Recently the television show 20/20 aired an episode on Friday May 9, 2008, where they showed that when people go to buy new tires they may be buying unused tires, but not brand new right-off-the-assembly-line tires. In fact, some of the tires that the undercover reporters bought were more than 10 years old! The average life span of a tire, according to them, is 6 years. Some may last a little more or less depending on the storage (in garage or outside), frequency of use, etc. As they wear, they become more likely to disintegrate and the tread more likely to come off the tire and cause potentially fatal accidents. In fact a majority of the accidents attributed to old tires were fatal. A person died because of failure to inform them that the tires expire after a couple of years. Spare tires are also worn out over time, even if they have never been used.
This was something surprising to me, since no mechanic or automotive person has ever mentioned that tires wear out simply because of time. They are trying to get tire manufacturers to put an expiration date on the tires so the consumer will be able to know when they were made and how much longer they will last. The manufacturers most likely will not comply because they will have to spend more money on shipping out old unsold tires and shipping in newly made tires. They say that there are many factors that determine the lifespan of the tire and that adding an expiration date will not solve all the problems. That may be so, but we have to start somewhere. The expiration date will only help the situation and cannot make it worse.
Yes, some people are not going to like to buy new tires for their car that they only use in the summer, or for special occasions, but if it's for safety's sake I can't imagine why they wouldn't do it. As for the money it'll cost the consumer- don't go see that new movie or eat sandwiches for lunch for 2 weeks, it won't kill anyone. Also, for anyone that may not want to spend the money for new tires and keep driving your old ones, that would be fine if they were the only one on the road. But they're NOT. There are families, especially children, that aren't ready to die because some people want to save some money.
Most manufacture dates are on the tire in the ellipse shape with the first number being the week of the year and the next 2 digits are the year in which they were made. But for some tires made before 2000, the reading is a little different.
