US Study shows new, retread truck tyres have similar failure rates

ERJ staff report (R&PN)

Washington, DC -- New and retreaded medium truck tyres have pretty much the same failure rates and modes, according to a tyre road debris study performed for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Tyre forensic scientists in the study examined 300 casings from truck stops and 1196 tyre fragments culled from highway locations in Virginia, Florida, Indiana, Michigan and Arizona. They found that road hazards, maintenance/operational factors and overdeflected operation were the reasons 76 percent of the casings were taken out of service, with few manufacturing deficiencies evident, the study concluded.

While 68 percent of the tyre fragments were from retread tyres, this did not at all indicate that retread tyres performed worse on the road than new tyres, the study said. "The OE versus retread proportions of the collected tyre debris broadly correlated with accepted industry expectations," it stated. "Additionally, there was no evidence to suggest that the proportion of tyre fragments/shreds from retread tyres was overrepresented in the debris items collected."

Of the 728 fragments for which scientists could determine the failure cause, road hazards and excessive heat were the culprits in more than two-thirds of the blowouts.

"These results suggest that the majority of tyre debris found on the nation's highways is not a result of manufacturing/process deficiencies," the study concluded. It also said that less than 1 percent of truck crashes across the U.S. can be attributed to tyre failure.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)