[Tjalle]

ADAC (German automobile organisation) and a Finnish newspaper are accusing NOKIAN with cheating by supplying "doctored" tires for tests - at least wintertires.

I will supply more INFO as matters unfold - others are also invited to supply INFO.

[barcelona]

They cheated, however heading says safe. Cheated before 2014. No disclosure until caught. Yes others also guilty.

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/26/n...-cheat-report/

Press Release


Nokian Tyres: Our products have always been safe

Nokian Tyres wants to comment on the ongoing discussion about the trustworthiness of tyre tests executed by car media. The topic was raised in the interview of Nokian Tyres' CEO Ari Lehtoranta in Finnish magazine Kauppalehti on 24 Feb 2016.

- We wanted to bring up tyre testing in car media ourselves, as we have been increasing the transparency and ethicality of our operations on all levels. In past years, when the testing organisations asked manufacturers to send them tyres for the tests, activities in the industry were dubious. Major test organisations have now for years acquired the tyres from tyre stores, and also make control tests to the tyres afterwards. The Board of Nokian Tyres has never decided on such stock option schemes that would have encouraged cheating in tests, unlike what has been implied in the media.

- Last year we audited our operations. Right after that we clarified our rules for test tyres which now specificly forbid any planning or manufacturing of tyres that are targeted only for car media tests. The issue was immediately handled in our Board of directors and together we decided to come out with this information on our own terms. On our behalf, we apologise and regret the mistakes we have made in the past.

- High quality of our products is the foundation of Nokian Tyres. Our products are also top class in safety, says CEO Ari Lehtoranta.

Nokian Tyres plc
Antti-Jussi Tähtinen
Vice President, Marketing and Communications

[Tjalle]

Barcelona, very good INFO.

The tricky part is wintertires, where manufacturers improve tires every year i.e. to be able to present testresults in october - when "everybody" buys tires - magazines need to get prototype/preseries tires in late winter before from manufacturers.

Most tests are performed on outside icetracks.

[Tjalle]

Discussion has come to a halt in Sweden - ended up with NOKIA admitting cheating earlier - not now

What about Finland and Germany?

[barcelona]

^^^ now you are bringing up old trivia, Nokia use to own about 15% of Nokian.
Here's another, Nokian developed the first snow tire in 1934, then the Snow Hakkapeliitta in 1936. Wow, it took them 80 years to confess only after caught.

[Rodion]

Originally Posted by barcelona

^^^ now you are bringing up old trivia, Nokia use to own about 15% of Nokian.
Here's another, Nokian developed the first snow tire in 1934, then the Snow Hakkapeliitta in 1936. Wow, it took them 80 years to confess only after caught.

Actually in the very first phase there was "Suomen Gummitehdas Oy" which expanded and bought Nokia Oy (paper mill) and Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy (cables).

After some evolving the whole concern was changed to Nokia Oy which then continued on several industries. One being rubber products and one being Telecommunication.

At later stages Nokian tyres were created from Nokia rubber department and SP Tyres Ltd, and at first Nokia Oy owned 80% of that company.

To mix this even more, there is city called Nokia: http://www.nokiankaupunki.fi/ and there the name comes from: the first Paper mill called Nokia was founded there.

About the topic itself: yes, shameful information. Some magazines already says that they have "doping tests" for the winter tyre test winners: they buy similar tyres from the dealers and test if they have same abilities than the tested preproduction versions.

And, another thing: the CEO of times of "cheating" is now multimillionar and living in Portugal with all his money and multimillion pension from Finland. The reason is that Portugal does not tax Finnish pensions and neither does Finland tax pensions going to Portugal!

http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/...-portugal.html

[Rodion]

Press release from Today:

Test tyre policies and processes in Nokian Tyres

Nokian Tyres plc Stock Exchange Release, 29 February 2016, 3:50 p.m.

The company announced in the 24 February issue of the newspaper Kauppalehti that its practices concerning tyre tests have not always in the history been in line with the sustainable approach of Nokian Tyres. Although the practices have substantially improved over the years, the company’s management decided to launch a thorough investigation into the matter in the autumn of 2015. Following the investigation, Nokian Tyres has ensured that any possible malpractices related to testing have been rectified. At the same time, the company has completed a review of its practices in order to increase openness and transparency in all activities.

The products are safe

The company emphasises that its tyres have always been safe and this has never been compromised on.

