Conti recalls 3.5k tires due to rubber contamination

Washington - Continental Tire Americas is recalling nearly 3,500 CrossContact LX25 tires with sizes 235/55R18 100H and 225/65R17 102H due to contamination defects.

The tires may contain rubber compound contaminated with small metal fragments, said Continental in an announcement published 11 Oct.

The metal fragment in the sidewall of the tire could cause damage to the textile carcass cords and affected tires may develop a bulge in the sidewall, said the announcement published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

According to NHTSA, the contaminated tires were manufactured at Continental’s Cuenca manufacturing plant in Ecuador.

Continental said an X-ray evaluation of its tires at Cuenca in April showed “an unusual high number of scrapped tires”.

It was determined then that the zinc oxide (ZnO) materials used in the rubber mixing operation was contaminated with small metal fragments causing the X-ray anomalies.

A quality hold was issued for all tires in the Andean region warehouses and a clean point for the ZnO material was established.

A sorting action then began in the warehouses to locate the potentially affected articles and the tires were segregated and scrapped.

However, Continental said that in August it realised that not all affected tires were identified during the warehouse sorting action.

“Some of the affected tires were sold in the Andean region and some tires were shipped to warehouses in the US,” it added.

Following another round of sorting action, Continental said it determined in September that two tire articles with potentially affected tires were sold in the US market.

Continental said the recall was made based on existing safety assessments and that it had not received any reports of property damage or personal injury due to the defect.