, because the vehicles lacked front brakes, a manual fuel shut-off, padding to cover the sharp edges on the handlebar assembly, inappropriate tire pressure and an adequate flag pole bracket.

Holding the manufacturer accountable in a products liability case is a lot more difficult. The distributor may be located in the great state of Texas, but its products come directly from China. And, as an SRS investigation demonstrated, just identifying the actual manufacturer is a daunting task. Under the Consumer Product Safety Act, the term ‘manufacturer’ includes any person who imports a consumer product. Importers are directly responsible for the safety of goods they bring into the U.S. Yet, some attorneys say that it is critical to investigate the Chinese manufacturer, as well.

Jeffrey Killino of Woloshin & Killino of Philadephia has pursued several product liability lawsuits against Chinese-made products. In one of his most high-profile cases, Killino discovered that the Chinese manufacturer had a significant financial presence in the U.S.

“I recognize that the conventional wisdom is that because you have to deal with the jurisdictional challenges, you go after the importer,” Killino said. “And I’m not saying there aren’t valid reasons, in some cases, to exclude the Chinese manufacturer. But you have to link the product back to where it came from. You have to explore that.”

China is now the world’s second largest exporter of goods. In 2007, the U.S. imported $321.5 billion worth of Chinese goods. America has welcomed this tide of cheap Chinese products – they have buoyed the bottom line of the Wal-Marts and propped up the standard of living for their customers in an era of eroded incomes. But, the hidden costs of Chinese products are making news headlines with increasing regularity: defective tires and automotive components, tainted pet food, toothpaste, baby formula and pharmaceuticals, lead-coated toys and sofas that cause rashes. These sub-standard products have been linked to deaths and have raised public alarm.

Finding the line between a U.S. distributor and a Chinese manufacturer is neither short nor straight; it more closely resembles a web of interconnected companies obscuring the real owners. The Texas importer is a good example. It maintains offices in Texas and New Jersey as a distributor of recreational vehicles: motor scooters and motorcycles, go-carts and ATVs. SRS was able to identify the manufacturer of the go-cart involved in the fatal crash by locating the Frame Identification Number, a unique identifier which led to a company located in Yongkang, Zhejiang, China.

But this Chinese company is actually one of five holding companies which manufacture vehicles owned by a Chinese investment group. The holding company purchased a bankrupted U.S. gold-mining firm to be used as a shell corporation. The shell corporation, through a series of stock exchanges with a Hong Kong firm and another entity located in the Virgin Islands, became a subsidiary of a second holding company owned by the original Chinese investment group. That holding company listed the Texas importer as its largest U.S. distributor.

U.S. Customs records showed that the consignee for the Chinese go-carts was not the Texas distributor, but a second company, which shared the same U.S. address. This second Texas company also imported products from a third holding company owned by the Chinese investment group.

SRS’s investigation identified four other manufacturers of an identical go-cart, including one model that was recalled for defective seat belt buckles that unlatch in a crash. In what appears to be a concerted effort to prevent tracking and larger recalls, manufacturer names, makes and models of these products change with regularity, as do the various shell companies that are involved in their distribution.

In a second instance, SRS found that a valve stem linked to a 2007 fatal crash led back to a Chinese manufacturer, the Topseal division of Shanghai Baolong – the same company that made valve stems for another distributor who recalled them for premature cracking.

On November 11, Robert Monk of Orlando, Fla. died when the right rear tire of his 1998 Ford Explorer failed, triggering a rollover crash. The cracked Dill TR413 valve stem at issue was actually manufactured by Topseal, a subsidiary of Shanghai Baolong Industries Co., Ltd for Dill Air Control Products, LLC – an American company that was purchased by Chinese investors who have financial interests in the Chinese manufacturer.

In September, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration upgraded its investigation to an Engineering Analysis into cracked tire valve stems. In its initial submission to NHTSA, Dill described its corporate and decision-making structure with Topseal as one that was intertwined, yet, at arms length:

Since its inception in March 2005, Dill has purchased tire valves branded under the DILL ACP brand name from Topseal. The location has remained the same. Dill is majority owned by Longwei Holding Company. Topseal (Shanghai) Auto-Parts Co., Ltd. is the supplier. This plant began making tire valves under the DILL ACP brand name in 2003. There is no direct equity relationship between Topseal and Dill. Some of the persons or entities who own equity in Dill also own equity in Topseal (Shanghai) Auto-Parts Co., Ltd. who is the supplier. This plant began making tire valves under the DILL ACP brand name in 2003. There is no direct equity relationship between Topseal and Dill. Some of the persons or entities who own equity in Dill also own equity in Topseal. The Board consists of two Dill managers and two other members representing equity ownership – one is an investor who has an equity stake in Dill, the other represents the holding company with an equity stake in Dill.

