China's quality watchdog has put its weight behind domestic tyre-manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd, which has been accused of exporting faulty tires to the United States, insisting that they met U.S. safety standards.

    Wang Xin, an official in charge of testing and inspection with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ), said the administration had carried out tests on the same models of the alleged flawed tyre and found that all the examined items met the U.S. safety requirements.

    On June 11, Foreign Tyre Sales, Inc. (FTS) submitted a "Non-Compliance Information Report" to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), blaming the light truck radial tires (LTR) manufactured by the Chinese company for a road accident which killed two people in Pennsylvania last August.

    The report said the LTR were manufactured without a gum strip or with an insufficient gum strip between belts or other construction to keep the belts from separating.

    The U.S. regulators ordered a recall of 450,000 tires followingthe release of the FTS report.

    Shen Jinrong, the board chairman of Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co.Ltd, said FTS and subsequent U.S. media reports were inconsistent with the facts. "We have probed into this issue and found that our products meet the U.S. import safety requirements. The real cause of the fatal accident was the misuse of the tires," he said.

    According to a supplementary and amended safety defect information report submitted by FTS to the NHTSA on July 2, FTS could not determine if the absence of belt edge strips caused or contributed to the accident after examining the van and tires involved in the accident.

    FTS noted that the van was equipped with three Westlake tires sized 245/75R 16 and one Michelin tire sized 225/75R 16. A review of the tyre guide indicated that the Michelin tyre was the correct size for that vehicle while the Westlake, which were produced by the Hangzhou-based company, were not.

    The 10-page report also mentioned that the Chinese tires involved in the accident far exceeded the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

    A technician with the Chinese company said the van owner used two models of tires which differed in diameter by as much as 30 millimeters on one side of the van.

    Ma Liangqing, director of China's tyre quality inspection center, said using different sizes of tires on one vehicle may cause fatal accidents. He said the tires manufactured by different companies differ in specifications and it is not justified to claim a tyre is defective simply by the absence of a gum strip or the thickness of the gum strip.

    "We have strict control over the quality of our tires and keep detailed records of our exports," said Shen.

    FTS was sued in Philadelphia in May by the families of two men killed when a van they were in crashed last year. Also suing are the driver and another passenger in the van, which the lawsuits claim had Hangzhou Zhongce tires.

    FTS later sued the Chinese company, saying that its tests found the tires could fail earlier than the timescale provided by the company and a recall would put FTS out of business as it is a small, family-owned importer of tires.

    The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and an injunction that would bar Hangzhou Zhongce products from being imported. It comes amid a surge in China-U.S. disputes over the safety of Chinese-made toothpaste, toys, pet food and other products.