NHTSA’s Final Rule Amends Tire Regs on New Trailers over 10,000 Pounds GVWR

Nov. 9, 2016
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a final rule amending Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 110 to make it clear that special trailer (ST) tires are permitted to be installed on new trailers with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 lbs or less.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a final rule amending Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 110 to make it clear that special trailer (ST) tires are permitted to be installed on new trailers with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 lbs or less.

It also excludes these trailers from a requirement that a tire must be retained on its rim when subjected to a sudden loss of tire pressure and brought to a controlled stop from 60 mph. The agency proposed these changes and, after a review of the comments received, has determined  that these two revisions are appropriate and will not result in any degradation of motor vehicle safety.

Petitions for reconsideration: Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule must be received by December 27, 2016.

On June 26, 2003, the agency published a final rule expanding the applicability of FMVSS No. 110 to include all motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less, except for motorcycles. Prior to the enactment of the TREAD Act, FMVSS No. 110 only applied to passenger cars and to non-pneumatic spare tire assemblies for use on passenger cars. In an effort to coordinate the upgraded vehicle standard, intended to apply to all vehicles with a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or less, with the standards used on tires for vehicles with a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or less, the language in FMVSS No. 110 was amended to require the use of tires meeting the new FMVSS No. 139, New pneumatic radial tires for light vehicles. The only exceptions provided in FMVSS No. 110 were for the use of spare tire assemblies with pneumatic spare tires meeting the requirements of FMVSS No. 109 or non-pneumatic spare tire assemblies meeting the requirements of FMVSS No. 129.

With the expansion of FMVSS No. 110 to include all motor vehicles with a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or less, the performance tests and criteria within the standard became applicable to all light vehicles, including light trucks, multipurpose passenger vehicles, buses, and trailers that had previously been subject to the requirements of FMVSS No. 120. However, FMVSS No. 110 specified a minimum performance requirement for rim retention among its many requirements. This requirement was not previously included in FMVSS No. 120 and, therefore, was not applicable to light trucks, multipurpose passenger vehicles, buses, and trailers. The effective date for these requirements was September 1, 2007, which provided approximately four years of lead time from publication of the final rule.