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One in Three Tires Might Fail New Rules

By Justin Hyde

About a third of the 287 million passenger car and truck tires sold in the United States every year might fail new standards spurred by the Firestone tire crisis, according to U.S. auto safety regulators.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that while some tires would have to be redesigned, the new rules could save 27 lives and prevent 667 injuries a year from crashes caused by blowouts or other tire failures. It also estimates the standards would cost the tire industry $282 million annually.

Tire makers contend the rules are unnecessarily severe and would cost the industry far more than NHTSA estimates. The agency had a June 1 deadline for a final decision. But the debate has pushed the deadline back indefinitely -- one of a number of delays the agency faces in putting new safety rules in place.

"We agree with NHTSA that tire tests need to be updated," said Dan Zielinski, spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association. "We just think they need to be more reflective of real-world conditions."

The 271 deaths and more than 800 injuries linked to tread separation and other failures of tires made by Bridgestone Corp.'s (Tokyo:5108.T - News) Firestone unit, mostly on Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles, spurred Congress to order a rewrite of federal tire standards that have not changed since 1967.

The Firestone tires were found to have manufacturing defects that left them susceptible to losing their tread, especially at high temperatures.

Most of the accidents happened in hotter southern states. For a decade, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - News) recommended a tire pressure for the Explorer that Firestone later said was too low, which also increased the heat in the tires.

STANDING THE HEAT

While data on tire-related crashes is sketchy, NHTSA estimates that about 414 deaths and 10,275 injuries a year might be caused by failing tires. NHTSA's research also found that heat is a common factor in all tire failures, with the highest rate of accidents in southern states during summer months.

Two of the new tests would simply be tougher versions of current measures, such as doubling the length of the endurance test to 3,278 miles.

Congress also required NHTSA to order all new vehicles to come with a tire-pressure monitor. But since many owners will not check their tire pressures until the monitor goes off, the agency wants tires to perform for a short time at low inflation levels to ensure an extra margin of safety.

One proposed test would take the tires from the endurance test and run them under-inflated for 90 minutes at speeds topping out at 99 miles per hour.

All the new standards combined would flunk about 33 percent of current tires, according to limited tests conducted by NHTSA. It also warned that its tests found wide differences in the performance of tires that should have been identical.

"In several of the tire models we tested, four of the five tires of a specific model passed the test, but the fifth tire failed," the agency said.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association has also proposed less stringent tests that NHTSA says all modern tires would likely pass.

"They have certainly suggested a range of very stringent, and probably overly stringent, tests," said Rubber Manufacturers Association's Zielinski of NHTSA. "But they've never presented any concern there are unsafe tires out there that need to be eliminated from the market."

'GROSSLY UNDERFUNDED'

Safety advocates and the lobbying group that represents automakers are still studying the rules.

Joan Claybrook, the president of Public Citizen and former NHTSA chief, says the agency is "grossly underfunded" to handle its expanded duties and that the tire standards may be the toughest rules to consider.

"Of all the requirements, they're the hardest to find the benefits for," she said. "It's hard to isolate that (tires) are the cause of an accident. The industry always blames the consumer, which is the whole purpose of the (tire pressure) monitor."

Claybrook has strongly criticized President Bush's administration for its delay of the tire-monitor rules. Earlier this year, the White House's budget office told the NHTSA to revamp its proposal, saying it could discourage anti-lock brakes and would cost the industry more than other alternatives.

As to whether the White House would reject new tire standards, Claybrook said; "I think if the tire industry doesn't like what NHTSA is doing, the answer is 'Yes."'

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