About Kelsey-Hayes Romulus Wheel Plant Romulus Michigan

The Kelsey-Hayes Romulus Wheel Plant operated in Romulus, Michigan — a southwestern suburb of Detroit in Wayne County — as one of the state’s major automotive component manufacturing facilities. Romulus sits within the dense industrial corridor that stretches from Detroit’s southwest side through Dearborn, Wayne, and into the Downriver communities, a region that produced more automotive components per square mile than virtually any comparable area in the world. Kelsey-Hayes Company, founded in 1927 through the merger of Kelsey Wheel Company and Hayes Wheel Company, supplied wheels, brakes, and other automotive components directly to Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Chrysler.

The Romulus facility produced steel and aluminum wheels, brake system components, friction and clutch assemblies, and automotive subsystems for passenger vehicles and commercial trucks. Like virtually every comparable facility of its era — including the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Chrysler’s Jefferson Assembly Plant in Detroit, and GM’s Hamtramck Assembly — the Romulus plant reportedly relied on asbestos-containing materials throughout its construction, maintenance, and production operations.

Kelsey-Hayes passed through multiple owners — Acquired by Lucas Industries, became part of TRW Automotive, and was absorbed by ZF Friedrichshafen.

Automotive wheel and brake component manufacturing generated conditions that required insulation and protective materials throughout every decade of the plant’s operation: foundry and press operations with stamping presses, body paint ovens, and curing furnaces running at temperatures that required thermal insulation; high-pressure steam systems used for heating, cleaning, and process operations throughout the plant; electrical installations with wiring, switchgear, and panel insulation; structural fireproofing applied to steel beams and columns; and friction products incorporating asbestos-containing materials as a functional component.

Based on construction timelines of comparable Michigan automotive manufacturing facilities and documented industry practices, asbestos-containing materials were reportedly present at the Kelsey-Hayes Romulus Wheel Plant from approximately the 1940s through the late 1970s, with legacy materials potentially remaining in place into the 1980s and beyond during renovation and demolition work.

General Equipment at Kelsey-Hayes Romulus Wheel Plant Romulus Michigan

The equipment below represents the systems and infrastructure documented or typically present at this facility during the era when asbestos-containing materials were specified in industrial construction. This is general facility-equipment reference — not a legal attribution of any specific product, manufacturer, or exposure event to this facility. Material-category and manufacturer information is addressed in the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk linked under the records table below.

Industrial Boilers View crosswalk › Process Piping View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Block Insulation View crosswalk › Valves View crosswalk › Gaskets View crosswalk › Pumps View crosswalk › Heat Exchangers View crosswalk › Cooling Equipment View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Michigan EGLE (Environment, Great Lakes & Energy) (Michigan EGLE) was notified under federal NESHAP rules, the work was logged, and the asbestos-containing material was confirmed and removed under regulated conditions. These are not allegations or estimates — they are paper records tying documented asbestos-containing material to this specific site.

No Michigan EGLE NESHAP abatement notifications have been identified for this facility in current public records. Per the framing above, absence of state-agency documentation should not be read as absence of asbestos — only as absence of a formal, regulated abatement event meeting reporting thresholds. Workers who recall encountering pipe insulation, block insulation, gaskets, or other asbestos-era construction materials at this facility may still have viable claims regardless of whether a state record exists.

Material Categories in Documented Records

The materials documented above (and similar asbestos-containing materials commonly encountered in records of this type) appear in the AsbestosIndex catalog with historical manufacturer and trust-fund information. Click a category to view manufacturers historically associated with that material:

Thermal System Insulation View crosswalk › Asbestos-Cement Board View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Roofing & Flashing View crosswalk › Spray Fireproofing View crosswalk › Floor Tile & Mastic View crosswalk › Ceiling Tile View crosswalk › Gaskets & Packing View crosswalk ›

Who May Have Been Exposed at Kelsey-Hayes Romulus Wheel Plant Romulus Michigan

Workers present during any of the high-exposure periods — original construction, ongoing maintenance, equipment overhauls, renovation projects, and demolition and reconfiguration — may have been exposed to airborne asbestos fibers released from deteriorating or disturbed materials. Specific exposure pathways included workers whose tasks involved pipe insulation, boiler insulation, structural fireproofing, and floor tiles installed throughout the plant; insulation cut, stripped, and replaced by maintenance trades during routine operations; boilers, furnaces, and steam systems serviced during periodic shutdowns; older asbestos-containing materials disturbed during facility upgrades; and plant structures torn down or significantly modified. Maintenance workers and contractors performing flooring work at the Romulus facility may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials during operations involving cutting, drilling, abrading, sanding, or removing Armstrong asbestos-containing floor tiles. Insulators and pipefitters who worked with or near calcium silicate pipe insulation throughout Wayne County’s industrial facilities may have inhaled dangerous airborne asbestos fiber concentrations during ordinary installation and handling.

UAW members working under contracts negotiated by UAW Local 600 in Dearborn and comparable locals throughout Wayne County fought for workplace safety provisions, but asbestos hazards were often not disclosed to union representatives or workers during the peak exposure decades.

Critical Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Michigan law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 3 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (MCL § 600.5805(13)). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 3 years from the date of death (MCL § 600.5852). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.

The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.

Practical first steps

  1. Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
  2. Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
  3. Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
  4. Speak with an asbestos attorney with Michigan experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.

Asbestos-Related Diseases

Asbestos fiber exposure can cause several specific diseases that typically appear decades after the original exposure. The latency period — the gap between exposure and diagnosis — usually runs 20 to 50 years. That's why workers exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are receiving diagnoses today.

Mesothelioma

A rare, aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), abdomen (peritoneal), or heart (pericardial). Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, which is why a mesothelioma diagnosis often points directly to historical workplace exposure. Average latency from first exposure to diagnosis is 30-50 years.

Asbestosis

A chronic, non-cancerous scarring of lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibers. Asbestosis causes progressive shortness of breath, persistent cough, and reduced lung function. It does not improve with treatment, and it is a recognized basis for compensation under most trust schedules and civil claims.

Lung Cancer

Asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly when combined with a history of smoking. Asbestos-related lung cancer is compensable under the same trust schedules and civil claim avenues as mesothelioma.

Other Recognized Diseases

Pleural plaques, pleural thickening, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer, and certain gastrointestinal cancers are also recognized as asbestos-related under various trust schedules and case-law authorities, though eligibility and proof requirements vary by claim type.

If you have any of these diagnoses and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or were exposed in any documented capacity, you may have a claim worth pursuing. Speak with an attorney before assuming you don't qualify.

Data Sources

Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:

If specific equipment or product claims in this article are sourced from a non-public database, the source is identified parenthetically within the text above.