How Kumho Tire was recalled?

Kumho Tire promised a recall. One week later, the reporter’s reply from Kumho Tire remains “Kumho Tire will be recalled recently”, “Internal communication, and further review”...

Intriguingly, in the recall process of Kumho Tires, vehicle manufacturers expressed that most of them wanted to draw a clear line with Kumho as a victim, but in fact they still used Kumho Tires. Responsibility. In this regard, the legal community believes that the implementation of the recall should be mainly carried out by the vehicle manufacturer, and parts suppliers have joint and several liabilities.

“Legally speaking, any purchaser or user who purchases a vehicle has not had a direct relationship with any tire factory.” A lawyer said that China’s “Rules for Defective Product Recall Management” also explicitly states in Article 3: Automotive Products The manufacturer (importer) shall perform the recall obligation on its defective (produced) imported automobile products in accordance with the provisions, and shall bear the cost of eliminating defects and the necessary transportation costs; the sellers, leasers, and repairers of automotive products shall assist in manufacturing. Businesses fulfill their recall obligations.

Recall area is blurred

On March 21, Beijing Hyundai stated in its latest response to the Kumho tyre incident that “Beijing Hyundai has stopped purchasing products from Tianjin Jinhu Tyre Factory and will assist consumers in completely resolving some defective products. ”

The reporter learned from a dealer in Beijing Hyundai Beijing that the new Elantra, Elantra and other models have now been replaced by Hankook Tire.

Geserz.com CEO Wenkai Chen revealed to the media that he had previously conducted a survey of more than 50 multinationals Asia-Pacific presidents. According to their experience, different sub-factories of the same company could not adopt different standards. This is the most common of multinational companies. At least the practice.

“From the current situation, it is mainly due to the recall of parts and components companies, and the vehicle manufacturers are placed in an out-of-the-box situation. This is not the case.” Although 13 of Kumho's 3C certificates were revoked, one lawyer believes that Relevant departments can also make more severe penalties and order them to recall.

"If there is a problem with the air conditioning in a car, there is a problem with the sound, and it can be understood as a flaw rather than a defect, but the tire and the engine are obviously in an equally important position. Especially from a safety point of view, many accidents are caused by a flat tire. It is clear that Vehicles with unqualified tyres should be considered defective cars, he said.

Manufacturers hard to come behind Kumho

On March 29, Goodyear Asia Pacific president Pierre Coward said that he supports the Chinese government in formulating stricter regulations.

However, Chen Wenkai said in an interview with the media: "The replacement of tire manufacturers in OEMs is not an easy task." In the tire industry, manufacturers have fewer options. High-end brands such as Goodyear, as well as Michelin and Bridgestone, are mostly supported by mid- to high-end products. Their own production capacity is not sufficient to meet the large demand of low-end markets. Horse brand, Pirelli and other brands in the domestic production capacity is limited; there are many domestic brands, but have a small number of comprehensive strength, most of them are mainly responsible for overseas replacement tire market and domestic commercial vehicle market.

"The brands available for low-end and mid-range vehicles are nothing more than Kumho in Korea, Hankook, Zhengxin in Taiwan, and Giti in Singapore. Overall, the difference between these major brands is not large, so the average automobile manufacturers are few. Brand tires are used."

Currently, the ability of automakers to inspect the quality of parts is very limited. OEMs generally inspect parts through the performance of the entire vehicle. For example, the quality of parts and components is tested through various test runs, and there is a lack of separate testing methods and levels. On the contrary, the detection capability of the parts company and the third party's detection capability are much higher than those of the vehicle manufacturer.

This may lead to tire manufacturers through a variety of road tests, in the future supporting process, did not follow this standard to do. In general, OEMs are also required to conduct inspections and obtain national certifications when new vehicles are put on the market. In subsequent sales, retesting is rarely required. This makes it difficult to find Kumho tires cutting corners.

As for vehicle manufacturers, as the price of vehicles keeps declining, and tires are components that consumers rarely pay attention to when buying a car, as the price of finished vehicles declines year by year, purchasing low-cost tires becomes inevitable. The production and sales volume of manufacturers has been expanding year by year, and the production capacity of tire companies has also been severely tested. Once the tire companies are replaced, it will take time to consider whether they can meet the large-scale supporting quantities of the company, in addition to tire development. This also causes the entire vehicle company not to change. Tire suppliers prefer to help them together.

