October 3, 2008 - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) upgraded its ongoing investigation into suspected defective tire valves to what it calls an Engineering Analysis. If the agency’s analysis finds that the tire valves, imported by Dill Air Controls Products, are indeed defective, the result could be a massive recall of approximately 23.5 million tire valves installed from August 2006 through July 2007.
The tire stems are on more than 1 million Ford vehicles from the 2007 model year, including the Ford F-150, Mustang, Edge, Fusion, Expedition, Explorer, Focus and Escape, and the Mercury Grand Marquis, MKX, MKZ, and Milan. NHTSA originally opened an investigation on May 15 following the fatal rollover crash of a 1998 Ford Explorer that allegedly was the result of a faulty Dill tire valve. To date, there have been more than 4,700 complaints filed with NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigations regarding faulty Dill valves. According to reports filed with NHTSA, Dill imported valve stems from a manufacturer in China, Shanghai Baolong/ Topseal Automotive that lacked adequate ozone protection, which can cause the rubber to crack prematurely. Affected valves exhibit visible cracks shortly after being installed. Over eight to 14 months of use, the cracks can grow large enough to cause air leakage. Driving on under-inflated tires can cause tire damage and, eventually, cause the tires to fail or blow out.
To date, Dill has not issued a recall of the tire valves, although it has posted advisories on Dill's web site. Tech International, an importer of tire valves made by the same Chinese company that makes Dill tire valves, has already recalled 6 million TR-413 model valve stems that it distributed, and has expanded its recall to include five additional models—TR-413CH, TR-414, TR-415, TR-418 and TR-423—manufactured between August 2006 and November 2006. Tech Int'l did not say how many of those additional models of valve stems it has distributed, however Dill reported that it shipped as many as 30 million of the TR-413 valve stems in the North American market.