Dealer group urges opposition to California tyre aging bill

ERJ staff report (TB)

Foster City, California -- The California Tire Dealers Association (CTDA)-North is urging its members to fax a message opposing a proposed tyre aging bill to the chair of the state senate committee hearing the proposal.

Last month the California Assembly passed by a one-vote margin A.B. 496, which would require tyre dealers to provide tyre age information on sales contracts. The Senate's Committee for Business, Professions and Economic Development will hold a hearing on the bill July 6.

In a strongly worded letter to Gloria Negrete McLeod, chair of the Senate committee, CTDA-North claimed A.B. 496 “misinterprets the research done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)” on the effects of tyre age and cited NHTSA's own conclusion that more research was necessary before a standard could be implemented.

The letter also noted that the bill has been amended to exempt car dealers from disclosing tyre age to consumers, giving those dealers a direct competitive advantage over tyre dealers. That amendment also implicitly acknowledges that tyre aging is not a hazard, the letter stated.

“It is fair to assume that the same brand and size of a tyre sold by a car dealer or a tyre dealer have exactly the same aging characteristics, therefore if it is not hazardous for the car dealer it takes a lot of imagination to propose that it is hazardous for the tyre dealer,” the letter stated.

Finally, CTDA-North's message to State Sen. McLeod contends that A.B. 496 will kill the used tyre market in California, and thus will impact low-income people.

For more information on the fax, contact CTDA-North Executive Director Ejnar Fink-Jensen at (650) 357-0600 or at ejnar@catiredealers.com.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)