The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) require tire dealers to register tires at the point of sale.
The recommendation that could lead to mandatory registration of new tires is one of 11 to come out of the NTSB’s investigation into safety issues related to tire recalls and tire aging.
The first nine recommendations are directed to the NHTSA. They are:
1. Seek authority to require all tire dealers to register tires at the point of sale and then require them to do so.
2. Develop voluntary standards, in consultation with tire industry leaders, for a computerized method of capturing, storing, uploading tire registration information at the point of sale.
3. Include fields on the tire registration form for the purchaser’s email address, telephone number and vehicle identification number to assist manufacturers in locating and notifying owners of recalled tires.
4. Require tire manufacturers to include the complete tire identification number on both the inboard and outboard sides of the tire.
5. Require tire manufacturers to put the safety recall information for their tires on their websites in a format that is searchable by tire identification number as well as by brand and model. If necessary, seek legislative authority to implement this recommendation.
6. Modify the tire recall search feature on the NHTSA website to allow users to search for recalls by tire identification number as well as by brand and model.
7. Determine the level of crash risk associated with tire aging since the implementation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards numbers 138 and 139. If based on this determination it appears that the aging-related should be mitigated, develop and implement a plan to promote the tire aging test protocol to reduce the risk.
8. Develop a consensus document with input from the automotive industry, the tire industry and safety advocacy groups that address tire aging and service life and that also includes best practices for those consumers whose tires are most at risk for experiencing an aging-related failure.
9. Develop in consultation with automotive and tire industry representatives a tire safety action plan to reduce or mitigate tire-related crashes by promoting technological innovation and adopting regulations if necessary.
The tenth recommendation is aimed at Triple A and the Rubber Manufacturers Association:
10. Work together to evaluate the effectiveness of current tire safety efforts in influencing consumer tire purchase, maintenance behaviors and publish the results of the evaluation.
The NTSB directed its final recommendation to tire manufacturers and their subsidiaries, and specified them by name: Bridgestone Americas Inc., Continental Tire the Americas LLC, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Hankook Tire America Corp., Kumho Tire USA Inc., Michelin North America Inc., Pirelli Tire North America Inc., Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing Inc., and Yokohama Tire Corp.
11. Put the safety recall information for your tires on your websites that is searchable by tire identification number as well as by brand and model.
The NTSB announced the recommendations at the conclusion of its Oct. 27, 2015, board meeting on the outcome of its special investigation report on selected issues in passenger vehicle tire safety. A webcast of the board meeting will be archived on the NTSB website. Webcasts are usually available by the end of the day a meeting is held.
