Are Your Tires Safe? [VIDEO]

Are Your Tires Safe? [VIDEO]

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Expect to hear much more about this in the coming days. Our news partners at ABC are set to reveal details of an investigation into recalled tires still for sale across the country.

It comes in the wake of a deadly traffic crash involving a tire that was supposed to be off the road. Officials at the National Transportation Safety Board say only about one out of five recalled tires is actually returned to the manufacturer:

An ABC News investigation found that a badly-flawed and archaic government recall system has permitted millions of potentially dangerous tires to remain in use, on store shelves for sale or simply unaccounted for.

In a report to be broadcast tonight on "World News With Diane Sawyer" and "Nightline", undercover reporters from ABC stations in Atlanta and San Francisco found recalled tires still for sale at some retail outlets.

You can watch more here from Good Morning America on ABC:

How can you check if your tires are safe? Details from ABC:

  1. On the side of your tire, near the inner ring, you should be able to find a string of letters and numbers that begins with DOT.
  2. Follow the string to the end until you get to a series of four numbers.
  3. Those four numbers represent a “date code” – but it’s not as easy as you think
  4. The first two numbers represent the week the tire was made, and the last two indicate the year. So a tire code that says “1303″ would mean the tire was made in the thirteenth week, or the beginning of April, of 2003.

The NTSB says there are at least 400 deaths each year from crashes involving what are called "tire-initiated events." That includes tires that could have been underinflated, punctured or suffered from other pre-existing problems.

Chances are your tires are fine, but it won't take long to double-check. I'll be doing it tonight when I get home.

Filed Under: abc, recalls, safety, tires
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