Chrysler and the three largest manufacturers of wheel weights used to balance car vehicle wheels and tires have agreed to stop sending weights made of lead to California beginning next year. The Center for Environmental Health reached a settlement with the manufacturers, ending a lawsuit filed in May.
According to a U.S. Geological Survey study, lost wheel weights are ground down by passing vehicles and then wind up in California’s drinking water. The weights are made of lead, a highly toxic material.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Chrysler and lead weight manufacturers Plombco, Inc., Producers Perfect Equipment and Hennessey Industries – all named in the lawsuit – will stop shipments of lead weights to California by the end of 2009.
