In recent years, products made in China have gained more renown for being cheap than for the quality control behind them. Up until now, inexpensive sneakers that fall apart after a few weeks or DVD players that work erratically have been more of an annoyance and an economic threat as opposed to a physical one. Recent headlines would suggest that might be changing, however. The contaminated pet food that killed dozens of cats not long ago and the video of a Chinese car
collapsing in on itself during a European crash test bring the issue of potentially hazardous Chinese imports to a whole new level.
Foreign Tire Sales, Inc. of Union, NJ is suing China's Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. over a series of catastrophic failures of tires they manufactured that resulted in a fatal car crash in Pennsylvania. Hangzhou has been manufacturing tires sold by FTS and other distributors that left out an extra layer of rubber between the steel belts, causing them to overheat and have tread separation similar to the Firestone tires that failed on Ford Explorers several years ago. The tires may need to be recalled and FTS doesn't have the financial resources to deal with something like that, so it's suing the Chinese company to cover the expenses since they built the tires in a way that differed from what was specified. The
Wall Street Journal's report on the matter contains additional details, and is well worth a read.
Thanks to Mike for the tip.
[Source: Wall Street Journal]
