NHTSA lists ideas for consumer education program

June 23, 2009

Thanks to the passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been given the task of developing a national tire education program for consumers.

Some of the agency's recently published ideas for consumer education include promotional brochures and posters that NHTSA "would distribute at trade shows and other events, and which tire retailers could display at the point of sale." Other components could include:

* a centralized government-run Web site that contains a database of all tire rating information.

* a comparative calculator "that would show the amount of money a consumer would save annually or over the estimated lifetime of the tires of varying fuel efficiency ratings.

"Using the calculator, a consumer could select tires to compare, entering the fuel economy of their vehicle and the average number of miles they drive each year, and even the dollar amount they are paying for fuel," which would lead to "a calculation of differences in fuel usage and/or money saved for the tires under comparison."

NHTSA also plans to "develop and form new partnerships to distribute educational messages about tire fuel efficiency and tire maintenance. NHTSA would seek to partner with any interested tire retailers, (and) state or local governments, as well as manufacturers who share NHTSA's goal of promoting the importance of proper tire maintenance."