Valve Stems

Found this online at Trailer Life website.

NHTSA Studies Chinese-Made Tire Valve Stems
Trailer Life, July 9, 2008


The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating valve stems that are failing, possibly causing low tire pressure that could lead to a crash. Since most consumers don't know what kind of valve stems are installed in their vehicle's wheels, NHTSA advises drivers to check their valve stems for cracking and check tire pressures regularly.

The valve stems under investigation, TR414 and TR414 Dill ACP, were sold by Dill Air Control Products and manufactured by Topseal, a Chinese subsidiary of Shanghai Baolong Industries Company. One death is attributed to the faulty valve stems. Recently a distributor of Shanghai Baolong began a recall of some six million model number TR413 valve stems.

If you have purchased new tires within the past two years, consider calling your tire shop to find out if these valve stems were used.

I think Scruffy saved the valve stems when he had ours replaced. I imagine the stems have the identifying numbers somewhere. I'll try to remember to ask Scruffy to look. Or maybe he'll read this in the morning.

Tater

I just threw mine out last week after looking at them for two months on my bench

Mine were thrown away when they were replaced. So I don't have any idea if mine are on the list either.

That's the valve stems I had replaced. It's stamped on the bottom of the stem. I only saved one though (out of five). Does anybody have the link to the recall? I could use that in an e-mail to FR to get reimbursed.

Good luck getting reimbursed, I replaced my valve stems and Rod at FR just passed the buck and told me to email the tire company. Not really worth the 20 bucks I spent, just irritating.

I received a letter from Discount Tire on this recall. I just put 4 new Maxxis tires on the Cat, but used the metal valve stems. I can't remember buying any other tires / valve stems from Discount. I need to call and find out what tires they are referring to.

Does this recall cover both the rubber and metal valve stems?

-Mark

I thought I had thrown mine out when I switched them out. I was digging around on the bench today and found two I had stuck away. What do you know......the bottom of the stems have TR413 and ARGO stamped into them. Now we have a real idea as to why so many have blow outs. I am glad I replaced mine this spring, it was well worth the $50 bones.
I was up at the dealership today having the famous concertone replaced and I walked through the lot. About every wildcat I came across that was at least a year old or older had these stems. You could see the cracking on most of them without bending the stem. I mentioned the problem to the dealer on my last visit, but they acted clueless What a can of worms this recall could open. It would be like the dometic recall affecting tens of thousands.

A little google and I came up with all kinds of info reguarding this matter.
I contacted TECH international 1-740-967-9015 and was routed to a Clay Johnson. He was out of the office for the week, but I left a voice mail. I am going to forward my info and pictures of my faulty stems when I get ahold of him. This isn't about the $50 at this point, it is about the safety of all the poor people who are unaware. Reading one of the articles, they think maybe only about 8,000 stems are really affect out of 6 million. Got to throw the BS flag on that comment. I would say FR products alone would probably cover that many. It sounds like these were used on all kinds of applications. Here are a few links. I encourage others to pass the word and contact this Clay Johnson at the above number. You can also contact NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 and file a complaint.....I am doing so as I type. This process takes about 20 minutes

http://www.allworldauto.com/recalls/NHTSA_08T018000_tech_international_tr413_recall_79896.html

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/BIZ/806120481

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/results.cfm?rcl_id=08T018000&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=rss

Carpe,

Shame you couldn't walk around the dealer and just step on all the cracked valve stems and break them off.

My luck, I'd get cought and have to pay for all of them...

here's the link to the recall on the manufacturer's website.


http://www.techtirerepairs.com/_assets/documents/SnapInValveRecall.pdf

MEDIA STATEMENT RE:
VOLUNTARY RECALL OF VALVES MANUFACTURED BY TOP SEAL, SHANGHAI AUTO
June 17, 2008
From Bill Johnson
Global R&D Manager
Tech International
Johnstown, Ohio
MEDIA STATEMENT RE: Top Seal - MANUFACTURED VALVE RECALL
Tech International is a manufacturer of tire repairs as well as a wholesale distributor of tire related products and committed to providing all its customers with outstanding service. Upon receiving reports about potentially faulty tire snap in valves manufactured by Top Seal, China, we voluntarily notified the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a potential safety issue involving the valves. We then immediately issued a recall of the products, and offered replacement of defective valves as well as payment for any tire damage caused by these parts.
If you are a consumer and concerned about this issue, please contact the tire retailer where the valves were installed or call Bill Johnson or Clay Johnson at (740) 967-9015. We have established a system to help our tire retailer customers replace the valves based on a range of lot numbers identified by the manufacturer.
We are committed to working with our customer network until this issue has been resolved.

And of course, how many of us still have the old valve stems or the bill to prove we had them replaced? I know I dont.... :x

oldelmer1 wrote:And of course, how many of us still have the old valve stems or the bill to prove we had them replaced? I know I dont.... :x

Me either.

