Yeah Gary, I tried a bunch of different search combinations----couldn't find any answer in the first couple pages of results. Only stuff on how to read the date code on today's tires. Thanks!
I do see the department went into operation April '67. No mention of when the tire requirement started though.
Well dang, not much I can find. But this... Gary Hope it helps but it doesn't go back as far as 67, best I can tell. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/574.5
As I recall, the DOT established the program to track when and where the tires were made. The DOT didn't test tires. The manufacturers were responsible for quality control and meeting regulations. There was a large tire manufacturing plant in town that shut down 25 years ago but the people I knew that could tell me when that started are all dead. I know that in the 70s, dirt track cars running in some cl***es had to use DOT tagged tires. When I was in high school in 1970, guys were getting tickets for running Mickey Thompson tires that didn't have DOT tags on the street.
Before my health went bad I used to on/off road dirt bikes. With some of the LEO's up north (lots of trails) checking for the DOT on your tires is "their thing". The whole DOT thing is interesting to me. Guess I never gave it a thought before. Thanks Engine Man.
Took me less than 30 seconds to find it ... "In January 1971, the agency established a requirement in 49 CFR part 574 for a tire identification number (TIN) that must be labeled on one sidewall of each tire that is newly manufactured or retreaded.[1] The purpose of the TIN is to facilitate notification of purchasers of defective or noncompliant tires. Furthermore, the information contained in the TIN may be used by consumers to obtain information about the tire such as the actual manufacturer of the tire (in the case of a tire sold under a different brand) and the date of manufacture. Part 574 also provides for the registration of tires, including the collection of the TIN and the contact information of purchasers of tires, to enable manufacturers to notify tire owners of recalls."
Hi. the following is a copy from the Coker tire catalog. I recall also that Diamondback also has similar wording in their catalog but cannot find it right now. "TIRE LABELING - The TREAD Act of 2000 requires that certain information be labeled on the sidewalls of a modern tire. Vintage car collectors desire their vehicles to have the most authentic look possible including "vintage look" tires. Thus tires in the Coker Catalog with this notation are intended only for collectible motor vehicles having a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) OF 10,000 pounds or less, that were manufactured prior to 1976 and are therefore exempt from the labeling requirement". I think on some old style look alike bias tires with the wide whitewalls they may put the labeling on the inside of tire only as this exemption allows that. Jjimmie
I know the codes were on the new Firestone tires we sold in the Firestone store I worked in in 1972. If we junked a new tire for some reason we took a utility knife and cut the number out before throwing the tire out back in the pile. Pissed the scavengers off because they would pull what looked like a brand new tire out of the pile and it would have a window cut in it. Firestone had trouble with the tires that were put on new Fords about that time and I had to swap out a lot of those. I remember writing down the code for the warranty. We sold factory reject tires that were branded NOT FOR HIGHWAY USE in large letters for cotton trailers for about 10 bucks each. Those had the numbers ground off or branded over. Had farmers show up with them on their pickups on occasion too. I think tires had codes on the before that but you had to be in the know about that particular brand of tire to know what the code meant. When the fat rear tire thing first started I remember guys getting busted with either Hoosiers or Firestone race tires on their rods before the street legal versions came out.
So, January 1971 is the date... according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation, and to verify my post, here's the link to the source: https://www.federalregister.gov/do*...5-08418/tire-identification-and-recordkeeping it's on page 15554
The Jalopy Journal
