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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Falken Tire page on 10 September 2019, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Falken Tire is a brand of passenger car, light truck, and medium truck tires owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI). It was launched in its native country of Japan in 1983, and was introduced to the North American market two years later and in Europe in 1988. Falken has now become a stand-alone brand that focuses on UHP (Ultra High Performance) products while utilizing professional motorsports to further develop and improve products for worldwide distribution.
Sumitomo Rubber North America, Inc., formerly known as Falken Tire Corporation, is the corporate headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, California, with a West Coast distribution center in Ontario, California. Additional Falken Tire distribution locations include warehouses in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, and Texas.
In June 2015, Sumitomo and Goodyear announced that they would dissolve their worldwide partnership. As part of the deal, Sumitomo bought Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America, which included a manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, near Buffalo, New York. The plant, rebranded as Sumitomo Rubber USA, began to produce Falken Tire-branded tires in January 2016.
Timeline
1983: The Falken brand is created as a high performance brand of OHTSU Rubber & Tire in Japan 1985: Started Falken Motorsports & U.S. Distribution 1988: Team Falken wins the Mirage Cup International series 1988: Falken introduces the Sincera Tire 1988: Falken Tyre Europe GmbH is founded in Offenbach am Main, Germany. 1990: The N1 6hour Endurance Sugu 400 km GT-R R32 class winner 1991: Falken supports the BNR32 that dominated the Super N1 Taikyu Series in Japan 1991: Team Falken participated in the Kenya Endurance rally 1991: Opened U.S. Headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, U.S. 1993: Sponsors teams for the Paris to Dakar Rally Championships 1996: The first Ziex branded tire is launched: Ziex ZE502 1998: Began a successful campaign with Mine's Falken BNR33 which won the 98'-00' Class 1 Series Championship 1999: Team Falken began competing in the ADAC 24th Rennen Nurburgring 2000: Falken Tire participates in Rally Australia 2000 2001: AZENIS Tire line is launched with AZENIS ST115 and AZENIS RT215 2001: Team Falken wins Super Endurance Class 1 Series Championship 2001: Falken sponsors the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2003: Falken supports the first U.S. Drift Showoff in Irwindale, Ca 2003: Falken sponsors the drivers at the first D1 Grand Prix Pro Drift Competition in the U.S. 2005: Falken team driver Calvin Wan takes 1st place in an Infiniti G35 at the Formula Drift sanctioned event. 2006: A Consumer Reports Top Pick: Falken ZE912 2007: Falken moves into corporate office in Fontana, CA 2010: Falken wins first Formula Drift Championship, Vaughn Gittin, Jr. 2010: Falken introduces the Wildpeak A/T Tire to reinvigorate the all-performance SUV and Light Truck segments. 2011: Falken wins another back-to-back Formula Drift Championship with Daijiro Yoshihara. 2011: 2 ALMS GT Class wins at Mid-Ohio & Baltimore 2012: Team Falken takes another ALMS win at Baltimore Grand Prix 2012: New Falken Tire headquarters located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. 2012: Falken / Savvy Off Road wins the King of the Hammers Every Man Challenge. 2012: Falken drift team driver Lars Verbraeken became a Guinness World Record holder after achieving a new speed record for drifting. 2013: Falken wins again at the King of the Hammers Every Man Challenge 2013: Team Falken takes first place in GT at ALMS Petit Le Mans 2015: Falken becomes the Official Tire of Major League Baseball 2016: The Sumitomo Rubber USA factory in Tonawanda began to produce Falken Tire-branded tires. 2017: Falken became a sponsor of English Premier League team Liverpool F.C.. 2018: Falken became a sponsor of German Basketball League team EWE Baskets.
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
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| 22 September 2017 | Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance | Federal Register: NHTSA (Jeffrey M. Giuseppe) |
| 12 October 2021 | Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., and Sumitomo Rubber North America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance Sumitomo Rubber Industries and Sumitomo Rubber North America have determined that certain Sumitomo and Falken truck tires do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 119, New Pneumatic Tires for Motor Vehicles with a GVWR of More Than 10,000 Pounds. | Federal Register Notice  (text)Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Otto G. Matheke III Topic: Topics: Falken, Sumitomo |
| 18 April 2022 | Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., and Sumitomo Rubber North America, Inc., Denial of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance Sumitomo Rubber has determined that certain Sumitomo and Falken truck tires do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 119, New Pneumatic Tires for Motor Vehicles with a GVWR of More Than 10,000 Pounds. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Anne L. Collins Topics: Falken, Sumitomo |