Members of the Tire Industry Association (TIA) approved resolutions related to federal infrastructure funding and tire registration during the association's annual membership meeting.
TIA "will work with Congress to support" the current federal infrastructure proposal, Dan Nothdurft, incoming TIA vice president, told attendees.
However, the association would oppose the implementation of what it calls "unreasonable and unfair" hypothetical, income-generating actions, such as the reinstatement of the federal excise tax (FET) on passenger tires or tread rubber used in the retread process, an increase of the FET on commercial truck tires, and other efforts.
TIA also is urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) to "carefully consider the financial impact of potentially crippling fines" that would penalize tire retailers for failing to register consumer tires or "inadvertently making a mistake recording tire identification numbers" at the point of sale, said Northdurft.
TIA and the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association are "working to propose to NHTSA an industry consensus registration regulation to be considered" as part of the adoption of new tire registration guidelines.
TIA has proposed to NHTSA that new regulations should stipulate that:
- no monetary fines should be imposed for the first two violations;
- monetary penalties could only be assessed after a tire retailer or distributor has been issued two written warnings;
- a third violation could not exceed $500 and any subsequent penalty could not exceed $1,000, and that;
- no more than one penalty could be assessed on a single day.
According to TIA, "the fine for failure to register tires or a retailer mistake in registering tires, if not addressed, would be set at up to $22,329 per violation."
