Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/114173
Your turn Sean Kane takes TIA and RMA to task R ecently, MTD Editor Bob Ulrich wrote a blog on our (the) wealth of information it had about tire age. www.moderntiredealer.com website titled "If TIA is We subsequently uncovered the 2001 position of the the puppet master, is NHTSA the puppet?" British Rubber Manufacturers Association (BRMA), which Te blog was concerned with the issue of tire aging, one represents the same tire manufacturers in the U.S. market: that we haven't heard a lot about lately. Sean Kane, founder "BRMA members strongly recommend that unused tires and president of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., recently should not be put into service if they are over six years old brought it to the forefront again. Safety Research & Strategies and that all tires should be replaced 10 years from the date of is, in its own words, "an active advocate for motor vehicle their manufacture." safety." It also is supported by trial lawyers, Ulrich pointed out. And we began to regularly submit aged tire-related crashes to On his website at the agency because no one www.safetyresearch.net, was collecting that type of Kane took the Tire Industry information. Many of these Association (TIA) and the incidents involved what apRubber Manufacturers Aspeared to be virtually "new" sociation (RMA) to task tires that were actually aged for pushing HB 122 in the spares — ofen stored in the Maryland legislature, a bill under-carriage, or used tires that prohibits repair shops with legal tread and good from fxing tires unless they visual appearance. demount them from the rim In October 2005 Bridgeand inspect them. stone/Firestone issued a Afer pointing out that Technical Bulletin to its HB 122 would add major dealers advising them that expenditures to tire shop tires should be inspected budgets, he said TIA fought Sean Kane spoke at the recently held Tire Technology Expo 2013 afer fve years and replaced against a Maryland tire aging in Cologne, Germany. "Take a more active role in eliminating the afer 10 years — "even when bill on the basis of protecting used and aged tire hazard or pay the price," he told attendees. tires appear to be usable from small business from govtheir external appearance or ernment intrusion. "Apparently, government intrusion that the tread depth may not have reached the minimum wear out." signifcantly raises the cost of doing business is just fne, if the Michelin, Continental, Cooper and other tire companies issued TIA and the RMA are behind the curtain, pulling all the levers." similar bulletins — some of which defer customers to adhere to Afer more than fve years, the National Highway Trafc the vehicle manufacturers, which brings us back to the six-year Safety Administration (NHTSA) continues to evaluate the milestone. Now nearly every vehicle manufacturer recommends issue. "Maybe Kane is just impatient," wrote Ulrich. replacement of tires afer six years, regardless of tread depth. Here is Kane's response to Ulrich's blog. Our concern about used tires is not new. We began to focus on the hazards of used tires six years ago, when we published Dear Editor: our frst article on the topic titled "Used Tires: A Booming Bob Ulrich's blog "If the TIA is the puppet master is NHTSA Business with Hidden Dangers." Te RMA followed up three the puppet?" casts me as an impatient crusader who has single- months later with a bulletin warning consumers about the handedly ginned up a non-existent controversy about the hazards of used tires. Bridgestone/Firestone announced that dangers of tire age and used tires in the service of trial lawyers. its corporate stores would no longer sell used tires. Te issue of tire age surfaced in the U.S. in the wake of the Mr. Ulrich is right about my impatience. Unlike modern Ford Explorer/Firestone Wilderness ATX. In 2003, NHTSA tire dealers, I don't meet tire consumers over the counter. I fulfilled a Congressional mandate by initiating a tire age meet them when their families have been riven by an entirely rulemaking, which sought manufacturers' comments. Te preventable tragedy. I frequently learn about safety hazards, like industry did not exactly distinguish itself. Its responses ranged aged and used tires, when these families fle a lawsuit. Helping from denial of any problem to ignorance of testing, analysis them, by providing factual research to their lawyers, is part or the very concept of tire age. of our business, but my advocacy on this issue is self-funded. Our research showed that the industry was studying rubber The industry has known about tire aging for decades. oxidation and heat as early as the 1930s. We also located a NHTSA's been working on it for more than 10 years. In that pair of German studies from the 1980s which concluded that time, too many families have lost their loved ones and friends tires failed at a greater rate afer six years and recommended to tire-related crashes that should have never happened. manufacturers alert consumers to prevent potential crashes. Impatient? You bet. Sean E. Kane, President We identifed the vehicle and tire makers who followed that Safety Research & Strategies Inc. advice, publishing tire age recommendations as early as the 1990s. Not one industry representative alerted the agency to Rehoboth, Mass. www.moderntiredealer.com 79