Tire Industry Association

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	TIA Contact: Roy Littlefield
May 2, 2005	301-430-7280

TIA Weighs in Against New York Tire Bill

Bowie, MD – (May 2, 2005) The Tire Industry Association (TIA) today weighed in with the New York State Legislature in opposition to proposed legislation to include a “non-coded” date of manufacture on the sidewall of tires.

In a joint letter with the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), TIA stated, “TIA and SEMA believe that this legislation would place tire dealers, wholesalers and manufacturers at an unfair disadvantage by requiring this additional sidewall information, at no value to the motoring public.”

TIA and SEMA object for several reasons to the bill:

The date of a tire’s manufacture is already on the sidewall, found as part of the Tire Identification Number (TIN). A customer simply needs to ask a tire professional and can be shown that information on both the tire itself and their invoice. It is also included in most manufacturers’ consumer information materials.

It would be too costly for tire manufacturers to retool their molds to add a “born on” date to the sidewall when that information is already there. Moreover, manufacturers have just retooled their molds due to the new tire labeling regulations the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued in 2002. Tire manufacturers should not be expected to go through this costly procedure again for redundant sidewall information.

There is no scientific data to suggest a hard date of when tires are “too old” to be used. Tires will deteriorate over time, but the rate of deterioration depends on how and where that tire is used and stored, how it is constructed and how the tire is maintained by the consumer. Tire retailers are being put in the situation where if they have to explain the date of manufacture code to a customer, they cannot rely on any scientific foundation to indicate that older tires are any less safe than newer tires for the desired application. Therefore, retailers will be forced to “make it up as they go along” which could lead to liability issues. This is an unfair burden to tire retailers.

Adding “born on” dates to the sidewall of tires could cause major inventory problems for independent tire dealers as consumers could request newer tires, leaving older ones to age further in a warehouse. “Born on” dates could thus lead to unnecessary tire scrappage because of both a) remaining inventory and b) consumers buying tires sooner than needed.

Yearly state safety inspections remove any need for manufacturers to add a “born on” date to the sidewall of a tire. Inspectors can be taught to look for signs of deterioration and to check the date code.

For more information, contact Becky MacDicken, TIA’s Director of Government Affairs, at bmacdicken@tireindustry.org or by calling 800-876-8372 x 112. The entire letter can be found on TIA’s website at www.tireindustry.org on the Government Affairs page.

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TIA is an international association representing all segments of the tire industry, including those that manufacture, repair, recycle, sell, service or use new or retreaded tires, and also those suppliers or individuals who furnish equipment, material or services to the industry. The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has a history that spans more than 80 years and includes several name changes. Originally known as the National Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association (NTDRA), the organization gave birth over the years to the American Retreaders Association (ARA) and the Tire Association of North America (TANA). ARA changed its name to the International Tire & Rubber Association (ITRA) and merged with TANA in 2002 to form the current Tire Industry Association (TIA), which now represents every interest in the tire industry.

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