Department of Transportation recalls Bridgestone tires; how to get new ones
If you're hitting the road this weekend, check those tires.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a recall for Bridgestone tires.
'Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) is recalling certain R123 Ecopia tires, size 295/75R22.5, designed for use on commercial trailer vehicles,' the recall said. 'The tires may have been manufactured incorrectly with one of the three stabilizer ply belts applied in the wrong orientation.
'As such, these tires fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 119, 'New pneumatic tires - other than passenger cars.' Incorrect belt orientation may cause the tires to fail and increase the risk of a crash.'
If you own them, they need to be replaced.
'BATO will replace the tires, free of charge,' the recall said. 'Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed May 13, 2025. Tire purchasers may contact BATO customer service at 800-847-3272.'
Further details on the recall are listed on the NHTSA website.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bridgestone recall: R123 Ecopia tires, size 295/75R22.5
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Optronics Gives Vehicle Branding Room to Glow with 4-Inch Round STL104 Series Custom LED Logo Lights
Optronics' new, patented technology slashes tooling costs, putting custom-branded LED lighting within reach of virtually anyone who wants it. TULSA, Okla., June 3, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Optronics International, a leading manufacturer of vehicle harnesses, electronic control systems and LED lighting for the global transportation industry, announced the commercial availability of its new STL104 Series custom LED logo lights in 4-inch round format today. The new stop/turn/tail light is a low-cost alternative to Optronics' original logo light, introduced in 2019, which made branded vehicle lighting available for the first time. The STL104 Series represents a paradigm shift in commercial vehicle lighting, democratizing custom logo technology that was previously available only to large OEMs with high-volume requirements. Optronics' patented manufacturing process maintains all safety and visibility benefits of traditional lighting while incorporating brand elements at a cost comparable to – or even less than – standard commercial vehicle lighting options. "The introduction of our 4-inch round STL104 Series custom logo lights expands the creative possibilities for fleet branding significantly," said Dustin Smith, vice president of sales for Optronics International. "Unlike vinyl graphics or conspicuity tape that can fade or be damaged, these LED lights create a dynamic brand presence that attracts attention both day and night while serving their essential safety function." Each STL104 Series custom logo light features 29 SMD LEDs configured specifically for its round footprint, with 10 LEDs paired with optics for optimal light output, and the remaining 19 LEDs illuminating the logo portion during stop and turn functions. This 4-inch stop/turn/tail light is fully FMVSS compliant for under 80-inch applications and may be used in over 80-inch applications when properly installed. It offers an industry-standard PL3 connection and grommet mounting, with other connection and mounting options available. Optronics' breakthrough manufacturing process has eliminated traditional barriers to custom lighting. The STL104 Series requires minimal setup costs and can take projects from concept to delivery in as little as 120 days. Minimum order quantities start at just 500 pieces, and volume-based pricing tiers begin at 2,500 units annually. "We've literally put custom LED logo lighting within reach of any company that makes or operates commercial vehicles," Smith said. "Whether it's a large fleet looking to enhance brand recognition, a trailer or specialty vehicle manufacturer wanting to differentiate its products, or an upfitter adding value for their customers, the economics now make sense for operations of all sizes." The lights undergo rigorous testing to ensure they meet all DOT requirements while maintaining their aesthetic appeal. Each custom logo design is individually tested for photometric compliance, shock and vibration resistance, and all other FMVSS 108 requirements. The process begins when customers provide a high-resolution image of their logo and Optronics' team creates a visualization showing how the logo will appear in the light. The applications span every sector of the commercial vehicle market, from heavy-duty fleets enhancing trailer and cab branding to work truck operations seeking to maximize brand visibility while maintaining required lighting functions. Specialty vehicle and trailer manufacturers can incorporate them into custom builds to create distinctive product differentiation. "From a branding perspective, the number of impressions generated by vehicles traveling America's highways is substantial," Smith noted. "From an operational standpoint, the price differential between the new logo lights and standard lighting is now so minimal that the branding benefit comes at virtually no premium." The STL104 Series 4-inch round custom logo lights are available for order now, with delivery beginning in Q3 2025. Like all LED products from Optronics, these lamps come with the company's industry-leading lifetime LED warranty protection. Optronics products are available in the