Shifting to a Greener Attitude on Tire Ratings

Now, as gas prices have hit $4 a gallon and more, the idea of reducing tire "rolling resistance" to improve vehicle gas mileage is gaining traction. After 12 years of blocking any such standard, Congress has ordered a consumer information program by next year to inform buyers on what to expect from tires on fuel economy.

The $34 billion tire industry was long divided on the issue. Michelin North America has favored a standard and has started running ads extolling the gas-saving virtues of its tires. Other manufacturers lobbied Congress to block any rule requiring that tires be labeled to indicate their fuel efficiency.

"We were very vocal and pushed for it," said Michael Wischhusen, director of industry standards and government regulations for Greenville, S.C.-based Michelin, a subsidiary of French tiremaker Michelin & Cie. The annual ban was other manufacturers' "defense against progressive thinking," he said.

Daniel Zielinksi, spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association, a Washington trade group, said the industry now agrees on the new requirement to inform buyers about the fuel efficiency of tires. For years, most companies opposed the idea of displaying such information on the tires.

"We advocated that rather than more information on the sidewall, better the information be required at the point of sale," Zielinski said.

Michelin supported a new tire efficiency grading standard proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1995. A year later, the agency said it dropped its proposal because of opposition, which included a funding cutoff.

Michelin had been working on "green" tires since 1992, saying its tires could save fuel without "compromising durability and traction."

"Right now, that [tire efficiency] data is not widely available," said Luke Tonachel, vehicles analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York. He said that information would be "cost-effective for consumers and the nation to reduce oil use."

Some 200 million replacement tires are purchased annually in the United States. Few consumers take into account how much energy, and thus gas mileage, is lost through their tires.

The savings could be considerable.

A 2006 study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that it was feasible to reduce rolling resistance by 10 percent. This would increase the fuel economy of vehicles by 1 to 2 percent, saving up to 2 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel annually.