The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a final report on its "Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study."
During the summer of 2007, NHTSA contracted a company to collect and study truck tire debris and discarded tire casings from five sites in the United States.
A conclusion of the study was that "the proportion of tire debris from retread tires and OE tires is similar to the estimated proportion of retread and OE tires in service. Indeed, the OE versus retread proportions of the collected tire debris broadly correlated with accepted industry expectations. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest that the proportion of tire fragments/shreds from retread tires was over-represented in the debris items collected."
Harvey Brodsky, managing director of the Tire Retread and Repair Information Bureau (TRIB), says, "The study contains a huge amount of important information abut the true causes of tire debris, but it makes clear that retreads are not to blame!"
The 214-page study covers commercial tires in-depth, from the anatomy of a tire, statistics on retreading, retread costs and benefits, the retread process, a review of commercial tire failures, tire safety issues and much more.
For the whole report, go to www.nhtsa.gov.
Tire Debris Study
