7 Complying with federal tire regulations On December 3, 2015, the US Congress passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, or FAST Act. The FAST act requires independent distributors or dealers of tires to maintain records of: • the name and address of tire purchasers and lessors, and • information identifying the tire that was purchased or leased. The act also requires dealers and distributors to ensure they can securely transmit these tire records electronically to the manufacturers. Failure to correctly record tire data puts driver safety at risk, and could make dealers liable for fines, penalties and lawsuits. Driver Safety When tires are recalled due to manufacturing issues, it’s vital to have the necessary tire data on hand so that anyone who was sold the tire in question can be contacted and have their tire replaced. According to the NHTSA, over 700 people are killed every year in the US because of tire defects. Tires not being properly recalled are a clear and present threat to the safety of drivers, and may end up causing accidents, if not worse. And the easiest way to avoid this is by immediateöy registering the DOT number of all new tires on the NHTSA registration portal. 700