RMA petitions NHTSA for changes to tire testing final rule

WASHINGTON (Aug. 12)—The Rubber Manufacturers Association has petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for several substantive and technical revisions to the agency's final rule on tire testing. NHTSA's laboratory endurance test procedures as written, for example, will require tire manufacturers to redesign deep-tread snow tires and light truck tires to pass the test while reducing traction, RMA President Donald B. Shea told the agency. Also, the directive to measure tire inflation "immediately" after the new standard's high speed, endurance and low pressure tests "may be impossible to meet" and could end up causing sound tires to flunk, Shea said.