In Killino’s case, the relationship between the U.S. importer and the Chinese manufacturer was less circumlocutious.

On the August 12, 2006, Rafael B. Melo, Claudeir Jose Figueiredo and Carlos Souza, were passengers in a 2000 Chevrolet Express 2500 Cargo Van, bearing a Compass Telluride steel belted radial made in China in 2004. The van was traveling south on Pennsylvania Route 476, when the tire experienced a tread / belt separation causing the van’s driver to lose control. The vehicle rolled over and the three passengers were ejected. Melo and Figueiredo died in the crash. Souza suffered a permanent brain injury. The failed tire was imported to the U.S. by Foreign Tire Sales of Union, New Jersey. It was manufactured by the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company, which FTS alleged, had left a critical component out of some 450,000 tires sold under the names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS. Killino sued FTS and Hangzhou, touching off a recall in August 2007 that generated a lot of press. In the course of his investigation, he discovered that Hangzhou’s $10 million insurance policy was with a global company with assets in the U.S.

Killino says including the Chinese manufacturer in the lawsuit had other advantages: “The acts of the Chinese are so egregious that they allow you make a punitive case at trial. It will also drive the compensatory verdict and make liability stronger,” he says. “When the jury hears how bad the conduct of the manufacturer was, they become angrier at the importer who didn’t protect consumers.”

Finally, he says, drawing the Chinese into the lawsuit can create stronger pressure for a settlement, because the Chinese are very sensitive to criticism.

“They are extremely concerned about saving face,” he says.

Copyright @ Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., 2008

Washington, D.C. – Less than two weeks after Safety Research & Strategies requested the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open a defect investigation into Chinese tire valve stems used as OEM equipment in some Ford vehicles, the Office of Defects Investigation has complied.

On September 25, SRS President Sean Kane sent a letter to Daniel Smith, NHTSA’s Associate Administrator for Enforcement, asking him to widen the current probe on prematurely cracking rubber snap-in valve stems manufactured by Shanghai Baolong / Topseal Automotive to include Ford vehicles which also used the Topseal stems. On October 14, ODI opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE08-060) into more than a million Topseal stems on Ford vehicles, citing the possibility that they may crack due to poor ozone resistance, leading to tire damage and a possible loss-of-control crash.

The valve stems have been under investigation since May 15, when NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation into the safety of model TR413, a 1.25 inch valve stem for a 0.453 inch rim hole, which is frequently installed as replacements in tires as they are serviced or replaced. In April, Shanghai Baolong’s American branch, Dill Air Control Products, reported the defect to the agency, telling NHTSA that valves, manufactured from July 2006 to November 2006, may leak from cracks caused by ozone exposure. The meeting was prompted by a lawsuit filed by the family of a fatal crash victim, alleging that the crash was caused by a defective tire valve stem.

On November 11, Robert Monk of Orlando, Fla. died when the right rear wheel of his 1998 Ford Explorer failed, triggering a rollover crash. The tire failure was linked to a cracked Dill TR413 valve stem manufactured by Dill Air Control Products. In March, the Monk family filed suit against the Oxford, North Carolina firm.

Dill also sent a Technical Bulletin to major tire retailers advising them that the company had received complaints of surface cracks appearing on the outside of the rubber near the rim hole in several models: TR 413, TR 413 chrome, TR 414, and TR 418 Dill ACP valve stems. “When the rubber is exposed to high levels of ozone as it is being stressed, surface cracks can appear. High speeds and an unsupportive rim profile allow the rubber valve to flex at a greater angle and may cause these cracks to propagate, leading to a slow leak of air,” the bulletin said. Dill has yet to issue a recall.

In June, Tech International, a distributor based in Johnstown, Ohio, filed a defect report claiming that an estimated 8,600 out of 6 million TRI413 valve stems, manufactured by Shanghai Baolong between July and November 2006 were affected. On September 22, the agency upgraded the Dill valve stem investigation to an Engineering Analysis based on a total of 28,000 reports of cracked tire valve stems.

SRS was persuaded by other evidence that the cracked valve stem problem was probably just as acute in Ford vehicles which used Topseal valve stems as OEM equipment. A small field survey found prematurely cracked TR414 valve stems on 2007 Ford models throughout the U.S., all bearing the Topseal symbol on the base of the stem. In fact, the failure modes appeared to be identical to those identified in the Dill-labeled models. In addition, SRS’s independent analysis of the agency’s complaint records showed that Ford was a standout among OE valve stem failure complaints, with 35 unique vehicle reports alleging valve stem failures on 2007 and 2008 Ford vehicles.

