NHTSA Acknowledges Latest Glass Recall

The National Traffic Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) has acknowledged the recall filed by Process Polymers Development (PPD) for a piece of glass from DOT 430 and DOT 628. The Clinton Township, Mich.-based company filed the recall in early March, after discovering that the tempering levels on the glass did not meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 205. (CLICK HERE for related story.)

The part involved in the recall is FB20415 ZPY, the replacement backlite for the 1999-2003 Lexus RX 300. Hangzhou Safety Glazing Ltd. holds DOT No. 430, and Hebei Tongyong Glass Inc. holds DOT No. 628.

In the report, the company notes that it received the glass in two shipments; the DOT No. 628 product arrived at PPD on October 10, 2006, and the DOT No. 430 product arrived on October 17, 2007.

"These two shipments are the only shipments of DOT No. 430 or DOT No. 628 glass that have been used by PPD … ," reads the report.

The recall affects approximately 931 pieces of glass, according to the report; at the time of the filing, 508 units had been quarantined (at various customers of PPD's).

PPD writes that when the glass was tested, after the company learned of the similar, voluntary recalled issued by Safelite in December (CLICK HERE for related story), it found that "the subject glass may not have been sufficiently tempered by the prime glazing manufacturer to insure that all fracture particles generated by the fracture test are smaller than the required maximum particle size of 4.3 grams (0.15 oz.) per particle."
Like Safelite's, PPD's recall of the suspect glass also was voluntary.

The company also includes in the report the full record of its testing on the backlites, which showed that all 10 samples tested of the part, from each DOT No., failed the test, which checked for tempering levels.

PPD reports that it purchased the glass from Wholesale Glass Automotive Inc. in Paterson, N.J., the same company that is reported to have sold the suspect glass from DOT 630 to one of Safelite's suppliers, Auto Temp Inc. in Batavia, Ohio. Repeated attempts to reach Wholesale have been unsuccessful.

CLICK HERE for the full text of the report.

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