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EU Adopts Noise, Rolling Resistance, Wet Grip and Labelling rules

The EU has rubber-stamped the tyre noise, rolling resistance, wet grip and labelling regulations that have been the subject of public discussion since the beginning of 2008. Despite complaints from some leading premium tyre manufacturers that the balance of improvements demanded is simply unworkable in the timeframe given, the commission said it should assess the feasibility of “strengthening the requirements for wet grip for tyres, and if appropriate, propose an amendment to this Regulation.” The decisions follow the EU’s adoption of a report which includes calls for tyre rolling resistance, noise and safety regulations as part of “a simpler, standardised system for the type-approval of motor vehicles.” The new regulation will reportedly apply from 1 November 2011, a year earlier than the commission proposed.

Some of the rules on tyre standards have also been revised. Measures to regulate tyre rolling resistance and monitor inflation pressures appear to have been made stricter. The rule also makes the installation of tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) compulsory on new private cars. MEPs did not vote to extend this TPMS requirement to trucks, but they did beef up the rules on the effectiveness and reliability of such systems, without preferring either direct or indirect pressure monitoring technology.

11th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Hunt For Elusive Mis-Labelled Tyres Begins

In the US, Goodyear has been ordered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 18 incorrectly labeled tyres. The offending units were manufactured in the company’s Lawton, Oklahoma factory in the second week of January 2008, and barring roadside mishaps all one and a half dozen of these Goodyear Eagle RS-A P235/55R18 99V passenger car tyres may still be plying the roads of America.

22nd January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Regulation Change Opens Door To Single Wide Tyres in Ontario

An amendment to Ontario’s regulation governing permissible truck axle weight limits has opened the door to single heavy truck tyres. The Canadian province now permits the use of these tyres at the same weights as conventional dual tyres – it is, however, only the second province, after Quebec, to approve this weight parity.

Regulation 435/08 will amend the current weights and dimension regulations to allow wide based single tyres to operate at weights up to 9,000 kilograms per axle and provide flexibility on vehicle track width so that retrofitting can take place. Previously, the Ontario weight threshold for single tyres was 8,000 kilograms per axle on a standard 53-foot tandem trailer.

19th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Former Michelin Man Carlos Ghosn Elected 2009 ACEA President

The Board of Directors of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), has elected Carlos Ghosn as its new president. Ghosn, CEO of Renault, will take over from Christian Streiff, CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën, on 1 January 2009. Ghosn, whose extensive experience in the industry includes some two decades with Michelin, has held in current position as president and CEO of Renault since 2005.

“The global automotive industry is facing two significant challenges with a severe financial meltdown twinned with an economic recession, and a major transition to low-emission vehicles. In this context, an effective dialogue with EU institutions and governments is more important than ever”, said Ghosn, reflecting on the expected priorities of his term as ACEA president. He reiterated the automotive industry’s call for normalisation of credits markets, financial support to strategic investments and a range of national incentives to boost the market. “It is vital that our industry can keep fulfilling its key role in Europe in terms of growth, investments, employment and technological leadership.”

5th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Score 15th 2008 MotoGP Victory

Bridgestone has concluded its 2008 MotoGP season with panache in Valencia, Spain setting the company up for next year, when the manufacturer will take on complete tyre provision duties for the series. Casey Stoner took his Bridgestone-shod Ducati to the win, while Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and this season’s World Champion, Italian rider Valentino Rossi, made up the rest of the podium. Rossi’s third-place, which he took impressively from a starting grid position of tenth, meant that he set a new points record for a MotoGP season with 373. Australia’s Stoner (280) and Spain’s Pedrosa (249) made up the rest of the season-ending top three.

Hiroshi Yamada, Bridgestone Motorsport’s Motorcycle Sport Unit’s manager, told motorsport journalists, “I could not have asked for a better way to end this successful season for Bridgestone. Casey rode a faultless race and thoroughly deserved his sixth win of the season. Together with Casey and Ducati, we have taken wins at the beginning and end of this season… We enter a new era for next season with a sole tyre supply regulation, but it has been a great pleasure for Bridgestone to have been part of a competition scenario with our rivals [Michelin] in MotoGP since 2002. After such a long season, I would like to thank each and every one of our riders, teams and their staff for a tremendous support this year, and to all Bridgestone staff at the track and at the factory for their invaluable individual contributions. Tomorrow marks the first day of testing in preparation for next season and we will surely have another big challenge ahead of us.”

27th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

BERR Reshuffles Ministerial Responsibilities

Just days after Peter Mandelson returned to cabinet for a record third time, the new Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform outlined who would be doing what at BERR. Here are two highlights of significance to the tyre business:

Ian Pearson MP is moved to Economic and Business Minister (jointly with HMT) and will take responsibility for a wide portfolio of business sectors including aerospace, marine and defence; automotive; sustainable development and regulation export control and Export Credits Guarantee Department.

9th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Proposed Australian Regulation Encourages Winter Tyre Use

The high number of crashes occurring above the snow line in alpine regions of Australia has prompted one Australian state to propose a regulation making the fitting of 4×4 vehicles with winter tyres or snow chains compulsory. The regulation, proposed by the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) in New South Wales, would be enforced between June and October and covers the nation’s heavily visited ski areas.

