it is late, so my grammar may not be the best but....
there is some validity to this.
as a tire ages, the oils will rise to the surface and dry out so to say.
the truth of the matter is that the more you drive on the tires(consistently, not the odd long trip), the longer the tire will last without drying out/cracking, etc.
the 6 year age limit in relation to the European markets is also a little missleading, you need to consider that different roads and driving conditions(cobble stone is not uncommon, the autobahn(spelling) is crazy. although we can have some very crappy roads, from what I hear, Europe can have some worse roads.
age is not the biggest issue with tires,
underinflation/overinflation, driving conditions, poor vehicle maintenance, and bad driving habits will cause more of a concern.
these things are in the hands of the vehicle owner.
the age of the tires is more of less out of their control.
I do agree that older tires should not be sold(I don't like selling tires that are over 2 years old, the odd time we have had to sell tires that are older to try to help someone to match a tire that is no longer being produced so they don't have to replace all of their tires yet, but the tires could be a little older).
the research shows that a larger majority of the tires that have had failures(blowouts, tread separations, etc) have been older.
I think this would be a little bit of common sense.
the older the tire, the more use and abuse the tire has seen, so it is more probable that tire failure could occur.
the news report is trying to say that age was the main issue with the the problems people had. it did not report much about how the vehicles were maintained.
if you never change the oil in your jeep's engine(years of use, or thousands of km's(way more than ever intended)), and the engine decides to give you the finger, you can't just say that the oil was not any good because it wouldn't' protect the engine.
I think that the news story was trying to scare people into changing out tires long before they need to.
I think that proper maintenance, driving habits, and care, will do alot for tire safety.
some people think that they can just put tires on and never think about them again(and then be in absolute shock when after 40000 km, the outer edges of the tires are all worn out from underinflation(or overloaded for a specific air pressure), or try to deny ever driving on a tire without air in it(or very low at least) when the inside of the tire is all chewed up from doing so.
what I am getting at is this...
do not let only the age of a tire freak you out.
use common sense and consider what the tire has gone through and use that, plus inspecting the tires for wear, visible aging, to determine if tires need to be replaced.
think of tires like people, yes the older they get, the more problems they will run into, but with proper care and maintenance, a 50 year old person(or a ten year old tire)could be in better shape than a 20 year old(or a 2 year old tire).
Tire dressings are actually not good for tires, they will usually dry them out more quickly.
tires should always be stored out of the sun in a cool, dry environment when possible(when not being used), this also means not putting tires away wet in bags tied air tight so the water can fester and start rotting the tires.
some equipment can actually cause tire to dry out quicker too(electronics, furnaces, welders, etc.)
a tire that is driven underinflated(starting at 15% below what it should be for the weight carried) could case damage to a tire.
I could write more, but that is a good start.
I may have written something down wrong, but it is late and that can happen.
something to think about anyway.
Topic: Tire Saftey news clip (Read 1915 times)