For those of you who wrote in to Hoosiers website:
NHTSA Delays New Tire Standards=20
June 18, 2002=20
Page 1 of 1
=20
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has put off =
issuing new tire safety standards for at least four months so that =
regulators can address the concerns of industry, The Detroit News =
reported.
Congress directed the agency to update the tire standards for the =
first time since 1968 following the Firestone tire crisis in 2000. NHTSA =
published its proposal for new tire safety standards in March. Following =
a comment period the rules were to have been final June 1.=20
But the tire industry maintains that the standards are so =
unreasonably strict that as many as 42 percent of the 245 million =
passenger car tires and 54 percent of the 38 million light truck tires =
sold each year would fail.
"Today's tires are safe," said Donald B. Shea, president and CEO =
of the Rubber Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group. "Tires =
last longer than ever before and often perform safely even when driven =
for periods of time when underinflated or overloaded."=20
However, consumer advocates are worried that the tire industry has =
failed to keep up with changes in vehicles and that NHTSA's tests will =
improve tire quality, the News said.=20
NHTSA's new standards include updated requirements for tire =
strength, speed, endurance and "bead unseating," or how well a tire =
stays attached to the wheel rim as well as new tests for durability at =
low air pressure and aging=20
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