25th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Purchase of Conti Tyre Division Not Feasible – Analysts

Any idea Michelin has of purchasing Continental AG’s tyre business will most likely die quietly, as analysts have poured cold water on the possibility that such an arrangement would be permitted. A number of analysts have been quick to point out that a purchase of Conti’s tyre business would be seen frowned upon; it would, after all, leave the resultant company holding 40 per cent of the European passenger car tyre market and more than half of the truck tyre market. Michael Punzet, an analyst with DZ Bank, commented to Forbes that the European Commission would thus most likely not give approval as it would break competition rules.

23rd September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Smithers Rapra Hosts REACH Seminar

With pre-registration underway for companies using chemicals under the European Union’s REACH legislation, Smithers Rapra in Shropshire are holding a one-day seminar responding to “the increasing concern amongst companies now faced with managing registration, technical dossiers, joint submission of data and the obligations of supply chain communication.” The seminar promises to be useful to small or medium-sized enterprises using chemicals in the tyre industry.

18th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin X-Crane Tyres Now Capable of 50mph

Michelin’s latest X-Crane tyres now offer an ‘F’ speed rating (50mph) in place of the previous ‘E’ rating (43mph). The move follows technical approval from the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO) under recommendation to the Department for Transport, which has granted authorisation for ‘F’ rated tyres with the same load/speed chart used for tyres with an ‘E’ speed index. It also states that for speeds below 40mph, a formal tyre manufacturer agreement is required.

The ‘F’ rated Michelin X-Crane tyres were launched in response to requests from crane manufacturers for a tyre which could meet the high performance of the latest generation cranes, which are capable of speeds in excess of 50mph. Furthermore, legislation announced at the end of 2004 governing the use of mobile cranes on a public highway changed, with a series of new weight and speed restrictions being introduced.

12th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Right to Repair Group Calls for Sector Specific Regulations to Remain

The UK Right to Repair Campaign (UK R2RC) has welcomed a statement from the European Commission that its evaluation of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation’ of 2002 does not prejudge any decision on the future of that legislation. However, UK R2RC also said that parts of the Commission’s proposals would add uncertainty, and penalise the independent aftermarket by making it harder to remedy incidences of market abuse. The independent aftermarket, the organisation added, needs simple and sector-specific legislation.

Jim Mazza, Chairman of UK R2RC, said “though the tone of the report is softer than expected, it still understates the benefits to consumers and the independent aftermarket alike of having a single piece of legislation regulating the availability of service and repair information and the supply of replacement parts.

2nd June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Uganda Introduces Tyre Import Certification

Problems surrounding the importation of sub-standard tyres in Uganda may be reduced following the decision to introduce a certificate of conformity that importers must obtain from manufacturers. A consensus to this effect was reached during a recent workshop held by the Uganda Industrial Research Institute.

Regulation of the sale of tyres has become the responsibility of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), and at the opening of the workshop UNBS executive director, Dr. Terry Kahuma, commented that regulation will better ensure safety and fair trading. “We have embarked on enforcing standards of imported tyres in order to protect road users and passengers against accidents caused by sub-standard tyres,” Kahuma was quoted as saying by Uganda’s New Vision newspaper. “This has come up as a need to protect consumers and traders dealing in good quality tyres but subjected to unfair competition by those dealing in poor quality tyres.”

14th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

CIMS Discusses NHTSA E-Registration Plan

Calling it a “win-win situation for tyre manufacturers, tyre dealers and more importantly for the tyre purchaser,” CIMS President Paul Kruder offered his endorsement of NHTSA’s plan to formally allow electronic tyre registration. NHTSA revealed last week that it would undertake changing tyre registration regulations to permit direct registration via the Internet or other electronic means. While not preventing such in recent years, NHTSA had not formally included non-paper registration means.

In a letter to the media, Kruder said, “These proposed changes will give tyre dealers the option of providing a paper tyre registration form to every customer or completing the tyre registration process electronically on behalf of the tyre purchaser. By improving tyre registration levels everybody wins, especially the tyre purchaser because of the safety protection registering tyres offers them and their families.

29th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti’s Burkhard Wies on EU Enivronmental Labelling

(Tire Review/Akron) The European Union plans to reduce both CO2 emissions and noise pollution from road traffic with a range of planned regulations. As part of that EU program, an environmental labeling program is being considered, which would identify tyres with particularly low rolling resistance (greater fuel efficiency). And a new requirement for noise emission from tyres is also planned.

While this sounds good in principle, said officials of Continental AG, the resulting conflicts in tyre development would cause significant reductions in traffic security. Company experts criticise the rolling resistance label in particular, warning against tyres designed for low fuel consumption only would be significantly worse at braking on wet roads than today’s tyres.

13th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti UK: EU Labelling Scheme May Compromise Safety

Continental Tyre in the UK has added its voice to comments made by executive board chairman Manfred Wennemer in mid-November regarding EU plans to introduce an environmental labelling scheme for tyres. The scheme, which forms part of the EU’s drive to reduce CO2 emissions and noise pollution from road traffic, aims to identify those tyres considered to be most energy-efficient and label them appropriately. The most efficient tyres would be classed as those with a particularly low ‘rolling resistance’.

However, Peter Robb from Continental Tyre Group UK comments that “Quite simply a low rolling resistance tyre isn’t necessarily a safe tyre and we want to make sure manufacturers do not think they can get away with supplying tyres deemed to be energy efficient, yet which pose a potential safety threat to motorists.” Conti believes that tyres that focus only upon low rolling resistance would be significantly worse at braking on wet roads.

12th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors