Ford Issues Tyre Aging Warning

(Akron/Tire Review – Courtesy of Detroit News, By Jeff Plungis)

Ford Motor Co has become the first US vehicle manufacturer to warn customers that they should replace older tyres, even if the tread is not worn out.

Ford officials said the move comes in response to a growing body of research that suggests tyres deteriorate as they age and can experience tread separations and other failures, even if they look robust.

“Tyres degrade over time, even when they are not being used,” Ford’s warning reads. “It is recommended that tyres generally be replaced after six years of normal service. Heat caused by hot climates or frequent high loading conditions can accelerate the aging process.”

Ford’s new tyre warning was posted on the company’s website, www.ford.com, within the last three weeks and will be printed in owner’s manuals beginning with 2006 model year vehicles. Similar warnings have appeared in Europe, but this is the first time one of Detroit’s Big Three has cautioned US customers.

Foreign makers including Volkswagen AG, BMW AG, Toyota Motor Corp and DaimlerChrysler AG have alerted customers in Europe and the United States about aging tyres. General Motors Corp’s European brands, Vauxhall and Opel, also have carried similar warnings.

In the years since the Firestone tyre recall, Ford has funded several studies on tyre safety, including how rubber ages, how older tyres perform in the field, and how to develop laboratory tests that simulate how tyres age in the real world. The six-year replacement recommendation was based on a broad study of tyres retrieved from the field, said Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis.

New research on tyre aging is being presented by Ford engineers this week at an American Chemical Society meeting in Texas.

“We always try to be driven by the facts,” Jarvis said. “Once we have the facts, we make recommendations as we see fit. Tires are a perishable item. They don’t last forever.”

Activist Sean Kane has petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for an easy-to-read tyre age label. Kane, the president of SRS Inc., a Massachusetts auto safety research firm, has documented 73 crashes related to older tyres that have resulted in 50 deaths since 1999.

Kane also said the safety agency should issue a consumer advisory based on the latest research, an approach the agency has followed before when it has stopped short of regulation. “A consumer advisory would go a long way toward preventing the crashes that we’ve seen in the real world,” he said.

NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said the agency is not ready to issue any kind of consumer advisory, but that does not prevent vehicle manufacturers or tyre companies from issuing their own warnings if they have research suggesting a safety issue. “Ford is to be commended if they want to step up and warn their customers,” he said.

NHTSA is still weighing Kane’s petition to put an expiration date on the side of all tyres. Manufacturers are already required to print the tyre’s manufacturing date in a Department of Transportation identification code on the inside sidewall. The last four digits indicate the week and year the tyre was made, information consumers can use to determine tyre age.

In the meantime, the safety agency is trying to come up with a test that will simulate the effects of aging. Congress asked for the test as part of legislation that followed the Firestone tyre recall. The regulators expect to announce a proposal next year.

For its part, the tyre industry says it is also conducting research into tyre aging, but there is no data to support a specific age limit for tyres. A tyre’s performance and safety is determined more by factors such as climate and proper maintenance, said Dan Zielinski, spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association.

“We haven’t seen the data that shows a tyre will fail after a certain date,” Zielinski said.

But the issue is seeping into public consciousness. New York state lawmakers are considering a bill to require tyre makers to put “born-on” dates on tyres sold in the state.

In the meantime, examples are accumulating of people who have suffered sometimes fatal consequences for driving on old tyres.