NTSB Board member Earl Weener will chair the symposium, which it said is an effort to gather information from industry and government experts on exactly what causes tires to fail.
Mr. Rohlwing said he would participate in the panels on tire registration/recall and tire maintenance/consumer awareness.
RMA and TIA spokesmen said they believe the NTSB is holding this symposium because of the two fatal highway accidents the agency is investigating that allegedly involve aged or defective tires.
The NTSB has been investigating at least two tire-related crashes since last February. One crash occurred on Feb. 21, 2014, on Interstate 75 near Lake City, Fla., when a Ford 15-passenger van rolled over, killing two adults and injuring several children.
The van, according to the NTSB, was equipped with a BF Goodrich Commercial T/A AS tire that had been part of a February 2012 recall. The tire suffered a tread separation that led to the rollover, the agency said.
The second crash occurred Feb. 15, 2014, on U.S. Highway 90 near Centerville, La., according to the NTSB. A 2004 Kia Sorento suffered a failure of a 10-year-old Michelin Cross Terrain tire and lost control, swerving into the path of a school bus. Four of the Kia's five occupants died; the fifth Kia passenger and 30 of the 34 people aboard the school bus were injured.
The symposium could revive the ongoing debate on whether tire aging is inherently dangerous.
“We fully expect the NTSB to announce in December that people should replace all tires over six years of age, regardless of the depth of the tread on the tire,” said Rob Ammons, a personal injury attorney with Ammons Law Firm in Houston, in a press release issued Nov. 13.
It is important for tire industry experts to make their voices heard at the symposium, according to Mr. Rohlwing.
“Trial lawyers are circling the pool and sensing an opportunity,” he said. “So we have to be there to tell our side of the story.”
The symposium will be free and open to the public, with no preregistration, the NTSB said. It will offer a webcast of the symposium, which will be archived for three months, and issue a transcript.
The agency said it “may use information gathered from the symposium to develop safety recommendations that, if implemented, could reduce the incidence of tire disablement-related crashes.”
Based on what NTSB officials told him, Mr. Zielinski said he believed a report emanating from the symposium findings will probably be available in the latter part of 2015.
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