Interpretation ID: nht70-1.13

DATE: 04/30/70

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Frances Armstrong; NHTSA

TO: Clements, McClellan and Hawley

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of April 3, 1970, to the Director, National Highway Safety Bureau, that has been referred to this office.

The type of information requested under items 1 and 2 of your letter can be extracted, within the limitations of the tests conducted, from the enclosed test result summaries. However, it should be recognized that the scope of the Bureau's testing program is such that valid statistical inferences relating to industry-wide rates or tire defects or failures are not possible with the limited data available.

Prior to the adoption of the labeling requirement in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 109, tires could be identified by manufacturer. This was an industry practice, involving the use of serial number systems and was not required by Government regulation nor was the coding used readily available to the general public.

We trust this and the enclosed publications will answer your questions. We will be pleased to answer any additional questions.

Thank you for your interest in the programs of the National Highway Safety Bureau.