A Reuters report published by the New York Times today says that vehicle safety regulators claim that a third of the 287 million passenger car and truck tyres sold in the United States every year might fail planned new standards prompted by the recent Firestone tyre crisis.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told Reuters that, while some tyres would have to be redesigned, the new standards could prevent 27 deaths and 667 injuries a year in blow-out or other tyre-related crashes.
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The NHTSA estimated the standards would cost the tyre industry $US282 million annually, Reuters added.
Tyre makers responded that the rules were unnecessarily strict and would cost the industry far more than the government estimated, the report said, adding that June 1 had been the NHTSA#;s final deadline.
Reuters said the deadline has now been postponed indefinitely and is one of a number of delays to face the agency as it proposes new safety rules.
“We agree with NHTSA that tyre tests need to be updated,” Dan Zielinski, a spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association, told Reuters. “We just think they need to be more reflective of real-world conditions.”
Reuters said that 271 deaths and over 800 injuries linked to tread separation and other failures of Firestone tyres, mostly fitted to Ford Explorers, led the US Congress to order federal tyre standards, which have not changed since 1967, to be revised.