U.S. and Canada through the company's extensive distribution network of more than 30,000 convenient distribution locations. Users can access individual Optronics distributor websites by simply clicking on their logo icons. For information on international sales and distribution of Optronics products, please contact Dorian Drake at +1 (914) 697-9800, or visit To view high-resolution product images of the new STL104 Series 4-inch round custom LED logo lights, please visit About Optronics As the fastest-growing vehicle lighting and harness manufacturer in the U.S., Optronics International attributes its success to delivering better value, better options and better systems to its customers. Founded in 1972, Optronics International is a premier worldwide manufacturer and supplier of branded industrial and commercial vehicular safety lighting products and premium, custom electrical wiring harnesses for commercial vehicle applications. The company specializes in electrical system and harness design and interior and exterior LED and incandescent lighting for heavy-duty on- and off-highway vehicles, armored couriers, light- to medium-duty trailers, specialized vocational equipment, transit vehicles, RVs and marine equipment. The company's patented USA-PLUS system provides the most advanced molded harness connections available in the market. The Optronics product catalog is among the most extensive in the industry. Optronics is headquartered in a 200,000-square-foot, ISO 9001-certified manufacturing, distribution, research and development facility on a 17-acre campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a 1,000,000-square-foot, IATF 16949-certified manufacturing facility in Annan District, Tainan, Taiwan. The company also has a manufacturing and distribution facility in Goshen, Indiana, and a wire harness manufacturing plant in Winnsboro, Texas. Learn more at Media Contact Rick Ashley, OctaneVTM, 317-920-6106, rashley@ Twitter View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE OctaneVTM
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
New Car Seat Regulations Are Coming—Do You Have To Buy Another One?
Fact checked by Sarah ScottThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued new safety standards for car seats. NHTSA just extended its initial June 30, 2025 date of compliance to December 5, 2026. The new standards aim to protect young children from side crashes, known as a T-bone seats in the U.S. will soon need to meet new federal safety standards. The aim is to better protect young children in the event of a side-impact crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued the regulation and companies must now comply by December 5, 2026. This is a new extension to the previous date of June 30, 2025. The change is to give manufacturers more time to test and make the necessary changes to their car seats. "In their petitions for reconsideration, manufacturers stated that there are not enough test labs and small volume manufacturers don't have their own sled systems to design and verify their products to meet these new, more advanced safety requirements. Many large manufacturers have already complied," NHTSA tells Parents. "To ensure an adequate supply of child restraint systems for consumers to purchase while manufacturers adapt to the new standard, NHTSA is extending the lead time for compliance." Here's what families need to know about the new standards and what it means for their current car seats in the meantime. Known as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213a, the new standard includes a test simulating a 30-mph side crash, known as a T-bone collision. It applies to car seats for kids 40 pounds and under. "NHTSA's side-impact car seat safety rule will enhance safety and make child car seats even safer," NHTSA tells Parents. The new requirement is in addition to previous standards requiring a test simulating a 30-mph frontal impact. Frontal crashes are the most common and cause a significant number of deaths, a reason for the initial focus. But side-impact crashes also lead to serious injuries and fatalities. 'Side impacts are especially dangerous when the impact is on the passenger compartment because, unlike a frontal or rear-end crash, there are no substantial, energy absorbing structures between the occupant and the impacting vehicle or object,' NHTSA explains in its ruling. NHTSA announced in 2022 that it would be changing its requirements and initially gave manufacturers three years to conduct tests and update their seats. Now every car seat sold after December 5, 2026, must meet the new requirements. If you already own a car seat, you don't have to replace it. It's safe to use as long as it hasn't expired (car seats usually expire between 7 and 10 years), hasn't been recalled, and is installed correctly. Also, make sure you are using the right type of seat for your child's height and weight, which you can confirm on the NHTSA website. Keep in mind, many brands have already implemented the new standard. You can call the manufacturer to confirm if their car seats are complying with FMVSS 213a. Some may also have a label confirming they are FMVSS 213a compliant. Read the original article on Parents
USA Today
4 days ago
- USA Today
Counterfeit automotive parts pour into US and can be a 'direct risk to safety'
