I saw mention of an 877,000 truck recall recently and the follow-up question of how could that happen? While this post is not about that vehicle recall, I can relate to having a large number of items being recalled. That is based on my personal experience when I initiated a recall of some 8,000 tires after my inspection of two tires.
Now, “the rest of the story”
Just because there were 877,000 vehicles recalled does not mean there were that many vehicles made with some defect.
Facts: Toward the end of my career as a Tire Design Engineer, I had the responsibility of inspecting tires that had some problem. I discovered two tires with a specific problem of tread separating from the body at very low miles.
My investigation determined that a human error had been made when an incorrect rubber compound was used in the tread part of the tires. This error could not be confirmed without dissecting a tire, so it was necessary to recall and scrape all tires that might contain the error.
BUT the investigation also determined that no more than 149 tires could have contained the mistake. I based this number on the number of pounds of the improper rubber in a mislabeled bin of component rubber. It was also confirmed that there were 85 tires still in the warehouse containing the mistake.
To ensure that all tires that contained the mistake were removed from service, a recall was initiated.
DOT date code in tire serial number
Tire recalls are based on the DOT date code portion of the complete serial number. We needed to recall all 64 tires that might contain the mistake. DOT serial numbers are changed each Sunday. Therefore, to ensure that every suspect tire was recalled, we needed to recall all the tires produced from the week of the mistake plus tires cured the week prior and the week after the mistake. That was because it was possible for an uncured tire that contained the error might have been cured the week before, the week of, or the week after the mistake occurred due to the flow of in-process tires from assembly to curing.
Three weeks of production of this size and type of tire was approximately 8,000 tires, and that is the number covered by the announced recall.
This example shows how some recalls can cover a large number of products when the manufacturing company needs to ensure that all suspect vehicles or product are removed from service, even if the number of products containing the error is relatively small.
Roger Marble
MORE INFORMATIVE POSTS FROM ROGER
- How and why to photograph your tire sidewall info
- When to replace tires? Find out here
- Be very cautious after ‘blowout’ in dual steel body radial tire
- Which RV tire inflation advice should you follow?
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Good article Roger. Some consider recalls a sign of poor quality and it is but I think recalls are a “good kind of bad”.
Getting a proactive acknowledgement of a potential problem surely has to be better than getting that same admission in a class action lawsuit. A company with zero recalls *might* have superior quality or it *might* mean they hold themselves accountable for nothing.
Remember the Firestone/Ford controversy?
That sounds like the set of new Firestones I put on my van. Two tread separations between Florida and Illinois.
Thank you for the clarifying information, Roger! Have a great week and safe travels!