Tire Recalls and Complaints

Tires are an important part of your vehicle, especially in inclement weather, so it’s probably safe to say you’re going to do some research before you buy any. Not only will you want to check out brands and see what works for you, but you probably want to check what other people say about it. It never hurts to get an outside opinion, after all, so why not see what people think? Of course, if you know someone that has a brand you’re interested, you can always ask them. But if you don’t know anyone, it’s safe to say you’re going to look online.

The Internet is full of reviews! Just search for the brand or model you’re interested in and reviews are sure to pop up, usually on websites where the tires are sold. You can even get specific and search “brand/model reviews.” Finding reviews is easy, where it gets tricky is knowing which ones are worth reading..

So how can you tell if it’s useful? To be honest, some of it is common sense: if it seems over extreme in either its praise or its criticism, it’s probably not worth the time. Anything that’s on the extreme, with issues that don’t seem to come up anywhere else, are not reliable for the overall quality of the tire.

But what about everything else? The normal reviews will far outweigh the extremes, so how can you tell if it’s good information or a one-time fluke? The answer is frequency. If you see 20 reviews all saying that X tires are extremely noisy, it’s safe to say that’s good information. The same goes with its performance, wear, or issues like ply separation. If you keep seeing the same issue over and over again in reviews from different people, it’s definitely something you should pay attention to.

If you’ve been on the internet at all, you know that sometimes reviews can get a little crazy. There are even entire websites dedicated to the craziest. So the important thing when you’re doing your research is to keep your expectations reasonable, especially when the reviewer hasn’t. For example, if you read a review about a summer tire being terrible in the snow, that’s not really a reasonable review. Just go ahead and move on to something more useful, like how the tire performs in summer rains. Remember, you don’t have to read every single review, especially if it’s not relevant.

Official Word

Reviews aren’t the only thing to look at, though. To find out about tire recalls, investigations or official complaints (like ones filed with a government watchdog), visit the following site:

This is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s official website, so it covers more than just tires. You’ll see a few topics on the page, but just click on “Tires” and you’ll be able to search the brand and model you’re interested in.

So what is the NHTSA? The NHTSA is a government agency that oversees the writing and enforcement of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, among other things. It gathers, reviews and, if necessary, investigates complaints. When you hear about a big auto-related recall on tv or in the news, it’s usually the NHTSA who ordered the recall. However, some manufacturers will voluntarily recall their product after a defect is uncovered to avoid this, because a government-mandated recall comes with a pretty heavy stigma.

So it’s worth checking with them if you’re unsure about a brand. If you search and nothing at all comes up, great! That means they have no complaints and no investigations.

If, however, results do come up, you’ll be able to see how many recalls, investigations, complaints and manufacturer communications they have. If you click on the recall number, it will tell you what caused the recall, as well as more specifics such as when and where the tires were manufactured. This information lets you see what tires are part of the recall by checking the DOT and plant codes imprinted on the sidewall. (Read more about DOT and other sidewall codes here). They will also give you a number to call if you have one of those tires as well as some information on what will be done to help you.

Take Complaints With a Grain—or a Box—of Salt

An important thing to note about the NHTSA website is that the Complaints aren’t always directly related to what you’re searching for. If that tire happened to be on a vehicle that has complaints about mechanical problems, it can still show up when you search for the tire. So, at least as far as the complaints go, it’s worthwhile to take a second and hit that “plus” button. This will open up the individual complaint and let you see if it’s really about the tire, or just tangentially related.

Also, just as you would for informal reviews, put the complaints into perspective. Frequent complaints on the same issue for the same line may indicate a legitimate problem to avoid, but a solitary complaint may just be a fluke.

Just like with informal reviews, some of the complaints can be a little ridiculous. They are real complaints submitted by regular people, after all, and sometimes people’s expectations are too high. For example, a real complaint filed with the NHTSA featured the owner of a truck complaining his tires wore prematurely….at only 85,000 miles.

So, while recalls should be strictly adhered to, complaints, like reviews, are best used as guidelines.

As for recalls, take them very seriously—the more tires in a recall, the greater your concern should be before buying that line. And always follow up if one or more of your tires is recalled.