Following Nokian Tyres recent admission to cheating during tire testing, the tiremaker stated “several operators in the field… have been suspected or evidence has been presented against them of differences between tires in magazine tests and tires that are for sale in stores.”
Nokian’s claim implies other tire manufacturers cheat in testing, which has lead many to commenting on the subject.
Michelin immediately responded stating it has “never designed or manufactured tires specifically for tests conducted by the media, automobile associations or any other organizations.”
“Michelin has always been committed to ensuring that the conditions used to test its tires faithfully represent the conditions encountered by consumers in their actual day-to-day usage,” the company said. “In this context, Michelin continues to advocate for tests that demonstrate the sustainable performance of tires.”
Since Michelin’s statement, Tyres and Accessories reached out to several other manufacturers and asked if they’ve specifically designed or manufactured tires for tests. The tiremakers contacted denied those claims.
Bridgestone: “We do not produce – and have never produced – specific tires for comparative tire tests in magazines or by independent third party testing organizations.”
Continental: “Continental tires that are tested in tire tests are always identical to those available on the market. To the best of our knowledge, the magazines that run the tests aim to publish ratings for products that are available on the market at the time publication is planned.
“The test results are arrived at with the aid of instrumentation, which means they are objective. In the interests of quality control, checks on standard production tires are subsequently run, and if discrepancies are discovered the product in question is excluded from the published report. This has been standard practice in the marketplace for years and underlines the testers’ efforts to evaluate only the performance characteristics of products that are actually on the market, in the best interests of drivers.”
Giti: “Giti Tire can categorically state that it has never manufactured tires for third-party test purposes. As an ethical business it is crucial that each tire performs in line with the details outlined on the label – as well as in all the other tests which are critical to the research, design and manufacture of a tire – so every customer knows exactly what to expect with our products. Giti Tire shall continue to be very supportive of magazine tests, which provide true, fair and comprehensive performance information to the market through proper and certified testing methodology. The company will continue to look closely at all tire review tests and take the necessary investigations and actions where necessary to confirm the performance characteristics of its products.”
Goodyear Dunlop: “The tires we submit to testing organizations are tires that are or will be on the market at the time of the publication of the test. All tires we submit meet the same specifications as tires that are made available for consumers at dealer outlets.”
Maxxis: “As far as Maxxis is concerned, performance tests should be performed on tires purchased through retailers with no prior notice. That is the only way to ensure you are testing a representative product, and it should therefore be impossible to manufacture tires to manipulate test results. Similarly, testers should not design tests to highlight the positive attributes of one tire over another in a subjective way. How or why noise levels, for example, can sometimes demote a tire to below comparative tires with lower safety and performance scores is beyond me.
“Maxxis develops tires to deliver high levels of safety, performance and comfort to road users. Our primary focus is not to make tires that will perform well in often misleading media tests. What I can say is that Maxxis has never supplied tires direct from factory to test house. We can guarantee we have never made special ‘test tires,’,] but would add that last week’s revelations do potentially explain some of the anomalies in tests we have identified and questioned in the past.”
Yokohama: “Yokohama has never supplied special tires to a magazine test. Yokohama focuses continuous effort on innovation. At no time do we try to influence or manipulate any test results, or attempt to change the results of any tire test we are in. We focus solely on our own development in an honest manner, and do not approve of any attempt to gloss over any results that are not a true reflection of our tire performance.”
Hankook: “As a business principle (reflecting Hankook Tire’s corporate rules & regulations and our ethical code, as well as according to our general business compliance) we are not producing nor supplying special sample tires just for third party tests. If tires are submitted to testing parties/magazines on their request, they already are on the market, or in cases of new products will be market available at the time of the results being published.
“Furthermore please let me add the following with regard to our independently verified product quality.
“Secretly market purchased Hankook tires have been and are regularly tested from independent sources on all continents with good results for our brand. Just recently some of our products like our Kinergy Eco General Performance tire for European markets has received the overall best rating “good” from German Automobile Club ADAC for the fourth consecutive time. Our tire products have also been independently verified by Consumer Report in the USA with high rankings, e.g. first place for our Dynapro AT-M SUV All Terrain tire as published yesterday. Both sources are secretly purchasing the tested products in their markets on their own budgets and independently testing them of course without any sort of external influence from our side. Reflecting the above, Hankook Tire always aims to convince consumers with the true and best possible performance of our market available products to achieve a real, transparent and sustainable brand image and high customer satisfaction.
“Hankook Tire is a proud producer of premium performing tires with state-of-the-art regionalized R&D and production all over the world. We are an accepted supplier for the global automobile industry, among them all German premium vehicle makers both in the CAR/SUV as well as in the LTR/TBR segments. Through permanent improvements in the development and in our production as well, we have received a high reputation among the automotive industry as a reliable supplier for premium performing products of constant and high quality. Thus and to keeping that proud status, our company is frequently audited from the vehicle manufacturers and the product performance is regularly checked through permanent internal quality and performance cross checks of the car makers.”
T& A reports that both Pirelli and Apollo gave a very brief answer – “no” – in person at the Geneva Motor Show 2016.