Counterfeit automotive parts pour into US and can be a 'direct risk to safety' Show Caption Hide Caption Trump's auto tariffs to hit $460 billion of US vehicle, parts imports As Donald Trump's 25% tariff on U.S. auto imports kicks in, the levies look set to upend the industry. A Reuters calculation shows the duties will hit some $460 billion worth of cars and parts every year. The U.S. president says that will create jobs and boost the economy. Counterfeit auto parts, especially air bags, are a concern among vehicle manufacturers, law enforcement. Majority of counterfeit auto parts are bought online, may be cheaper than genuine parts, says president of Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council. Every part of your vehicle could be counterfeited. A counterfeit part could cause performance issues or, worse, even be fatal. "Counterfeit parts are more than just a failure in quality: They are a direct risk to safety, where shortcuts in integrity can threaten lives," said Bob Stewart, president of the Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council, an alliance of nearly a dozen North American vehicle manufacturers. The group indicated it's not possible to know how many vehicles on the road contain counterfeit parts. But the increasing circulation of these parts is a growing concern among federal officials and automakers. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a safety advisory notice in mid-January to the public, repair professionals and used car buyers and owners about the rise in counterfeit and substandard safety devices, such as air bags and other supplemental restraint system components. It indicated that counterfeit parts may contain unapproved explosive charges and construction material and "can cause serious injury or even death in a crash." Rapid growth in fake parts seized Ivan Arvelo, director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, said in a September news release that the "rise in counterfeit automotive parts and equipment continue to be an alarming upward trend." U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than 211,000 counterfeit automotive parts in fiscal 2024, nearly doubling the number of counterfeit parts seized the previous year. That included more than 490 counterfeit air bags — more than 10 times the number of such devices seized in fiscal 2023, according to the September release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It said Homeland Security had about 40 open investigations into counterfeit automotive parts. Auto parts shortage: Car repair costs set to surge as inventory drops and tariffs take effect In fiscal year 2023, the ICE release added, federal authorities seized about 20,000 shipments containing goods that violated intellectual property rights, equating to nearly 23 million counterfeit items — more than $2.75 billion worth had they been genuine parts. Out of those shipments, almost 100,000 items were counterfeit automotive goods with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of more than $10 million. "We truly believe that the numbers are greater than what they report because they only know what they see," said Stewart, who is the global brand protection manager at General Motors. "This is an illicit trade, so by nature, it's in the black market, so you really don't know what you're up against." The anti-counterfeiting council's website — which contains a counterfeit parts infographic and video showing tests run on counterfeit and genuine parts — indicates that counterfeit auto parts entering the U.S. have an estimated value of more than $3 billion a year, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In July, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urged used vehicle buyers and owners to be aware of "cheap, substandard replacement airbag inflators that can cause death or serious injury in a crash." Demand is high for air bags because defective Takata devices are under the largest automotive recall in U.S. history, requiring years of work to replace 67 million of the safety devices. In the last year, NHTSA said in a release, three people were killed and two others suffered life-altering, disfiguring injuries because of faulty replacement air bag inflators, which contain an explosive charge to trigger air bag inflation. In all five cases, it indicated, the vehicles had been involved in a crash, and their original equipment air bags were replaced with defective, substandard inflators, in most cases confirmed to have been manufactured overseas. CARFAX data released the same month indicated that nearly 2 million vehicles were on the road after they were involved in a crash where an air bag deployed during the last two years. Each of those vehicles, according to a release, "represents an opportunity for a scammer to install a counterfeit airbag as a replacement." Although instances of counterfeit air bags being installed "are believed to be rare," according to the release, officials with law enforcement and NHTSA said there was no way to know how many counterfeit air bags are being put into vehicles. Thirty-eight states have counterfeit air bag laws, according to the anti-counterfeiting council. Counterfeit parts can bring criminal charges Locally, a Macomb County man was arraigned in April, accused by the Michigan Attorney General's Office of selling counterfeit restraint systems, including air bags, on his eBay store. Dinas Kamaitis, 31, of New Baltimore, is facing nine felony charges related to counterfeit automotive parts, with a July probable cause conference set in 37th District Court in Warren. His attorney