In its appeal to NHTSA, Kane argued that the agency should widen the scope of its investigation, because the true extent of the problem would most likely be much larger than the complaint data suggested. Ford vehicle owners would be more likely to take their leaking tire problems to a local tire shop instead of a Ford dealer, thus depressing the number of warranty claims or repairs documented by Ford shops. Further, tire-related consumer claims presented to vehicle dealers are frequently referred to local tire dealers who sell the subject tire brand and model.

Kane noted:

Underreporting valve stem complaints is a significant issue. Even now after media coverage of the issue and the agency’s investigation, many tire shops are still unaware of the defect. If a customer presents a tire to a service shop that is leaking and the service professionals determine the leak is from the stem, it is almost always replaced without further inquiry. Because rubber snap-in valve stems are inexpensive commodities that have generally performed well for many decades, a potential defect trend is not part of the conversation. We have contacted many tire and service shops around the country and continue to find that the valve stem issue is largely undocumented — even in shops that have seen an increase in valve stem cracking.

Copyright © Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., 2008

Dill has acknowledged that 30 million of the suspect and hard-to track replacement valves may be on shelves of tire retailers and distributors and on vehicles. And the scope of the problem is likely to expand – more recent evidence has emerged that appears to show that defective valve stems were also used as original equipment on some 2007 model year vehicles.

On June 2, Tech International of Johnstown, Ohio filed a recall report with NHTSA, after discovering a manufacturing defect in its replacement snap-in tire valve stem manufactured by Shangai Baolong Industries Co., Ltd. of Shanghai. The Model TR413 is a 1.25 inch valve stem for a 0.453 inch rim hole, installed as replacements in tires as they are serviced or replaced. Tech International claimed that the defect was actually confined to only 8,600 valve stems, manufactured between July and November 2006. The company didn’t elaborate on how it determined the problem affected only a small percentage of the valves.

On May 15, NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation into the safety of the TR413, after Shangai Baolong’s American branch, Dill Air Control Products, reported that the family of a fatal crash victim filed suit against it, alleging that the crash was caused by a defective tire valve stem.

Safety Research & Strategies and Orlando attorney Richard Newsome, who represents the Monk family, sought to alert the public, by issuing a press release warning the public of the safety hazard of driving with cracked tire valve stems and criticized Dill for doing so little to get the defective components out of circulation.

“Radial tires do not show signs of underinflation by a visual inspection until they are significantly underinflated, at which point the tire may have sustained irreparable damage. Motorists may not realize that they are driving on tires that are underinflated and overloaded,” SRS President Sean E. Kane said. “The only way to tell if you have a valve stem made by this company is to dismount the tire from the wheel to examine it from the inside. Once they are out of the box, and on a vehicle there is no tracking for these products so you can’t notify owners. If you’re not checking tires pressure regularly, now is the time to get into the habit.”

But Dill has not delivered this message to end users. The company has only notified its tire distributors to inspect their inventory for the suspect lots and recommended “out of an abundance of caution” that tire retailers inspect the valve stems on vehicles that received replacements between September 2006 and June 2007 if they return for service. Following the SRS – Newsome press release, Dill has added information to their web site about how to inspect for valve stem cracking.

“It’s not an abundance of caution to wait for customers to return to retailers to inspect for defective valves” Newsome says. “An abundance of caution would have Dill alerting the public who bought tires after August 2006 that they need to have their valves inspected and to pay close attention to tire inflation pressure to prevent further tragedies.”

Typically, tire valve stems are an under-the-radar defect. Because the component is an inexpensive commodity and disposable, technicians or consumers may simply replace a cracked tire valve, without suspecting it is part of a larger defect trend or that it is a serious safety hazard that could lead to a severe crash. Al Walker was an exception. Walker, a Prius owner and computer expert from North Reading, Massachusetts, upgraded his OEM tires to Michelin Hydroedge tires and discovered that the valve stems, which the tire shop replaced when it replaced the tires, had begun to fail.

I was really disturbed to discover, only a year after getting the new tires that the valve stems on my wheels were starting to crack around their own bases and appeared to be well on the way to leaking or possibly even separating completely from the rims. Now, *that* would suck at highway speed, wouldn’t it??