Over the years, several operators in the field, including Nokian Tyres, have been suspected or evidence has been presented against them of differences between tyres in magazine tests and tyres that are for sale in stores. This has led to the gradual improvement of the testing processes. The most important testers purchase their tyres from tyre retailers and they also re-test new tyres afterwards. This has been going on for years. When test manipulation did occur, the tyre submitted for the test and the tyre received by the customer were different in terms of characteristics, not quality. A tyre has dozens of different characteristics and the company sought to improve one of them by a few per cent for a test, at the cost of another characteristic.

- For example, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 has been tested over 70 times already and it has always come out on top, with no manipulation. In the United States, tyres are only tested by a completely independent consumer organisation that has always bought its test tyres from a retailer. There have never been any attempts to influence tests of the company’s products intended for sale in North America. The tests in the major Nordic, Russian and European professional magazines have been reliable for years. Nokian Heavy Tyres has never been involved in any kind of test manipulation, Lehtoranta says.

- None of the above make our mistakes in the past more acceptable. It should be emphasised, however, that the most important things in terms of the big picture are the safety and the drivers’ personal opinions on how well the tyres work. We have millions of satisfied customers spanning several generations.

The EU tyre labels are reliable

The authority regulated measurement results concerning wet grip, fuel consumption and external rolling noise that Nokian Tyres reports on the sales labels and on its online service have always been reliable.

Customers have received the advertised tyres

Consumers who have bought tyres in recent years on the basis of test results have received tyres whose characteristics match the tyres that were tested. The price of the products is based on expertise gathered over several generations and a stable market position gained through satisfied customers. The opinion of the company is that no grounds for compensation exist.

Public discussion

In the past few days, the media, in Finland in particular, has published different types of speculation following the Kauppalehti’s interview of Nokian Tyres. The stories and commentaries have included several factual errors and unnecessary links between unrelated matters. Nokian Tyres is doing its part in order to correct the misunderstandings.

- However, we are unable to comment on everything, such as the existence, origin or content of the email messages referred to by the media, Lehtoranta says.

The company’s position is based on extensive expertise

The company wants to emphasise that the position of Nokian Tyres’ products is based on know-how accrued over several generations, expertise in extreme conditions, state-of-the-art technology, efficient processes and special products, not only on tests in the motoring media. In addition to the products, the company’s overall success is based on a successful strategy in Russia, state-of-the-art production expertise, a constantly expanding distribution network, functional logistics, knowledge of the passenger car tyre and heavy tyre market segments and competent personnel.

- We sincerely apologise for our actions in the past and want to earn the trust of the consumers and customers in the future, as well. We will continue to succeed in tests, with methods that are guaranteed to be honest, says President and CEO Lehtoranta.

Teleconference on 29 February at 17:00 EET

President and CEO Ari Lehtoranta will be explaining the situation and answering questions in a teleconference that will be arranged today, 29 February, at 17:00 EET. You can participate in the telephone conference by calling one of the numbers below 5–10 minutes before the scheduled starting time:

FI: +358981710495

UK: +442031940552

SE: +46856642702

US: +18557161597

Nokian Tyres plc

Antti-Jussi Tähtinen

Marketing and Communications Manager

Further information: President and CEO Ari Lehtoranta, tel. +358 10 401 7733

Distribution: Nasdaq OMX Helsinki, the media and www.nokiantyres.com

[Tjalle]

To sum it up:
-I am disappointed - I have worked with Finns, and did not think they would cheat
-they did cheat
-some of their tires are produced in Russia.

Luckily I bought Conti wintertires to my car.

[Rodion]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

To sum it up:
Luckily I bought Conti wintertires to my car.

Luckily?

Do you recall things reported 12 years ago?

... how Continental Tire submits ringers to the Scandinavian magazines for their winter tire testing. Continental readily admits that the tires they submit are not production tires, but are custom manufactured for each magazine, so as to get high test scores (and the resulting high sales).


Article from AFTONBLADET, Swedish newspaper – Published on the 25th December 2004 – Reporter Robert Colin

Continental sends better Tyres to Tests than to motorists.
The German tyre manufacturer CONTINENTAL is not afraid to use any means necessary to win press tyre tests. Aftonbladet can prove that this company has won tests with doctored tyres.

