U.S. auto safety regulators to sign pact with China

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will sign a memorandum of cooperation with China on Wednesday, said NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason.

The purpose of the agreement is to smooth communication between auto safety regulators in the United States and China so that potential problems can be resolved more quickly, Nason said. The federal government already has such agreements with most other nations that export passenger vehicles and auto parts to the United States, she said.

A cooperation agreement with China would have helped regulators earlier this summer in responding to the case of Foreign Tire Sales (FTS) of New Jersey. That company informed NHTSA in June that tires it had imported from China and sold here were defective. But the company said it couldn't be certain exactly how many tires or which ones were defective because the Chinese manufacturer was not forthcoming with details. The exact number of tires that needed to be recalled was not determined until August.

"Ultimately we were able to narrow this recall fairly significantly once we had the information," Nason said.

But that sort of delay is unacceptable when dealing with something as potentially serious as defective tires, Nason said.

In the past, getting information from Chinese regulators involved writing a letter, having it translated into Chinese and faxing it to China, Nason said. Under the new agreement, a NHTSA representative will be able to get the necessary response by simply placing a telephone call, she said.

A delegation from NHTSA that included Nason traveled to China last year to begin negotiations on the pact. A first draft was agreed to in November in Geneva, Switzerland, and the two countries have since been exchanging versions, Nason said.

"The Chinese obviously have a strong interest in motor vehicle equipment and motor vehicle sales in the U.S.," Nason said.

That gives China an incentive to make sure that the products it sells are safe and in compliance with American laws and regulations, she said.

Several American companies, including Chrysler, have expressed interest in importing Chinese-made passenger vehicles. Improving communication is particularly important as Chinese manufacturers begin designing and engineering vehicles for sale here, Nason said.