Wheels
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 relative com-
parisons among tires. The UTQG
is not a safety rating and not a
guarantee that a tire will last for
a prescr ibed number of miles
(kilometers) or perform in acer-
tain way. It simply gives tire buy-
ers additional information to
combine with other considera-
tions, such as price, brand loyalty
and dealer recommendations. Un-
der UTQG, ti res are graded by the
tire manufacturers in three areas:
treadwear , traction, and tempera-
ture resistance . The UTQG infor-
mation on the tires, molded into
the sidewalls.
U.S. DOT Tire Identification
Number (TIN)
This is the tire's "serial number" .
It begins with the letters "DOT"
and indicates that the tire meets
all federal standards. The next
two numbers or letters indicate
the plant where it was manufac -
tured, and the last four numbers
represent the
week and year of
manufacture . For example,
2 4 2
DOT ... 2215 ...
means that the tire was produced
in the 22nd week of 201 5. The
other numbers are marketing co-
des that may or may not be used
by the tire manufacturer . This in-
formation is used to contact con-
sumers if a tire defect requires a
recall.
Vehicle capacity weight
means the rated cargo and lug-
gage load plus 150 lbs . (68 kilo-
grams) times the vehicle's desig -
nated seating capacity .
Vehicle maximum load on the
tire
means that load on an individual
tire t hat is determined by distrib -
uting to each axle its sha re of the
maximum loaded vehicle weight
and dividing by two.
Vehicle normal load on the tire
means that load on an individual
tire t hat is determi ned by distrib-
uting to each axle its share of the
curb weight, accessory weight,
and normal occupan t weight (dis-
tributed in accordance with
c::> ta-
ble on page 248) and dividing by
two .
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