Consumer information and Reporting safety defects/Uniform tire quality grading standards
Uniform tire quality grading
standards
form to Federal Safety Requirements in addition to these grades.
This information indicates the relative performance of passenger car
tires in the area of treadwear,
traction, and temperature resistance. 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 between tread shoulder and maximum section width. For example:
& Treadwear
The treadwear grade is a comparative rating based on the wear rate of
the tire when tested under controlled conditions on a specified
government test course.
For example, a tire graded 150
would wear one and one-half (11/2) times as well on the government course as a tire graded 100.
The relative performance of tires
depends upon the actual conditions
of their use, however, and may
depart significantly from the norm
due to variations in driving habits,
service practices and differences in
road characteristics and climate.
Treadwear 200 Traction AA Temperature A
The quality grades apply to new
pneumatic tires for use on passenger cars. However, they do not
apply to deep tread, winter type
snow tires, space-saver or temporary use spare tires, tires with
nominal rim diameters of 12 inches
or less, or to some limited production tires.
All passenger car tires must con-
& Traction AA, A, B, C
The traction grades, from highest to
lowest, are AA, A, B and C. Those
grades represent the tire’s ability to
stop on wet pavement as measured
under controlled conditions on spe-
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cified government test surfaces of
asphalt and concrete. A tire marked
C may have poor traction performance.
WARNING
The traction grade assigned to
this tire is based on straightahead braking traction tests,
and does not include acceleration, cornering, hydroplaning, or peak traction characteristics.
& Temperature A, B, C
The temperature grades are A (the
highest), B, and C, representing the
tire’s resistance to the generation of
heat and its ability to dissipate heat
when tested under controlled conditions on a specified indoor laboratory test wheel. Sustained high
temperature can cause the material
of the tire to degenerate and reduce
tire life, and excessive temperature
can lead to sudden tire failure. The
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Consumer information and Reporting safety defects/Reporting safety defects (U.S.A.)
grade C corresponds to a level of
performance which all passenger
car tires must meet under the
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards No. 109. Grades B and A
represent higher levels of performance on the laboratory test wheel
than the minimum required by law.
WARNING
The temperature grade for this
tire is established for a tire
that is properly inflated and
not overloaded. Excessive
speed, underinflation, or excessive loading, either separately or in combination, can
cause heat buildup and possible tire failure.
Reporting safety defects
(U.S.A.)
If you believe that your vehicle has
a defect which could cause a
crash or could cause injury or
death, you should immediately inform the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) in
addition to notifying Subaru of
America, Inc.
If NHTSA receives similar complaints, it may open an investigation, and if it finds that a safety
defect exists in a group of vehicles, it may order a recall and
remedy campaign. However,
NHTSA cannot become involved
in individual pr oblems between
you, your dealer, or Subaru of
America, Inc. To contact NHTSA,
you may call the Vehicle Safety
Hotline toll-free at 1-888-327-4236
(TTY: 1-800-424-9153); go to
http://www.safercar.gov; or write
to: Administrator, NHTSA, 1200
New Jersey Avenue, SE, West
Building, Washington, DC 20590.
You can also obtain other information about motor vehicle safety
from http://www.safercar.gov.