Beijing, June 27:

A Chinese company facing a possible recall of 450,000 of its tyres in the US insisted today its products were safe. “For every tyre exported to the US, our company undertakes inspections in accordance with US standards and conforms with American demands,” Hangzhou Rubber Company said.

“We are fully confident in the quality and dependability of our products.” Hangzhou Rubber Company accused FTS, the US importer of the tyres, of creating fears about their quality to avoid responsibility in a lawsuit filed against the American firm in May. The lawsuit stemmed from a fatal accident involving the tyres, according to FTS attorneys. Two persons in a van died and a third suffered a permanent brain injury.

The families of the victims sued FTS, which turned around and filed an 80-million-dollar lawsuit against the Hangzhou Rubber Company.

“Due to this lawsuit, the FTS company has reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that there could be quality problems and shortcomings with our semi-steel radial tires,” the Chinese firm said.

“We believe that this behavior is a matter of business manipulation by FTS that conforms with the go-als of its lawsuit. “We rese-rve the right to counter-s-ue over any damages incurred from the above actions.” The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has yet to make a ruling.