Winning a tyre test results in increased sales.
Here in Sweden the winner of a tyre test can increase its sales by tens of thousand of Crowns, and in large countries such as France or Germany, hundreds of millions.
If the press were to buy tyres from a dealer this problem would not exist. However, when we test winter tyres in February or March to publish the results in autumn, the new products aren’t yet on the market. To include these new products in the tests, the press has to trust the manufacturers to deliver the correct tyres.

How did they win?
This year the usually secret tyre test department in Hanover has been particularly creative.
They have produced tyres adapted to each magazine.
The winner of Aftonbladet test 2004, amongst others, was Continental Viking Contact 3.
Viking also won in Auto Motor och Sport from Norway, which puts more importance on smooth surfaces. The Norwegians received a tyre with extra rigid sidewalls.
We at AftonBladet received tyres with an extra soft rubber compound, which gives better grip on ice, the characteristic that we stress the most.
The tyre we used for the test also had sidewalls reinforced to increase stability on smooth surfaces.

We have now purchased the consumer version of the tested tyre, and carried out new tests. It is apparent that there is a great difference between the tyres. The tyres we purchased had lower grip on ice and a lower stability on smooth surfaces. It is definitely not a test winner.

Some sources from within Continental at Hanover, questioned by Aftonbladet admit that the doctoring is an important element in their activity.
“We know well of course the priorities of the different magazines and we make tyres accordingly” … says an employee.

“We must win”
“The competition is even more intense in Central Europe, and the financial turnover is so important that we simply must win the tests. That’s why we always deliver special tyres.” says another employee.

Roland Martensson, responsible for NordicWinter tyre development at Continetal, admits that there is doctoring, mainly with the competitors.

“Others are cheating”
“I know that the other tyre manufacturers are cheating, but I have never heard that we have a department specialised to this purpose”.
“If there are differences between tyres that we deliver to you, and those in the market, this is due more to production variations or productions errors” said Roland Martensson.

The proof illustrated: How Continental cheats. The rigid bead filler of the test tyre is 3,5mm longer and finishes closer to the tread. This results in a tyre with better lateral stability.
The test tyre has greater thickness and is more stable
The normal tyre – unstable and narrower"



Second article from the same AFTONBLADET, Swedish newspaper –
Published the 25th December 2004 – Reporter Robert Collin.

"SEVERAL TYRE MANUFACTURERS ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO CHEATING

The easiest doctoring to carry out is improving tyre grip at the expense of wear resistance - this being difficult to test.
A winter tyre’s characteristics are a compromise where wet, dry, snow and ice grip should be balanced in a correct manner. Also comfort and wear resistance should be satisfactory. Stability on asphalt is in direct opposition to grip in winter conditions, and grip in general is in direct opposition to wear resistance.

Is it only Continental who cheats?
It is probable that other tyre manufacturers also cheat. One tyre manufacturer who seems to be above cheating is the French multi-giant Michelin. This could be one reason why Michelin rarely wins press tests.
Robert Collins started testing tyres with the Finnish Magazine Tekniikan Maailma in 1984. Their tests which are the most advanced of the Nordic tests also have the widest circulation. They are published in Aftonbladet and in the Swedish Auto Motor och Sport, as well as in Finland, Norway, Russia and Estonia."

[Tjalle]

No - I never read this - or have forgotten.

You are right - sheds a somewhat different light on the whole affair.

[Rodion]

Yes, unfortunately "doctoring" seems to be industry standard, which is not very nice.

But nevertheless, I believe that purchasing a well known Europian brand tyre you are at least safe and you have at least adequate tyres.

The top brands are so close to each other in terms of abilities, that which ever you choose you are safe.

[Rodion]

Updated information from Tekniikan Maailma magazine, Google Translate + post-editing:

Technology World says on its website of three attempted swindle, which the magazine has come across over the years in their tyre tests.
Ten years ago the Journal to investigate Continental doctoring doubt. Then the in-depth laboratory studies found that Continental reached a winter tire comparison victory in September 2004 by cheating.

In 2009, was amazed brilliant waterplanning resistance of Pirelli. When the tyre was to be tested again and do more detailed laboratory testing, Pirelli tires pulled out of the test.

The third case dates back to 2012, when the Aftonbladet accused of Nokian Tyres in the scam. However, the technology for further sorting out the world showed that the test car, the weather and the production batch may have influenced the results. TM: According to the display of cheating was not one hundred percent certain, but there was "reasonable suspicion".