A death and injury lawsuit has prompted a U.S. tire importer and distributor to ask the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for help in recalling nearly half a million Chinese-made light truck tires.

In June, Foreign Tire Sales appealed to NHTSA for aid in recalling an estimated 450,000 light truck tires sold under the names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS after the company allegedly learned that the manufacturer, the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., had left a critical component out of the tire. But the number of defective tires could be much higher, FTS told NHTSA, because Hangzhou has refused to specifically identify by Tire Identification Number, which tires are missing or were built with an insufficient gum strip - a feature that helps to keep the tire belts from separating.