For at least five years, safety advocates have been calling on the government to study the dangers posed by aging tires that can degrade and rot from the inside out even when stored and never mounted on a car.
It is a problem in Florida, where heat and humidity can be especially hard on aging rubber.
Countless thousands of Americans may be driving on tires prone to fall apart, especially in hot climates and at high speeds, due to the age of tire.
Just last year, a report prepared by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) concluded that 84% of crashes caused by tires, involved tires more than six years old.
Auto safety experts now say 140 crashes, some of them fatal, have been reported and many others go unreported.
A spare tire may look new with little wear on the outside but you have no idea how eroded it is inside.
Look at the manufacture date of tires in stamped with a code, which generally begins with the letters DOT, followed by additional letters or a string of numbers.
To decipher the code: the first two letters or numbers identify the plant where the tire was made. The last four numbers are the date the tire was actually produced. For instance, if the last four numbers read 1406, for instance, the tire was produced the 14th week of 2006.
Several automakers warn about the potential danger of old tires in vehicle owner’s manuals. Many typically suggest replacing any tire more than six years old, including the spare.
And experts in the field say it’s probably best, if you can afford it, to stay away from used tires. 30 million are sold every year and it is next to impossible to tell how a tire has aged internally.
At Farah and Farah we want you to be safe on the road with all the tools you can afford. Tires are a very important part of that package.
