“As a result of the recent government ordered tire recall of at least 450,000 Chinese produced tires, questions regarding tire safety are dominating the headlines once again. Tire purchasers need to protect themselves and make sure their tires are registered.
“Tire registration is not only the law but it provides a valuable safety protection for the tire purchaser. Tire registration and recall procedures have been required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for over 30 years. When tires are registered there is no better method to get potentially unsafe tires off of the highway.
“Currently there are two major problems with tire registration. The first is the fact that most tire purchasers are either misinformed or unaware of their rights to have their tires registered. The second major problem is one involving compliance. The regulation (49 CFR Part 574) first requires tire manufacturers and brand owners to implement and maintain a tire registration and recall system to enable direct notification of tire purchasers in the event of a safety related recall. Next, the selling tire dealers are required to provide every tire purchaser with a pre-addressed tire registration form completed with tire DOT serial numbers, dealer name and address, brand of tire sold and date. Non-compliance for the tire dealer can be very expensive with penalties starting at $5,000 per tire.
“The simple fact is that there has been no meaningful compliance activity by NHTSA to help insure that tire manufacturers and brand owners are maintaining a tire registration and recall system and that tire dealers are providing tire registration forms to the tire purchaser.
“Tire dealers who are providing tire registration forms to their tire purchasers know that it is good responsible business to be concerned about their customers and their safety. For those tire dealers who do not comply, it is either a matter of misinformation or the fact that they choose to ignore the regulation.
“It is vital that tire purchasers are aware of their right to have their tires registered at no charge. If the selling dealer cannot provide their customers with the ability to have their tires registered, tire purchasers should take their business elsewhere. If more potential tire purchasers would walk away from tire dealers who don’t register tires, then we would have many more tire dealers registering them.
“The real challenge to increasing tire registration levels is to educate the tire purchasers as to their rights. This is where the media can potentially be the most effective way to inform tire purchasers of these rights.
”Tire purchaser rights include their tires being registered and receiving a direct notification in the event of a safety related recall. The recalled tires will be replaced with new tires, mounted, and balanced at no charge.
“Without the media’s active support of educating the tire purchaser of their rights, the meaningful replacement of recalled tires will fail. Thus, consumers will continue to drive on potentially unsafe tires, which will endanger themselves and their families – an avoidable safety problem.”