did not return messages seeking comment. A warrant charged Kamaitis with offering to deliver, display, advertise or possess with intent to deliver counterfeit parts from a half-dozen automakers in crimes Feb. 19-20. The counterfeit items listed in the warrant are: Stellantis grilles, bumpers and logos; Chevrolet and Ford bumpers, and GM, Honda, Subaru and Chevrolet air bags bearing or identified by a counterfeit mark. More than $600,000 was seized from bank accounts associated with Kamaitis in the first set of charges brought by the AG Office's newly expanded Auto Fraud Task Force. AG spokesman Danny Wimmer in April declined to say how many counterfeit items Kamaitis was suspected of selling, to whom and for how long, where Kamaitis got the items and how much he sold them for. Tennessee case leads to federal prison sentence In April, a federal judge in Tennessee sentenced a Memphis man to two years in federal prison for trafficking in counterfeit vehicle air bags, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office there. Federal prosecutors said that from 2017-21 the retired auto mechanic imported counterfeit vehicle air bag parts from China and assembled them to make counterfeit air bags. He sold the fake air bags on eBay to unsuspecting vehicle repair shops and individual customers for $100-$725 each, they indicated. Federal authorities intercepted a shipment of counterfeit air bag parts that he ordered, according to the release. They recovered more than 2,000 counterfeit air bag parts and counterfeit air bags at the man's home and business. Federal prosecutors indicated he sold more than 500 counterfeit air bags during the four years and shipped at least one counterfeit air bag by airplane without declaring it as an explosive device or dangerous good so that mandatory federal safety precautions could be taken. 'They'll counterfeit anything' Stewart said most counterfeit auto parts are coming from Asia, including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 'The one thing you have to keep in mind with counterfeits, is the bad actors are opportunistic," he said, "so they will do whatever they can to continue to push their products." Stewart said the majority of counterfeit auto part purchasing is done online, with a large uptick since the COVID-19 pandemic. In some cases, he said, the counterfeit parts are cheaper than genuine ones, but they could be comparably priced so consumers don't question why they are so inexpensive. Stewart said the products have been purchased on several large marketplace platforms, and the anti-counterfeiting alliance talks regularly with eBay and Meta, as well as smaller platforms, such as Temu, to advocate enforcing policies against counterfeit parts. Counterfeit air bags are one of the biggest concerns, safety-wise, but there are other maintenance parts that are counterfeited, including spark plugs, fuel injectors and key fobs. "They'll counterfeit anything," Stewart said. "Tire pressure sensors, backup sensors, anything. We see it all." He said many counterfeit parts are sent in small parcels, which are lighter, easier and cheaper to ship. Stewart says his group has tested about 20 counterfeit air bags "and every one of them has had significant performance issues," such as coming out slow and not being in position by the time they were supposed to be. He said a lot of genuine spark plugs have iridium on the tips and the point. In the counterfeits, he said, that element missing on one side, instead having a piece of soft metal made to look like iridium. Complaints online, he said, indicate the spark plugs last only 5,000 miles when they should last 100,000 miles. What can consumers do? Stewart recommends buying from a reputable place, including directly from dealers or distributors or large chain auto parts retailers. Also, look into the seller and where the seller is located if you are buying online or confirm the reliability of the source of the parts or the repair shop providing them. Request receipts for parts used in repairs. "Don't be misled," Stewart said, adding that counterfeiters use drop-ship facilities. He said a seller may be in China or elsewhere and ship to U.S. warehouses, which handle distribution. The seller may indicate they are selling from the United States when they are not. The council advises consulting with the manufacturer's dealer or a trusted mechanic. It indicates that repair shops also should research to ensure they're using reputable supply chains, so they don't get counterfeit parts. Consumers are advised to get a vehicle history report before buying a used vehicle or if they bought a used vehicle and don't know its history, according to NHTSA. If the vehicle was in a crash where the air bag deployed, they should go to a reputable independent mechanic or dealership for an air bag inspection to make sure the replacement parts are genuine and meet original equipment manufacturer specifications. If buying from a private seller, NHTSA recommends getting a vehicle history report and having the vehicle inspected by a trusted mechanic. Consumers can contact law enforcement if they suspect they have a counterfeit auto part. They also can turn to the auto manufacturer, the original equipment manufacturer, the anti-counterfeiting council, NHTSA or the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. Contact Christina Hall: chall@ Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Free Press. Submit a letter to the editor at
