Ford to ask NHTSA for six-year consumer advisory on tyres

Hilton Head island, South Carolina - Ford Motor Co. will petition the US-based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a consumer advisory that motorists change their tyres after six years of service, said a top Ford scientist at the Clemson Tire Industry Conference last week.

John Baldwin, polymer technical leader at Ford, also said his company will recommend a tyre aging specification based on Ford-devised oven aging and stepped-up load tests as a way of reducing age as a factor in tyre failures. The extensive data Ford has generated suggest strongly that six years is an appropriate and defensible service limit for tyres, Baldwin said.

He also said that Ford kept the tyre industry in the loop about its research - through peer-reviewed articles, industry conference presentations and work with the American Society for Testing and Materials - despite the industry's claims otherwise. "We engaged the industry as soon as we started work on this," Baldwin said.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)