FastEagle wrote:
All fingers should be pointed at the DOT. I’ve spent many hours searching for studies that describe the dynamics of the RV trailer and the effects that may differ from tire usage on other vehicles. It cannot be found. The RV trailer can be 13’ tall, more than 8’ wide and more than 43’ long. They can have single, dual, or triple axles with combined loads exceeding 20000# on the axles. The axles (more than one) are almost always close together and cannot be sharing the total loads equally.
With few exceptions the Special Trailer (ST) tire endures the wrath.
On the few trailers with 8000# axles or larger, the low platform truck trailer tires are performing well. They also have oodles of excess load capacity.
In my opinion, the OE tire failure percentages will not decrease until the DOT steps in and, in some way, patches-up the loop-holes in the existing regulations for RV trailer tires.
FastEagle
FE You of all people know that NHTSA is not going to respond to a strongly worded letter but if there are reports filed on tire failures then there might be some action.
An example is the China made Mission tires that many have complained about on RV.Net and other forums. The problem is that not a single RV owner has bothered to file a report of a single Mission tire failing according to the NHTSA database.
I filed a single report on a placard problem and except for the fact that the RV mfg had gone out of business I was told a recall would have happened. Now a single report of a tire failing without a LOT of supporting information and data is not going to get action but if there were hundreds of reports then somethnig might be done as the failure rate along with property damage costs do make a difference.
