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(a) Scope. This section requires tire manufacturers, tire brand name owners, and tire retailers to provide information indicating the relative performance of replacement passenger car tires in the areas of fuel efficiency, safety, and durability.

(c) Application. This section applies to replacement passenger car tires. However, this section does not apply to light truck tires, 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 limited production tires as defined in § 575.104(c)(2). Tire manufacturers may comply with the requirements in this § 575.106 as an alternative to complying with the requirements in § 575.104(d)(1)(i)(A) and (B).

(d) Definitions.— (1) All terms used in this section that are defined in Section 32101 of Title 49, United States Code, are used as defined therein.

Lab alignment tires or LATs means the reference tires which the reference lab will test to be used to align other rolling resistance machines with the reference lab in accordance with the machine alignment procedure in ISO 28580 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3 ), section 10.

Light truck (LT) tire means a tire designated by its manufacturer as primarily intended for use on lightweight trucks or multipurpose passenger vehicles.

Passenger car tire means a tire intended for use on passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, and trucks, that have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less.

Reference lab means the laboratory or laboratories that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration designates and which maintains and operates a rolling resistance test machine to test LATs for rolling resistance so that other testing laboratories may correlate the results from its rolling resistance test machine in accordance with the machine alignment procedure in ISO 28580 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3 ), section 10.

Replacement passenger car tire means any passenger car tire other than a passenger car tire sold as original equipment on a new vehicle.

Size designation means the alpha-numeric designation assigned by a manufacturer that identifies a tire's size. This can include identifications of tire class, nominal width, aspect ratio, tire construction, and wheel diameter.

Stock keeping unit or SKU means the alpha-numeric designation assigned by a manufacturer to uniquely identify a tire product. This term is sometimes referred to as a product code, a product identifier, or a part number.

Tire line or tire model means the entire name used by a tire manufacturer to designate a tire product, including all prefixes and suffixes as they appear on the sidewall of a tire.

Tire retailer means a dealer or distributor of new replacement passenger car tires sold for use on passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, and trucks, that have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less.

(e) Requirements.— (1) Information. Subject to paragraph (e)(1)(iii) of this section, each manufacturer of tires, or in the case of tires marketed under a brand name, each brand name owner shall provide rating information for each tire of which it is the manufacturer or brand name owner in the manner set forth in paragraphs (e)(1)(i)(A) through (C) of this section. The ratings for each tire shall be only those specified in paragraph (e)(2) of this section. For the purposes of this section, each tire of a different SKU is to be rated separately. Each tire shall be able to achieve the level of performance represented by each rating.

(C) Reporting requirements. The information collection requirements contained in this section have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and are awaiting an assigned OMB Control Number.

(1) Subject to paragraph (e)(1)(iii) of this section, manufacturers of tires or, in the case of tires marketed under a brand name, brand name owners of tires subject to this section shall submit to NHTSA electronically, either directly or through an agent, the following data for each rated replacement passenger car tire:

(i) Rolling resistance rating, as determined in paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section.

(ii) Wet traction rating, as determined in paragraph (e)(2)(ii) of this section.

(iii) Treadwear rating, as determined in paragraph (e)(2)(iii) of this section.

(2) Format of data submitted. The information required under paragraph (e)(1)(i)(C)(1) of this section shall be submitted to NHTSA as extra columns in the electronic data submission required under section 26 of Part 579.

(3) Exempted tires. Manufacturers of tires or, in the case of tires marketed under a brand name, brand name owners of tires subject to this section shall submit to NHTSA all tire lines, size designations, and stock keeping units it manufactures which are exempted from this section ( § 575.106) as determined under paragraph (c) of this section. Where a manufacturer is required to report ratings under this section, the information required in this paragraph may be submitted with the ratings information reported in accordance with paragraph (e)(1)(i)(C)(1) of this section. Where a manufacturer of tires, or in the case of tires marketed under a brand name, brand name owners of tires only manufactures tires that are exempt from this section under paragraph (c) of this section, that manufacturer shall submit a one-time statement listing the tire lines, size designations, and stock keeping units it manufactures, and certifying that none of the tires it manufactures are required to be rated under this section.

