Tire Danger! Code could save your family's life.

Tire Danger! Code could save your family's life.

abcnews.go.com

...For example, the number 418 indicates the tire was manufactured in the 41st week of 1998 and is 10 years old.

"U.S. consumers are left in the dark on this issue," said Kane.

A tire older than six years old, even if it's never been driven a mile, "is like a ticking time bomb. You don't know what's going on inside. That's what makes it so dangerous," said Kane in an interview for broadcast on "20/20."

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
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Though this news is a few months old, I didn't find anything about it on ATS except for this one thread that got almost no attention. From a first-person perspective, I cannot stress enough how important this news is to you and your loved ones.

Here's a video about it that may save your life.

abcnews.go.com...

For those who cannot watch it, here's the synopsis:

Tires over 6 years old run a _significant_ risk of the inner belt separating from the tread at high speed, making it nearly impossible to control the car. This happened to my mother's car just last year, while she, my father, myself, and my pregnant wife were in it. It is only through the sheerest miracle that it happened in daylight, there were no cars immediately around us, and that those behind us had time to see and react in time not to hit us as we flew across four lanes of traffic, spinning over and over, and slammed into a sign post. None of us were injured, but again, this was only through the sheerest of luck.

At the time we were told by the highway officer that this was a freak accident and that sometimes "it just happens." Now, come to find out that this is a common occurrence in tires that are over 6 years old EVEN IF THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN DRIVEN ON AND THE TREAD IS STILL FACTORY "NEW" with the little rubber spikes on it.

* Never use tires over 6 years old, EVEN IF THE'VE NEVER BEEN USED!!!

* A belt/tread separation makes a car almost impossible to control, even for professional stunt-drivers. Brakes, steering, and alignment are completely lost.

* Even tires in the "Brand New" rack at a tire shop might be more than ten years old.

* To find the age of a tire, you have to look for the code inside the oval on the tire itself. The first two digits are the week the tire was produced, the last digit(s) represent the year.

* A 3-digit code means the tire was made in the 1990's.

* A 4-digit code means the tire was made in the 2000's.

(eg, "304" means the tire was made in the 30th week of 1994, whereas 3004 would mean the tire was made in the 30th week of 2004).



* In the photo provided, the tire was made in the 42nd week of 2002.

I cannot recommend strongly enough that you immediately go check your car tires for their age. Even if you've driven for years and it's never happened to you before, take it from someone who first-hand experienced it, me, it is a terrifying experience when someone's life besides your own is in the car when this happens.

abcnews.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Nicely put together, Libra.

I am with you on this.

If others would be so kind as to visit the only other link regarding this issue, then you'll know where I stand.

I cannot stress enough how dangerous these tyres are now that we've learnt what happens.

I'm almost tempted to copy/paste my post from the other thread to strengthen my point.

I am trained to find defects on cars and this defect was NOT pointed out to me at any time. You'll be lucky to find any mechanics/testers who know what this number means.

As the Libra has already done, i will post link to other thread as well...in case any of you missed it. aged tyres thread in motoring forum

s+f

[edit on 29-6-2008 by Extralien]

Ive just come back from the garage, my code is 3606.
They've been on the truck for about a year and a half.
I thought they smelled pretty fresh.

Seriously, this is really important information. And now that we know what that number means. It's so simple to check.

Yeah, next time I go buy tires (thankfully we still have a year left on our oldest one), I'm just going to look for the newest 4-digit code they have, and warn them about the old codes. A lot of places ask me to pick out my own tires. I can't help but wonder if this is a form of CYA for them: "Well, he picked the tires out himself, we can't be responsible for his refusal to buy new enough tires". But my guess is, like Extralien said, it's probably just ignorance on the part of the U.S. market.

I didn't hear anything at all about this news story in the mainstream media until my mom emailed me and said she thought she'd found the reason for the tire tread separation in the accident a year ago. Otherwise, I'd have never known.

Found this extremely useful site.
I don't think i've ever seen a more comprehensive look at tyres.

Top work for the sites owners.

the tyres bible