Walker, who wrote about his experience in November 2007 and posted it on an enthusiast website discovered that his snap-in valves came from Dill Air Controls. Walker noted that Dill was “evidently one of the elder ‘big three’ in the tire valve business” and that “North Carolina used to be the glorious hub of tire valve manufacture, but recently they and everyone else such as Eaton and Schrader have been forced to outsource and most of their product is actually made in China like everything else.” Walker went on to report that he contacted Dill and was told that about the challenges of quality controls facing companies who outsource manufacturing and a Dill employee presciently indicated the most likely cause was lack of good anti-ozone protection in the rubber compound. “He hinted that making things out of good long-lasting EPDM elastomers has almost become a lost art. Well, as far as I’m concerned that solves the big mystery.”

To the vast majority of consumers, however, tire valve stems – their importance to tire safety and their potential for failure remain a mystery.

A Fatal Crash Touches Off a Probe

On November 11, Robert Monk of Orlando, Fla. died when the right rear wheel of his 1998 Ford Explorer failed, triggering a rollover crash. The tire failure was linked to a cracked Dill TR413 replacement valve stem manufactured by Dill Air Control Products. In March, the Monk family filed suit against the Oxford, North Carolina company.

In April, Dill officials met with NHTSA to discuss the problem, and three days later, sent a Technical Bulletin to some major tire retailers advising them that the company had received complaints of surface cracks appearing on the outside of the rubber near the rim hole in several models: TR 413, TR 413 chrome, TR 414, and TR 418 Dill ACP valve stems. “When the rubber is exposed to high levels of ozone as it is being stressed, surface cracks can appear. High speeds and an unsupportive rim profile allow the rubber valve to flex at a greater angle and may cause these cracks to propagate, leading to a slow leak of air,” the bulletin said.

Dill officials told NHTSA that valves, manufactured from July 2006 to November 2006, may leak from cracks caused by ozone exposure, leading to the opening of a defect investigation on May 15.

On June 2, Tech International, a distributor of Shanghai Baolong-made replacement tire valve stems, announced a recall of 6 million TR413 valve stems, offering free replacements and compensation for any tire damage caused by the defective part. According to their recall letter, “Tech International does not know the identity of any end-users of the TR413 valves and has no realistic method of determining the identity of such individuals. Furthermore, there is no realistic method for Tech International to identify the production dates of any specific TR413 valves.”

Nor do the TR413 valves have any identification number on them. The only way for consumers to distinguish a valve stem manufactured by Baolong is the triangle shape located on the base of the valve stem, which is not visible from the outside of the wheel once the stem is mounted.

Even before the Monk family filed its lawsuit, the problem was showing up at the distributor level. In late January, one Tech International distributor reported a small number of potential valve stem failures. Tech International shipped samples to the manufacturer for testing. In March, Baolong verified that TR413 valves manufactured between July 2006 and November 2006 may have been defective – consisting of a population of approximately 8,600 tire valve stems. Baolong also tested samples of valves manufactured after November of 2006 and determined that they were not defective. Nonetheless, Tech International continued to receive reports of valve stem failures, leading the importer to determine that a defect exists.

Tech International agreed to replace any defective TR413 snap-in air valve stems. The distributor also said that if the failure caused structural damage to a tire, Tech International said that it would replace the tire.

Dill and the Re-Occuring Cracking Problem

Dill first acknowledged the importance of adding antiozonizers in 1969, when the National Highway Safety Bureau (predecessor to NHTSA) opened a cursory investigation into Dill valve stem cracks, sending the manufacturer an information request. Dill replied that the cracks were normal for a high-ozone area, such as Los Angeles, and that its product was now more robust: “Our rubber compounds have improved by adding antiozonizers with the ever increasing ozone concentration (sic).”

The NHSB accepted Dill’s analysis without inquiry or taking further action and closed the valve stem investigation.

In March 2005, Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. Ltd. and ZhongdingGroup purchased an ownership stake in Eaton Corporation’s Roxboro, North Carolina plant. The Chinese manufacturer renamed the company as Dill Air Controls Products and relocated the facility to Oxford.

In April 2006, the board of Dill Air Controls Products Corporation met, with members from the U.S. and China attending. This was the first such meeting since Shanghai Baolong purchased the company. Besides discussions about business strategy and future goals, the group discussed current challenges. At a technical exchange between Dill and Topseal, the managers discussed “problem such as tire valve leaking, core of tire valve not firm and so on. Then, they have a deep discussion about leakage testing method of the snap-in valves and metal valves, the preset parameter of the air pressure and the airproof test of VC12. They expressed together-studying, interdependent and the hope that create a new situation of tire valve field,” according to a Shangai Baolong report of the meeting.

