TIRE VALVE OZONE CRACKING

What NHTSA is examining

By letter dated december 5, 2008, dill submitted a report to odi identifying a defect related to ozone cracking in two production lots of tire valve stems that were manufactured in china by topseal auto-partsin july 2006 (nhtsa safety recall no. 08t-028).according to dill, approximately 1,800,000 valves were distributed and sold in the united states from the subject lots.dill estimates that about 200,000 of these valves may be prone to ozone cracking resulting in tire air loss during their expected service life.tire valve failure could result in sudden loss of vehicle control and possibly a crash. Dill based this range on its analysis of claim data, which showed that the vast majority of valves returned from the field with cracks severe enough to have leaked air were installed from november 2006 through july 2007.following a free inspection,dill valves that are cracked will be replaced under the recall free of charge.dill has issued a press release providing information about the recall and has posted information for consumers on the internet at www.tirevalverecall.net.ea08-022 was opened by odi on september 23, 2008, to investigate approximately 23,450,000 valves manufactured by topseal from july 2006 to november 15, 2006.during this period, topseal changed its supplier of the valve rubber compound used for ozone protection .in a may 2, 2008 customer advisory letter to companies that purchased the suspect valves, dill described the scope of the potential problem and…

Vehicles under investigation