RMA survey: 28 million vehicles have at least one bald tyre

ERJ staff report (TB)

Washington DC -- Twenty-eight million vehicles-nearly 11 percent of the cars and trucks in the US-have at least one bald tyre, according to the results of a survey sponsored by the US-based Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA).

In other words, of the 39.7 million motorists (according to AAA estimates) who will drive to their destinations this Thanksgiving, nearly 4 million will be at risk from at least one bald tyre, the RMA said.

The 6,300-vehicle survey is part of the RMA's ongoing efforts to educate motorists about the dangers posed by bald and underinflated tyres. Checking a tyre's tread depth is simple, the association noted. Stick a penny (one-cent coin) upside down into a tyre tread, and if all of Lincoln's head is visible, the tyre should be replaced.

Wear bars, spaced intermittently in the bottoms of tread grooves, also are good indicators of a tyre's tread depth, the RMA said. When wear bars appear even with the outside of the tread, the tyre should be replaced, it said.

But 9 percent of all motorists never check their tyres' tread depths, the association said, and 64 percent have no idea how to tell if their tyres are bald.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)

www.rma.org