Critics: Tire-ID system went flat

McClatchy Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On the side of every tire rolling through our streets is a number mysterious to most of us. It does not denote recommended pressure, nor size, nor model.

Those 10 or 11 tiny, raised-in-the-rubber digits are the TINs, the tire identification numbers, federally required in case a recall is ordered.

They contain a code, signifying among other things the week and year that the tire was made. When the tire is sold, that number is supposed to be passed back to the manufacturer so a customer can be found if the batch is bad.

So the “4444” ending sequence on more than 250 sales invoices from an Overland Park, Kan., Firestone store three years ago indicated something was wrong. Those numbers, assumedly registered in the parent company’s computers, would mean those hundreds of tires were made in the 44th week of 1944.

Made late in World War II? Plus, the tires sold were radials, which Michelin had not even invented yet.

The falsified numbers underscored safety advocates’ criticism of the TIN system — spotty compliance and toothless enforcement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Based on the complaints of a whistleblower, William Castrop, NHTSA in 2007 contacted Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, which acknowledged that perhaps a third of its registrations received from its 2,000 outlets were inaccurate in recent years.

Yet the stores were not fined or required to notify customers. In fact, the safety agency has levied no fines for noncompliance against any company over the last five years.

“Outrageous,” said Joan Claybrook of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization. “It’s a major safety concern.”

Claybrook, the former administrator of the Department of Transportation’s traffic safety agency, called for fines, which can reach $6,000 per violation.

Responding to The Kansas City Star, a Firestone Complete Auto Care statement said that concerns “have been fully investigated and resolved” and that NHTSA was “satisfied with safeguards we implemented to ensure that accurate TINs are recorded.”

The registering of new tire buys began in 1970, but under the Reagan administration’s push for deregulation, Congress allowed independent dealers — such as Costco and National Tire & Battery — to simply give the customer a registration form containing TINs. The customer could then mail the form to the manufacturer.

Most do not, which leaves a gaping loophole that effectively exempts the majority of tires on the road from being registered at all, safety experts say.

“It’s an antiquated system that doesn’t work,” said Sean Kane of Safety Research and Strategies, a consultant in Massachusetts. “The reality is, it needs a complete overhaul.”