13-14 Consumer information and Reporting safety defects/Uniform tire quality grading standards
Example 2B
For example, if a person weighing
143 lbs (65 kg) and a child weighing
40 lbs (18 kg) now enter the same
vehicle (bringing the number of
occupants to three), and a child
restraint system weighing 11 lbs (5
kg) is installed in the vehicle for the
child to use, the calculations are as
follows.
1. Calculate the total weight.
Uniform tire quality grading
standards
2. Calculate the available load ca-
pacity.
This information indicates the rela-
tive performance of passenger car
tires in the area of treadwear,
traction, and temperature resis-
tance. This is to aid the consumer
in making an informed choice in the
purchase of tires.
Quality grades can be found where
applicable on the tire sidewall be-
tween tread shoulder and maximum
section width.
For example:
Treadwear 200 Traction AA Tem-
perature A
3. The total weight now exceeds
the capacity weight by 32 lbs (15
kg), so the cargo weight must be
reduced by 32 lbs (15 kg) or more.
The quality grades apply to new
pneumatic tires for use on passen-
ger cars. However, they do not
apply to deep tread, winter type
snow tires, space-saver or tempor-
ary use spare tires, tires with
nominal rim diameters of 12 inches
or less, or to some limited produc-
tion tires.