Fel-Pro Automotive Gaskets

Product Description

Fel-Pro is one of the most widely recognized names in automotive and industrial gasket manufacturing. Produced under the Federal-Mogul Fel-Pro brand, these gaskets were designed to create reliable seals between mating surfaces in engines, exhaust systems, transmissions, and a broad range of industrial machinery. The product line encompassed an extensive catalog of gasket types, including head gaskets, exhaust manifold gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and composite sheet gaskets used across passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, heavy equipment, and stationary industrial engines.

Fel-Pro gaskets earned a strong reputation in professional repair shops, original equipment manufacturing, and industrial maintenance settings throughout much of the twentieth century. The brand’s gaskets were sold through automotive parts distributors, machine shops, and industrial supply channels, making them accessible to a wide cross-section of workers and technicians. Their broad distribution and extensive product catalog meant that Fel-Pro gaskets were present in virtually every type of workplace where engines and mechanical systems required routine maintenance or overhaul.

Federal-Mogul, the parent company of the Fel-Pro brand, became one of the most significant entities in asbestos litigation history, ultimately establishing a substantial trust to compensate individuals harmed by asbestos-containing products across its product lines.

Asbestos Content

For much of the twentieth century, asbestos was considered an ideal material for gasket manufacturing. Its heat resistance, compressibility, chemical stability, and low cost made it a preferred ingredient in compressed fiber sheet gaskets and other sealing products used in high-temperature applications. Asbestos fibers were commonly blended with binders, rubber compounds, and other materials to create sheets from which individual gasket shapes could be cut or stamped.

Litigation records document that Fel-Pro gaskets produced during a significant portion of the twentieth century contained asbestos as a primary or supplemental component in their composition. Plaintiffs alleged that these gaskets, particularly those designed for high-heat applications such as cylinder head sealing and exhaust systems, incorporated chrysotile and in some cases other forms of asbestos fiber to achieve their thermal and chemical performance characteristics.

The use of asbestos in gasket manufacturing was widespread across the industry and was consistent with prevailing material science standards of the era. Litigation records document that Federal-Mogul and its Fel-Pro division were aware that asbestos-containing products posed health risks, and plaintiffs alleged that adequate warnings were not provided to the workers who regularly handled these materials. As regulatory pressure from agencies including OSHA and the EPA increased through the 1970s and 1980s, gasket manufacturers including Fel-Pro transitioned toward non-asbestos alternative materials, though the timing and completeness of that transition has been a subject of litigation.

How Workers Were Exposed

Exposure to asbestos from Fel-Pro gaskets and similar automotive sealing products occurred primarily through the physical handling, cutting, and removal of gasket materials during installation and maintenance work. Industrial workers generally represent the primary occupational group documented in litigation involving these products.

Installation and Removal: Workers installing new gaskets frequently handled raw compressed fiber sheet gaskets or pre-cut gasket blanks. Cutting gaskets to fit from sheet stock, trimming around bolt holes, and fitting gaskets to irregular surfaces all generated airborne dust. When asbestos-containing gaskets were disturbed, respirable asbestos fibers could be released into the breathing zone of the worker performing the task.

Scraping and Surface Preparation: Among the highest-exposure tasks documented in litigation records was the scraping and grinding of old gasket material from engine block surfaces, cylinder heads, manifolds, and flanges. When an asbestos-containing gasket was removed after extended service, it was often bonded to the metal surface and required aggressive mechanical removal using scrapers, wire brushes, abrasive pads, or grinding tools. These methods generated significant quantities of dust, and plaintiffs alleged that workers performing such tasks were exposed to elevated concentrations of airborne asbestos fibers with little or no respiratory protection.

Industrial Maintenance Settings: Beyond automotive repair, Fel-Pro and similar branded gaskets were used extensively in industrial facilities including manufacturing plants, power generation facilities, refineries, and processing operations. Maintenance workers, pipefitters, millwrights, and mechanical technicians in these environments routinely removed and replaced gaskets on pumps, compressors, heat exchangers, valves, and engines. Litigation records document that these workers encountered asbestos-containing gasket materials repeatedly over the course of long careers in industrial maintenance.

Bystander Exposure: In shop environments, workers who were not directly handling gasket materials could also be exposed to airborne fibers released by colleagues performing nearby gasket work. Mechanics, helpers, and shop floor workers in enclosed spaces with limited ventilation were identified in litigation as individuals who experienced secondary or bystander exposure.

Lack of Protective Equipment: Plaintiffs alleged that workers who handled Fel-Pro gaskets and similar products during the mid-twentieth century typically did so without respiratory protection and without awareness of the hazards posed by asbestos-containing dust. The absence of product warnings, combined with limited industrial hygiene practices in many shop and plant environments, contributed to cumulative asbestos exposures over workers’ careers.

Documented Product Identification

The following details are drawn from public asbestos litigation records, manufacturer catalog pages, technical manuals, and corporate history materials. Each item reflects the product as documented in those sources.

Documented asbestos-use period: 1930s-early 1990s

Corporate context: Originally incorporated in Illinois in 1923 as Felt Products Manufacturing Company, headquartered in Skokie, Illinois. In February 1998, Federal-Mogul acquired 100% of Fel-Pro’s stock, after which all assets and liabilities (except asbestos-related liabilities) were transferred to Federal-Mogul, leaving Fel-Pro as a non-operating shell company.

Documented asbestos components: gaskets, cylinder head gaskets, exhaust gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, packing materials.

Industries served: automotive, marine/ships, petrochemical refineries, steel mills.

Naval / marine service: This manufacturer’s equipment is documented in connection with U.S. Navy and commercial-marine service.

Documented product lines:

• Engine Gaskets (1930s-early 1990s). Full line of gaskets and gasket materials for use in internal combustion engines, principally in automobiles but also on ships. — asbestos components: cylinder head gaskets, exhaust gaskets, intake manifold gaskets.
• Packing Materials (1930s/1940s-1971). Sealants used in hostile industrial environments for pumps, valves, expansion joints, or process equipment handling steam, hot gases, acids, or other strong corrosives. — asbestos components: packing.

Fel-Pro engine gaskets contained encapsulated chrysotile asbestos bound in paper or sheet material and further encapsulated by Teflon, epoxy-phenolic coating, rubber, or metal. Packing materials contained chrysotile or crocidolite asbestos encapsulated by metal or other materials.