Uniform Tire Quality Grading
is a tire information system devel-
oped by the United States Nation-
al Highway Traffic Safety Admin-
istration (NHTSA) that is designed
to help buyers make relat ive com-
parisons among tires . The UTQG
is not a safety rating and not a
guarantee that a tire will last for
a prescribed number of mi les
(kilometers) or perform in acer-
tain way. It simply gives t ire buy-
ers add itional informa t ion to
combine with other considera -
tions, such as price, brand loya lty
and dealer recommendations . Un-
der UTQG, t ires are graded by t he
tire manufacturers in th ree areas:
treadwear, tr action, and tempera -
ture res istance. The UTQG infor-
mation on the tires, molded into
the s idewalls .
U.S. DOT Tire Identification
Number (TIN)
This is the tire's "serial number".
It beg ins with the let ters "DOT"
and indicates that the tire meets
all federal standards . The nex t
two numbers or letters indicate
the plant where it was manufac -
tured , and the last fo ur numbers
represent the week and yea r of
manufacture. For examp le,
Wheels
DOT ... 2214 ...
means that t he tire was produced
in the 2 2nd week of 201 4. The
other numbers are marketing co-
des that may or may not be used
by the t ire manufact ur er. This in-
formation is used to contact con-
sumers if a tire defec t req uires a
reca ll.
Vehicle capacity weight
means the rated cargo and lug-
gage load plus l S0 lbs . (68 kilo-
grams) t imes the vehicle's desig -
na t ed seating capacity.
Vehicle maximum load on the
tire
means that load on an ind ividual
tire tha t is determined by dist rib-
ut ing to eac h axle its share of the
maximum loaded vehic le weight
and dividing by two.
Vehicle normal load on the tire
means that load on an individual
tire that is determined by dist rib-
uting to each axle its share of the
curb weight , accessory weight ,
and normal occupant weigh t (dis-
tributed in accordance wit h
c:::> ta-
ble on page 243) and dividing by
two.
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