According to incomplete statistics, there are 16 vehicle companies within the scope of impact of Kumho shock wave, involving 35 products, of which Beijing Hyundai is the most affected and the product reaches 7 models, followed by 4 models of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen and 3 models of Shanghai GM. “In recent years, Kumho Tire has used its relatively affordable price, and it has indeed entered the production system of many supporting manufacturers. It should be said that in supporting the entire vehicle factory, its volume is relatively large.” Recently, a multinational Tire business people told the media.

The 3C certification qualification of Kumho Tianjin Plant was suspended, which may directly lead to the inability of the corresponding auto vehicle to obtain certification, thereby affecting the listed sales.

"However, with the complete vehicle package now, a single model will not use only one brand, and it may be 50% for Kumho, 30% for Hankook, 10% for Michelin, and 10% for Goodyear, so when a tyre is used for 3C certification, Can not be supplied, manufacturers can choose other tires to replace." The aforementioned tire business people said. However, he also stressed that, unlike the tires with the largest amount of accessories, the selection of other brands may lead to an increase in the cost of purchases, and "there is also a case where the goods cannot be purchased."

It is understood that the largest manufacturers currently using Kumho are Beijing-based Hyundai and Dongfeng Yueda Kia, the two largest domestic Korean-owned joint ventures.

Dealer looks like an outsider

From the investigation, the vast majority of car dealers have declared that their complete vehicle supporting tires come from the Nanjing factory of Kumho and are not part of this recall. Therefore, no corresponding measures will be introduced.

A Beijing-based modern dealer service staff in Beijing said that consumers who use Kumho Tire can go to the store and consult the Kumho plant. Assuming that it is the Kumho Tianjin plant, according to Beijing Hyundai There is a policy that tire information will be collected and fed back to the automaker, but for the time being it is not changing tires.

The Dongfeng Citroen Shanghai 4S shop staff said that the Citroen Elysees sold in East China all come from the Kumho Nanjing factory, and the problem is the Tianjin plant and is not a category of recall.

A number of dealers pointed out that, including Citroen Elysee, Beijing Hyundai Tucson and other models, there are still some of the original tires are Kumho tires.

In addition, a staff member of a wholesale company in Shanghai of Kumho Tire also stated that since the accident in Kumho, the local industry and commerce department has requested a suspension of sales of Kumho Tires, and Kumho has not given a clear statement on how to recall the company. There are still thousands of Kumho tires in the warehouse.

It is understood that consumers can directly see the production of tires on the sidewalls of Kumho tires: “CO” is used to represent Tianjin, and “4T” and “FE” are represented by Nanjing and Changchun respectively.

Although the Kumho Tire Incident has exposed quality problems, it has caused a contributing change to the concept of consumer car buying.

A car owner told reporters that on the night when Kumho was exposed, he immediately thought about what brand his tire was. He didn't think of it. Then he went downstairs and looked at it. He found that it was not Kumho’s reassurance. He said: "In the past, buying a car seemed to have never been concerned about tire problems. This time it was a reminder."

Some media reported that Kumho has reported the details of the recall to the AQSIQ. The reporter called Kumho Marketing Department for verification, and the relevant person did not deny it and said that there was further information to be informed. The reporter contacted the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, but it did not receive an exact response.

As of press time, the reporter learned from related parties that Kumho Tire has reached consensus with several Hyundai and Shenlong companies and other vehicle companies to negotiate, and will jointly launch free testing and free replacement of tires with quality problems in some regions. Emergency measures. Beijing Hyundai dealers said that from now on, the owners of Kumho Tire (whether from Tianjin, Nanjing, or Changchun) can use Kumho Tire Retail Service Center and Beijing Hyundai 4S Store for free testing. If it is detected that there is a problem with the quality of the tires, it can be replaced for free; the relevant person in charge of Peugeot Citroen's public relations department in China also stated that it has notified its Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen dealers to notify the relevant owners to visit the store for testing. “Before we had been approaching Kumho, free testing was mainly done by them.”

However, how to define it is a difficult problem. A 4S shopkeeper who specializes in managing after-sales service says that there is no specific certification standard.