The China-Bomb debate Put to rest

4X4Dodger wrote:
Here is information from the NHTSA and 49CFR Rulmaking regarding ALL TIRES for light Vehicles (including trailers under 10,000lbs gvwr.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571
Docket No. NHTSA-03-15400
RIN 2127-AI54
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Tires

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Final Rule.

SUMMARY: The Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation Act of 2000 mandates that we conduct a rulemaking proceeding to revise and update our safety performance requirements for tires. In response, we are establishing new and more stringent tire performance requirements that will apply to all new tires for use on light vehicles, i.e., those vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, except motorcycles and low speed vehicles

First: B. Highlights of the Final Rule

requirements that apply to all new radial tires for use on passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses and trailers that have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 4,536 kg (10,000 pounds) or less and that are manufactured after 1975, and to all new passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses and trailers that have a GVWR of 4,536 kg (10,000 pounds) or less. The requirements are fully summarized in section VI.A. of this document.

Meaning: ST and LT Tires meet the same Safety and MFG Standards.

Read on: think your LT tires are so much better than ST?

2. Safety Problems Associated with Tires

Essentially, the size of the tire problem has remained the same over the last eight years. With the increasing sales of light trucks, and the fact that light trucks have more tire problems than passenger cars, the problem has shifted more toward light trucks and away from passenger cars. As discussed in the NPRM, several crash files contain information on "general" tire related problems that precipitate crashes. The more recent of these files are the National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS)(9) and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).(10)

NASS-CDS data for 1995 through 1998(11) indicate that there are an estimated 23,464 tow-away crashes per year coded by the NASS investigators (relying on the police report of the crash) as having been caused by blowouts or flat tires. Based on that estimate, about one-half of one percent of all crashes are caused by these tire problems. The rate of blowout-caused crashes for light trucks (0.99 percent) is more than three times the rate of those crashes for passenger cars (0.31 percent). Blowouts cause a much higher proportion of rollover crashes (4.81) than non-rollover crashes (0.28), and more than three times the rate in light trucks (6.88 percent) than in passenger cars (1.87 percent).

FARS data for 1999 through 2001 show that 1.10 percent of all light vehicles in fatal crashes were coded by investigators as having had tire problems. Light trucks had slightly higher rates of tire problems (1.34 percent) than passenger cars (0.92 percent). The annual average number of vehicles with tire problems in FARS was 528 (255 passenger cars and 273 light trucks). End Quote

The rule is too long to post here but here is the link to the entire rule. It might make uneasy reading for those of you who believe that ST tires are something of a panacea for all things ST related.

49CFR NHTSA

A door sticker from a manufacturer means little or nothing in terms of which tires are better for a given vehicle. The only thing the trailer manufacturer has to comply with is that the tires be rated for the intended GVWR. In reality they may not be the best choice.

Once again I repeat: To those of you who believe that LT tires are fundamentally or intrinsically better than comparable ST Tires...Where are your sources? So far No One has posted a single article, Rule, Law or testing data that supports that argument. Meanwhile I have posted many with easily googled references.