TIA and SEMA Join Forces on NY Tyre Plan

(Akron/Tire Review) TIA and SEMA issued a joint letter to the New York State Legislature yesterday strongly objecting to proposed legislation that would force tyre manufacturers to include a “non-coded” date of manufacture on the sidewall of tyres. In the joint letter, TIA and SEMA said they “believe that this legislation would place tyre dealers, wholesalers and manufacturers at an unfair disadvantage by requiring this additional sidewall information, at no value to the motoring public.”

The two associations pointed out that a tyre’s date of manufacture already appears on tyres as part of a mandatory DOT code, that there is no scientific data that establishes a “hard date” of when tyres are too old to be used, and that adding so-called “born-on dates” to tyre sidewalls for one state would cause major production, shipping and inventory problems. In addition, TIA and SEMA pointed out, “born-on dates” would cause consumers to discard tyres early, adding to the state’s waste tyre burden.