On the evening of March 21, Li Hanyi, president of Kumho Tire China, publicly apologized to a large number of Chinese consumers on the CCTV program and called for the recall of all violating products.

However, in the statement issued by Li Hanchen, although acknowledging the fact that Kumho Tire's Tianjin factory did not produce according to the company's internal standards, it stated that it would apply for a recall after determining the product range for products not produced according to the company's internal standards. However, there was no mention of specific time and concrete steps for the recall.

"The so-called recall is very ambiguous. Is all the products produced in the Tianjin factory recalled, or is the recall of an entire vehicle factory for a certain batch? How should consumers deal with products with security risks? Recall is more reasonable? All of these companies have not announced specific details.” Qiu Baochang, head of the China Consumers' Association’s lawyers group, told reporters that late apologies and ambiguous recalls do not eliminate consumer concerns.

Qiu Baochang stated that according to the "Product Quality Law," "Consumer Protection Law," and the newly issued "Law on Tort Liability," recalls are legal obligations of companies. "The Kumho tires that are produced using a large amount of recycled rubber are obviously unqualified products. There must be security risks here. Since companies know it, they should promptly take recall actions." Qiu Baochang believes that Kumho tires are being exposed. Many days have passed late apologies and recall statements and have not strictly fulfilled the corporate responsibility of Article 46 of the Tort Liability Act.

It is understood that Kumho Tire currently has four factories in Nanjing, Nanjing TBR, Changchun and Tianjin in China, with an annual production capacity of 23.45 million. Supporting manufacturers include Shanghai GM, FAW Car, Beijing Hyundai, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Chery, Great Wall Motor, Brilliance Automotive and more than a dozen car companies, equipped with up to 35 models. However, it is not yet clear that the so-called “illegal operations” of substandard tires account for the proportion of their total tire production.

According to incomplete statistics, the number of Kumho Tire supporting vehicles in the Chinese market exceeds 10 million. Consumers are also seriously questioning cars that have purchased, are selling, or used Kumho Tires: Since there are illegal operations in Tianjin, how can the products in Changchun and Nanjing factories be safe?

At noon on March 25th, Li Hanxi said in a telephone interview with reporters that the company has been preparing a recall procedure and will work hard to start it as soon as possible. When asked whether Kumho's operations in Nanjing and Changchun, China, are not operated in accordance with production standards and there are many problems with using recycled rubber, Li Hanchen stressed that only the Tianjin plant has stopped production, and the remaining two plants have not been affected.

Kumho Tires, on the official Weibo microblog launched on Sina.com on March 24th, made “pipa” for reports that the Nanjing factory did not receive CCC certification. In response, the reporter called the relevant person in charge of the China Quality Certification Center to confirm that the 13 CCC certifications for Kumho Tire Products have been suspended and that their products will not be sold to the market. The person in charge said that the forensic investigation of the other two Kumho tire factories is still in progress and no results have yet been obtained. The reporter visited the website of China Quality Certification Center and found that the CCC certification status of Kumho Tire's Nanjing and Changchun factories is still valid.

"When did the 'illegal operation' start? How serious was the plot? Was the accidental case still ubiquitous in the four factories? Whether it was intentional or because of operational mistakes? All need to be investigated for evidence." Qiu Baochang It is believed that for the production of Kumho Tire's factories in China, enterprises should organize self-inspection in a timely manner, and related departments should also actively intervene to conduct thorough investigations on the specific violations of the company and publish the results of investigation and processing to the public as soon as possible. As to whether or not Kumho Tire's production license should be revoked, Qiu Baochang believes that it should be judged by the irregularities of Kumho Tire. "What needs to be emphasized is that all safety issues, especially those involving life safety, should be dealt with strictly."