NHTSA Proposes New Labels for Tires...Could Satisfy California's Requirements

A few days back, we brought you the news of California's proposal to include rolling resistance information on all tires sold inside the state. While that was still in the works, it appears that the NHTSA has come up with their own means of conveying economy information to those in search of new tires.

 One Of the Many Proposed Labels

As with the California Energy Commission, this is still a proposal, but would also call for additional information to be provided right on the tire regarding the efficiency and cleanliness. The new labels are aimed at being more user friendly while still providing as much information as possible.

The proposal included several different means of conveying the information, with the simplest being 3 separate bars that each range from 1 to 100, with 100 being the highest. Others would make use of stars ranging from 1 to 5, or a simple A through E scale. Still others display information using a combination of the previously mentioned methods. The proposal would also outline testing procedures and criteria for achieving different ratings.

Along with the wet traction rating and the durability of the tire, a rating of how much rolling resistance the tires produce on average will also be used. According to some studies, some tires can be responsible for burning up to 15% of your engines power to overcome resistance. Including this figure on tires could lead consumers to choose tires that will offer the most miles per gallon.
If and when the proposal is accepted, we could see the new labels within a year.

NHTSA Proposal