TIC wins international publicity for tyre campaign

The TIC has gained nationwide publicity for its campaign to have tyres “dated”. A recent press release on the need to dispose of aged tyres has been taken up by the US-based Strategic Safety LLC asking the NHTSA to require tyres to be “expiry marked”
Tire manufacturers responded that the idea may not be realistic since there are so many variables that affect ageing. “It’s not so simple to just slap a date on it,” said Dan Zielinski, a spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association. A statement that flies in the face of the advice given out by the TIC, funded by the tyre industry in the UK, that told consumers “consumers to replace unused tires if they’re older than 6 years and replace all tires older than 10 years.” Zielinski said a discussion of expiration dates would be worthwhile, but said NHTSA shouldn’t act without collecting some solid scientific evidence. Zielinski said tyre manufacturers had concerns that the end users would ignore the “expiry date” or see the move as another rouse to force the consumer to buy more tyres. NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said the agency hopes to have a proposal on tyre ageing by June 2005.