on the right margin.
To see what others have said, click either the phrase “x comments” or the New Tire Labeling: Helping Consumers & the Environment?
Moderator – 10:00 am, November 12, 2009
*We experienced technical difficulties on Saturday, Nov. 14 and a number of user and moderator comments were inadvertently deleted from this post. We apologize for the error and invite you to resubmit your comments.
Most car owners don’t realize that the kind of tires they buy affects the mileage they get and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions their car produces. The federal government hopes this will change under a new rule (regulation) proposed by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The new rule would require tire manufacturers to provide fuel efficiency ratings for most passenger vehicle tires. For the next ten days, we’ll be talking about what’s in the new program and what’s behind it.
The heart of the new program is this label, which would be attached to tires you could buy when you need to replace those that came with your car.
As you can see, there’s more information here than just fuel efficiency. Ratings for treadwear and traction on a wet surface are already required by the government. They’re part of a long Uniform Tire Quality Grading Standards (UTQGS) code molded into the tire sidewall. But, most consumers don’t know about the code, or how to interpret it. NHTSA hopes that reformatting these ratings, and including them on the new label, will make the information more accessible.
What do you think? Will this new label give consumers the information they need to make smart choices – for themselves and the environment – when they buy replacement tires?
HAVE YOUR SAY by responding below or DIG IN to learn more about what’s behind the design of the new consumer tire label.
Tags: upcoming