Old Tires

By Tara Pingle

In July 2006, twelve people were traveling from New Jersey to Florida in a 12-passenger van. A few months before the trip, the van’s owner had replaced a tire as part of a tire rotation. The tire was 13 years old but looked brand new. Sadly, on this fateful trip, the tire’s tread separated from its steel belt and allegedly caused the van to roll over, killing three of the passengers.

This case highlights a problem with aging spare tires of which consumers are largely unaware. Spare tires are rarely used, if at all, and may look new. But over time they deteriorate within from factors such as humidity, heat and light. In other words, tire strength and performance declines with age, which increases the likelihood of tread separation that can result in a tire blowout and rollover accident.

A Massachusetts consulting firm has documented 115 injuries and 85 traffic deaths due to old, full-sized spare tires since 1992 (smaller, temporary replacement tires do not seem to be as much of an issue since they are not usually driven at the same high speeds and longer distances). According to the same group, close to one hundred aged tire lawsuits have been filed since 1999. The lawsuits involve claims of 57 deaths and 62 serious injuries.

Some experts are calling for tires to have simple expiration dates as many other products have. They also recommend that tires should not be used after ten years and that distributors not sell them after being in storage for six years or more. In Europe, auto manufacturers warn consumers to replace their spare tires after six years.

US tire makers do encode the manufacture date on their tires, but these codes are difficult to interpret by the average consumer. For tires made before 2000, the last three digits in the code represent the week and the year. For example, 121 would indicate the twelfth week in 1991. For tires made in 2000 and after, the last four digits represent the week and the year. 0307, in other words, represents the third week in 2007.

Some tire makers have argued that the solution may not be as simple as putting an easy to read expiration date on tires. They point out that there are many variables that affect tire aging and that there is no evidence that they deteriorate in a predictable chronological timeline. They argue further that consumers will dismiss the stamping of expiration dates on tires as a ploy by tire makers to sell more of them.

Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued new tire performance standards in 2003, it did not include an aging test because of a disagreement by experts on how to conduct such a test. They hope to have a new proposal on tire aging in the future. Meanwhile, however, fatal rollover accidents caused by the invisible threat of tire aging continue to occur across the country.

Click here for more information on car accidents, tire blowouts, and SUV rollovers.