Contending that a point-of-sale customer educational program revolving around government-mandated rolling resistance ratings would be far more efficient and less expensive than labeling each individual tire, the Tire Industry Association (TIA) is initiating an intensive lobbying campaign.
A bipartisan roster of two Washington, D.C. insider heavy hitters has been recruited to press the industry’s case: Former U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert, a Republican of Illinois, was previously speaker of the House of Representatives (and thus third in line to assume the presidency if a national tragedy had occurred). Democrat Al Wynn of Maryland also served in the House and remains connected to his former colleagues.
Both men continue to wield considerable influence among elected officials and executive-branch regulators, according to TIA Executive Vice President Roy Littlefield.
“We are totally committed to this effort,” Littlefield says. Declining to reveal how much money the organization is prepared to spend, he does note that “former Congressmen don’t come cheap.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently promulgating rules regarding a tire rating system, and the TIA wants the measure to focus on rolling resistance rather than including other potentially onerous elements such as tire age and retreads. Unwarranted add-ons to the regulations could result in “putting the industry on its heels,” says Littlefield.
“This could be a great thing for the industry or a disaster,” he cautions, citing the need for the TIA to make its voice heard prior to the September deadline for NHTSA to complete its proposal. “We see this as a very, very important effort for us.”
A standard requiring a plastic label on each of the millions of tires sold every year would place “a tremendous burden on manufacturers,” Littlefield asserts.
Individual labeling would also be impractical for tire dealers. “If the label stays with the tire the consumer would never see it,” says Littlefield, because most tires are stored in a warehouse and not rolled out until the purchase has already been selected from the showroom.
In resent testimony before NHTSA officials, Littlefield offered to have the TIA prepare a POS program for the agency.
“TIA believes that making this same label information available in an easily accessible, electronic format, as well as providing a NHTSA-developed calculator using the agreed-upon standard would be far more practical if it were utilized in the store, with the guidance of a trained sales associate,” he says. “This is because a majority of tire purchases are not made based on premeditated deliberative study, but rather are a spur-of-the-moment decision based on immediate need.”
Littlefield then discussed the need to “develop a quantifiable understanding of how consumers are influenced and make buying choices.” The TIA is willing to collect at least 1,000 POS survey responses from multiple geographic regions, which would ensure a diverse socioeconomic and ethnic sample.
“As tire purchases are not generally planned purchases, the best way to gain information from, and impart education to, the consumer is naturally at the point of sale,” he told the agency. “As TIA represents thousands of tire dealers nationwide, and as we have a solid training and education component, we believe we would be ideal partners to help NHTSA administer the consumer education portion of this critically important effort.”
The session went well, according to Littlefield. “It seemed to be a great hearing and they seemed to be receptive,” Littlefield recounts. “On the surface it seemed like a positive thing, but you never really know.”
Lobbying efforts featuring Hastert and Wynn will continue, he says.
For more information, visit www.tireindustry.org.