(4) New ratings information. Whenever the tire manufacturer, or in the case of tires marketed under a brand name, the brand name owner receives information that would determine new or different information required under paragraph (e)(1)(i)(C)(1) of this section for a tire, the tire manufacturer or brand name owner shall submit the new ratings information to NHTSA on or before the date 30 calendar days after receipt by the manufacturer or brand name owner of the new information, whichever comes first.

(5) Voluntary submission of data. Manufacturers of tires or, in the case of tires marketed under a brand name, brand name owners of tires not subject to this section may submit to NHTSA data meeting the requirements of paragraphs (e)(1) and (2) of this section for any tire they wish to have included in the database of information available to consumers on NHTSA's Web site.

(ii) Requirements for tire retailers. Subject to paragraph (e)(1)(iii) of this section, each tire retailer shall provide rating information for each passenger car tire offered for sale in the manner set forth in this section.

(v) Break-in procedure for bias ply tires. Before starting the rolling resistance testing under the test procedure specified in paragraph (f)(2) of this section on a bias ply replacement passenger car tire, the tire shall be broken in by running it for one (1) hour with the speed, loading, and inflation pressure as specified in paragraphs (f)(1)(v)(A), (f)(1)(v)(B), and (f)(1)(v)(C) of this section. After the one hour break-in, allow the tire to cool for two (2) hours and re-adjust to the required ISO 28580 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3) test inflation pressure, and verify 10 minutes after the adjustment is made. After break-in, the bias ply tire should follow the 30 minute warm-up procedure of ISO 28580 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3 ).

(A) Speed. The speed shall be 80 kilometer per hour (kph).

(2) Procedure. The test procedure shall be as specified in ISO 28580 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3 ), except that the conditions specified in paragraph (f)(1) of this section shall be used.

(g) Traction rating conditions and procedures. (1) Conditions. Test conditions are as specified in § 575.104(f)(1), subject to the changes in paragraphs (g)(1)(i) through (g)(1)(iii) of this section to additionally measure the peak coefficient of friction.

(i) The sampling rate of the data acquisition is to be no less than 100 Hertz in accordance with Section 6.6.1.8 of ASTM E 1337 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3 ).

(ii) The rate of brake application shall be sufficient to control the time interval between initial brake application and peak longitudinal force to be between 0.3 and 0.5 seconds, and shall be determined in accordance with Section 6.3.2 of ASTM E 1337 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3 ).

(iii) The peak coefficient of friction (or peak braking coefficient) shall be determined in accordance with Section 12 of ASTM E 1337 (incorporated by reference, see § 575.3) for each dataset.

(iv) The slide coefficient of friction will be determined in accordance with § 575.104(f)(2)(iii).

(2) Procedure. (i) Prepare two standard tires as specified in § 575.104(f)(2)(i).

(ii) Mount the tires on the test apparatus described in § 575.104(f)(1)(iv) and load each tire to 1,085 pounds.

(iii) Tow the trailer on the asphalt test surface specified in § 575.104(f)(1)(i) at a speed of 40 mph, lock one trailer wheel, and record the slide and peak coefficient of friction on the tire associated with that wheel.

(iv) Repeat the test on the concrete surface, locking the same wheel.

(ix) Prepare two candidate tires of the same SKU in accordance with paragraph (g)(2)(i) of this section, mount them on the test apparatus, and test one of them according to the procedures of paragraphs (g)(2)(ii) through (v) of this section, except load each tire to 85 percent of the test load specified in § 575.104(h). For CT tires, the test inflation of candidate tires shall be 230 kPa. Candidate tire measurements may be taken either before or after the standard tire measurements used to compute the standard tire traction coefficient. Take all standard tire and candidate tire measurements used in computation of a candidate tire's adjusted peak coefficient and adjusted slide coefficient of friction within a single three-hour period. Average the 10 measurements taken on the asphalt surface to find the candidate tire average peak coefficient and average slide coefficient of friction for the asphalt surface. Average the 10 measurements taken on the concrete surface to find the candidate tire average peak coefficient of friction for the concrete surface. Average the 10 measurements taken on the concrete surface to find the candidate tire average slide coefficient of friction for the concrete surface.

(x) Repeat the procedures specified in paragraph (g)(2)(viii) of this section, using the second candidate tire as the tire being tested.

(h) Treadwear rating conditions and procedures.— (1) Conditions. Test conditions are as specified in § 575.104(e)(1).

(2) Procedure. Test procedure is as specified in § 575.104(e)(2).