I called Discount Tire (they sent a letter stating that Dill Air Controls had a valve stem recall) and the vehicle in question is my nephew's truck. I forwarded the info on to him.

Another reason to go with metal valve stems.

-Mark

I found my receipts, so I called Bill Johnson and left a message. Lets see what he will do.

People should be bugging Rod at FR too. He could help facilitate a recall with wildcats sold. Some how the word has to get out. Rod is out of office until next week, but I left a voice mail any how.

oldelmer1 wrote:I found my receipts, so I called Bill Johnson and left a message. Lets see what he will do.

Bill Johnson called back today, said he will e-mail me a form to fill out, and if I scan my recepits in, and send them to him via e-mail, he will have a check cut for me. Should have the check within the next few weeks.

Sounds really simple......

Looks like I will be eating the $50 just like I orginally planned. I spoke with Clay johnson at tech international and he emailed me the forms too oldelmer. After reviewing the 10 pages of email and realizing what they want done.....FORGET IT! They want pictures or the actual stems mailed to them, descriptions of the events and a W-9 filled out for the IRS. I could probably deal with the pics and descriptions wasting a little more of my time, but the W-9 and my social security number to some company I don't know squat about???? Like I said $50 is cheap piece of mind knowing I have good stems now and I don't have to give My SS# to some foreign company.

The NHTSA did send out a postcard seeking more information. I did send that back. Hopefully they can get a better scope of the problems 6 million stems can cuase.

Carpe Diem,

I never received the e-mail from them. But I agree, I'm not giving my SS# to anyone either.

Why on earth would you have to fill out a w-9 for a reimbursement for a product that was defective.

I will have to respond to their email and ask that very question. It's not like they are the victims here. I have never heard of a w-9 either for reimbursement for defective products. It has to somehow be related to their recovering all the $$ they will lose covering a possible 6 million stems.

oldelmer1 wrote:Carpe Diem,

I never received the e-mail from them. But I agree, I'm not giving my SS# to anyone either.

Why on earth would you have to fill out a w-9 for a reimbursement for a product that was defective.

I bet it's because their reimbursement policy is designed for their commercial customers. Not only are they being reimbursed for the cost of the valve stem, but the labor to install them. A company that wants to be able to deduct their expenses needs to send out a 1099-MISC to each of their vendors that they pay more than $600 to. Reading the recall letter, you can tell it's not designed to reimburse the customer directly since we are supposed to go to the installing dealer to clear this up. Since none of wants to drive to Indiana . . .

Since their reimbursement to us is less than that threshold and since they have no reasonable expectations to do business with us again, I don't think we need to fill out the W-9.

I'd call Clay Johnson and ask if this applies to consumers too.

oldelmer1 wrote:

oldelmer1 wrote:I found my receipts, so I called Bill Johnson and left a message. Lets see what he will do.

Bill Johnson called back today, said he will e-mail me a form to fill out, and if I scan my recepits in, and send them to him via e-mail, he will have a check cut for me. Should have the check within the next few weeks.

Sounds really simple......

Well, never heard anything from Bill Johnson, so I called again today and L/W.

oldelmer1 wrote:

Well, never heard anything from Bill Johnson, so I called again today and L/W.

L/W?

mattebury wrote:

oldelmer1 wrote:

Well, never heard anything from Bill Johnson, so I called again today and L/W.

L/W?

Left Word?

scottz wrote:

mattebury wrote:

oldelmer1 wrote:

Well, never heard anything from Bill Johnson, so I called again today and L/W.

L/W?

Left Word?

Sorry, yes, L/W means left word.....

I did get an e-mail from him with the paperwork attached. And I just L/W again for him telling him that I am an individual that had my valve stems replaced.

This form is for a shop, and the W-9 is also for a shop, so we dont have a TAXPAYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER.

So, I will let you know what happens....

Bill Johnson just called, said we only need to fill out the W-9 form using our SS#. I said I wasn't really thrilled in giving my SS# to you, he said I understand, but the company uses this # for their accounting.

So, I guess if we want to get reimbursed, we have to send our SS# to them.

If anyone wants the form, I can send it to you.

And of course, you have to have the receipt for the replacement to send them too.

This problem is widespread. I just received a recall notice from Discount Tire for the tires I bought to replace the OEM tires. Of course, I had already replaced the rubber stems with metal ones. They just want the old stems and a couple hours of paper work for reimbursement. Not worth the effort.

I received a letter from Discount Tires as well. This was for my nephew's truck, so I forwarded the information on to him.

Amazing discount tire stores are on top of this widespread problem, but not one word from FR. Rod never did return my calls.

Has anyone sent the paperwork back in with their SS# on it?

I haven't.......