Two years later, in April 2008, after being served with the Monk lawsuit, Dill officials met with NHTSA to discuss the potential snap-in tire valve defect. Dill described a problem with valves leaking from cracks due to apparent ozone exposure and indicated that an early investigation had traced the concern to a five-month manufacturing period in 2006 – even though discussions about the integrity of the tire valve stem had taken place two years earlier.

The Ford Connection

Complaints of premature valve stem cracking are emerging from owners of 2007 model year Ford vehicles. Shanghai Baolong’s website acknowledges they supply Ford Motor Company and other vehicle manufactures with original equipment valve stems. Boston ABC affiliate station WCVB reported cracked valves on two station owned 2007 Explorer models. Removal of the stems showed markings identical to those found on the valves recalled by Tech International.

“We fully expect additional recall announcements as the extent and whereabouts of these defective valves becomes more transparent – and Ford Motor Company is likely to be on the hook for at least one these recalls” says Sean Kane.

Copyright © Safety Research & Strategies, 2008

ORLANDO, FLA — Safety advocates are urging motorists to inspect their valve stems for cracks and to check their tire pressure in the wake of one distributor’s recall of defective valve stems made in China by Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. and a federal probe into premature cracking prompted by a fatal rollover crash.

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. (The valve stem is a rubber tube with a metal valve used to inflate the tire with air.)

On November 11, Robert Monk of Orlando, Fla. died when the right rear tire of his 1998 Ford Explorer failed, triggering a rollover crash. The tire failure has been linked to a cracked a Dill TR413 valve stem manufactured by Topseal, a subsidiary of Shanghai Baolong Industries Co., Ltd for Dill Air Control Products, LLC. In March, the Monk family filed suit against Dill Air Control Products, alleging that the defective tire valve stem caused the crash.

“The Monk family wants to get the message out there to ensure that no one else is hurt,” said Attorney Richard Newsome, of the Newsome Law Firm in Orlando, Fla., who represents Robert Monk’s survivors.

Auto safety consultant Sean Kane advises any motorist who has had a tire replaced after July 2006, to immediately have their valves inspected for signs of cracking.

“Radial tires do not show signs of underinflation by a visual inspection until they are significantly underinflated, at which point the tire may have sustained irreparable damage. Motorists may not realize that they are driving on tires that are underinflated and overloaded,” Kane said. “The only way to tell if you have a valve stem made by this company is to dismount the tire from the wheel to examine it from the inside. Once they are out of the box, and on a vehicle there is no tracking for these products so you can’t notify owners. If you’re not checking tires pressure regularly, now is the time to get into the habit.”

In April, after receiving notice of the Monk crash, Dill officials met with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to discuss the problem. On May 2, Dill sent a Technical Bulletin to major tire retailers advising them that the company had received complaints of surface cracks appearing on the outside of the rubber near the rim hole in several models: TR 413, TR 413 chrome, TR 414, and TR 418 Dill ACP valve stems. “When the rubber is exposed to high levels of ozone as it is being stressed, surface cracks can appear. High speeds and an unsupportive rim profile allow the rubber valve to flex at a greater angle and may cause these cracks to propagate, leading to a slow leak of air,” the bulletin said.

Dill officials told NHTSA that valves, manufactured from July 2006 to November 2006, may leak from cracks caused by ozone exposure. NHTSA opened a formal investigation on May 15.

On June 2, Tech International, a distributor of Shanghai Baolong-made replacement tire valve stems, announced a recall of 6 million TR413 valve stems, offering free replacements and compensation for any tire damage caused by the defective part. According to their recall letter “Tech International does not know the identity of any end-users of the TR413 valves and has no realistic method of determining the identity of such individuals. Furthermore, there is no realistic method for Tech International to identify the production dates of any specific TR413 valves.”

The problem, says Kane, is that the parts are untraceable once they are fitted to vehicles and worse, these companies haven’t alerted the public of impending danger. Dill Air Control Products, LLC located in North Carolina, has only notified its customers to inspect their inventory for the suspect lots and recommended “out of an abundance of caution” that tire retailers inspect the valve stems on vehicles that received replacements between September 2006 and June 2007 if they return for service.

“It’s not an abundance of caution to wait for customers to return to retailers to inspect for defective valves” Newsome says. “An abundance of caution would have Dill alerting the public who bought tires after August 2006 that they need to have their valves inspected and to pay close attention to tire inflation pressure to prevent further tragedies.”

Motorists should report valve stem failures to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ or 888-327-4236.