In July 2024, a new EU regulation came into force that could, despite Brexit, save UK motorists cash.
You may well have missed this – we certainly did. The news story didn’t get much fanfare at the time and there was plenty of other newsworthy stuff, from a new government at the start of the month to rioting at the end.
So what is this new law, excitingly named R117 – 04, all about?
What was wrong with the old tyre regulation?
You might remember that the minimum tread depth in the UK is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre. That’s the same for the EU. However, most motorists change their tyres well before that. One estimate is that about 50% of tyres across the EU are removed before they even reach 3mm.
This cautious attitude makes sense because tyre performance is starting to deteriorate well before they reach the legal minimum. This is especially true for performance on wet roads. That uncertainty about how the tyres would behave was essentially encouraged by the previous EU tyre law (R117 -02). Tyre manufacturers only had to ensure their products performed to a guaranteed standard when they were brand new. Once the tyres started to wear, all the bets were off.
This was great for manufacturers, who could sell tyres more frequently, but created three major problems:
- Motorists who kept tyres right down to 1.6mm tread depth had no safety guarantees about their performance.
- Motorists who swapped ‘just in case’ might be getting rid of tyres sooner than necessary.
- Millions of tyres were scrapped prematurely, with a huge environmental cost.
Enter R117 – 04.
In response to these concerns, the EU created a new regulation, R117 – 04. This means manufacturers must produce tyres that meet certain wet weather braking standards even when they are worn down to the legal minimum of 1.6mm. These must be ensured through rigorous testing. According to Tyre Trade News:
The wet braking test adopted by the European authorities measures the distance required for a vehicle to decelerate from 80 to 20 kph [50 to 12 mph] on a standard road surface with a water height of one mm. In addition to these specific points, this test includes other precise parameters, such as the road grip coefficient or the ambient temperature.
The EU’s thinking is that the new regulation removes some uncertainty. Once consumers can be confident that their tyres will perform even at lower tread depth, they’ll hang onto them for longer.
Meanwhile, in the UK
Ah, but what about Brexit? Will the UK follow suit and put the same regulations in place?
At the time of writing, the answer seems to be ‘watch this space’. Researching this story, we found a flurry of articles all written in July… and then nothing afterwards. Auto Express contacted the Department of Transport asking if the UK would be adopting the law and were told it hadn’t yet been decided.
However, what we decide over here in Blighty might not make much difference. The EU is home to 255 million cars, as opposed to 33 million over here. It’s unlikely that the big manufacturers are going to produce two different standards of tyre for the two markets. So whether we abide by the regulation or not, it’s likely we’ll be getting it.
It will take some time for any benefit to percolate down to drivers, but if the EU’s plans work as intended, it could mean 128 million fewer tyres a year heading for recycling.
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