Shannon KeoughImagine yourself driving along, heading home and out of nowhere you suddenly lose control. You’re swerving and end up on the side of the road.
Misaligned wheels, uneven tire tread and bald tires can all lead to accidents or even worse, the lost of a loved one or yourself.
Have you ever asked yourself that maybe the reason why your tire blew out was because somebody sold you bad tires? Even if the person said they are brand new tires. Everyone should be checking out their tires.
I recently received an e-mail from my aunt that had a video made by ABC News about making sure you are buying good and safe tires.
You are supposed to check your tires every three months. Although some tires claim to last four years, most last much less unless they are checked carefully. When you go and get your tires changed, be sure you are buying truly new tires and not some that are up to 12 years old.
The recent ABC show, told the story of a family from Toronto who lost their 19-year-old son due to a fatal car accident. The tread on the tire completely peeled off. When the father thought he had brand new tires, he later found out those “brand new” tires were actually nine years old.
It was not like the man lost his son due to a drunk-driving accident. This man lost his son because of the tires being unsafe. That is appalling! It was not his fault that his son got into this fatal car crash. It was all because he was not informed and did not realize that he was being sold unsafe car tires.
The ABC piece shows that when you are buying a car tire and getting the receipt you could be paying full price for a completely unsafe tire. You may be completely unaware.
Everyone needs to be informed before someone puts a tire on your car. You need to know that your car can be completely unsafe because of your tires. Don’t get ripped off like the family in the ABC video. They lost someone they loved and it’s not worth it for anyone else in this world to go through that.
There have been tests done to show that old tires are completely dangerous. Even tires that have never been driven a mile on the road are unsafe because they get dried out after four years.
So how do you check that your tires are safe? There are four numbers on the back of your tire. You probably never noticed this number since you can’t see it because it’s faced towards the inside of your car. How convenient because we all can go underneath our car and see small writing like that.
There are either three or four numbers. The first two numbers tell you what week it was made in and the last number tells you the year. If there are three numbers it was made in the ’90s if there are four numbers it was made in the 2000s.
For example, if the number was 4605, the code would mean it was made in the 46 week of 2005. If it is looks like this 361, that means the tire was made in the 36 week of 1991.
No matter where you are, check your tires. It is not worth putting your life or even others at risk. You want to know that you’re driving a safe car. You want a car that can get you from point A to point B in a safe manner.
When you go and get your tires changed don’t just leave your car and hope for the best. Make sure you are checking the tires, to see exactly how old your tires are. Make sure your not getting ripped off because it would be awful to not be driving a safe car.
