Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Tires

The Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation Act of 2000 mandates that we conduct a rulemaking proceeding to revise and update our safety performance requirements for tires. In response, we are establishing new and more stringent tire performance requirements that will apply to all new tires for use on light vehicles, i.e., those vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, except motorcycles and low speed vehicles. The final rule increases the stringency of the existing high speed and endurance tests, defers action on proposals to replace the existing strength test and the bead unseating resistance test with a road hazard impact test and a different bead unseating test, respectively, adds a low pressure performance test, and defers action on a proposal to add an aging test. Together with new safety information requirements that we recently established for those tires, the new performance requirements will improve tire safety.