The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finalized rules to grade replacement tires for fuel efficiency, safety and durability. Tire makers will have to provide these ratings to the Federal Register in the next 12 months.
The rules come at the recommendation of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, which advised NHTSA to update tire ratings to include information so that a customer can “assess a tire’s fuel efficiency potential.” Because low-rolling-resistance tires tend to compromise wet traction and tread wear, Consumer Reports recommended rating these factors as well.
Although Consumer Reports applauds the new rules, it still sees room for improvement. The organization does not see an advantage to labeling wet traction as “safety” or tire tread as “durability” and finds these labels somewhat misleading because other factors are involved in a tire’s overall safety and durability besides wet traction and tread. It would also like NHTSA to identify a “master lab” so that manufacturers can comply with these measurements more easily.
Furthermore, Consumer Reports would like to see NHTSA use the new system in place of the Uniform Tire Quality Grading System (UTQGS), which grades tires for tread wear, traction and temperature and appears on the sidewall of tires. This would include new labels on the sidewall for each tire. Labeling for the new system is key and must be easy to read and understand (such as the proposed image above), Consumer Reports says.
The publication also notes that buyers must be aware that low-rolling-resistance tires will accrue savings only over a long period of time, so initial savings will be modest.
