Currently, there are no federal regulations that require tire salespeople to provide consumers with the actual age of the tires they may be purchasing. Tire purchasers may think they are buying brand new tires, but in reality, that tire may be a decade old.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a vehicle's tires that are six years or older run a greater risk of sudden “tread separation” where the tread of the tire comes apart from the casing or body of the tire. When the tread separates from the tire, the driver can lose control of the vehicle, resulting in dangerous, even deadly, vehicle crashes.
Even if an old tire has new and unused tread, there is still a high risk of tread separation the more the tire ages. That is why the NHTSA, as well as many vehicle and tire manufacturers, recommend that tires which are older than six years old not be used.
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