NHTSA seeks comments on proposals to endorse electronic registration of tyres

By Miles Moore, senior Washington reporter

Washington DC -- The US - based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing changing the voluntary tyre registration regulation to allow internet-based tyre registration alongside the long-specified paper registration and has given interested parties until March 24 to comment.

“We believe that if electronic registration were accommodated, the response rate for purchasers may increase,” the agency said, endorsing the views of the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA).

“The RMA has been looking at ways to increase tyre registration for a number of years,” said a spokesman for the association in expressing the group's approval of the proposed rule.

The Tire Industry Association (TIA) also likes its first view of the proposal, particularly its acknowledgment that tyre dealers should not have to give consumers paper registration forms if they voluntarily use electronic registration, said Paul Fiore, TIA director of government and business affairs.

The proposal also allows tyre manufacturers to continue to designate third parties to serve as clearinghouses for registration information. Paul Kruder, president of Akron-based tyre registration firm CIMS Inc., could not be reached immediately for comment. CIMS was the only organisation in the preliminary comment period to object to changing the current paper-based system.

Interested parties may view the complete Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at the link (below).

Those wishing to comment can do so in person, by mail, by fax or electronically.

All submissions should refer to Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0014/RIN 2127-AK11.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)

complete Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Form to use for making comments on the proposal