Some in the industry have expressed concern that some tires on store racks may not meet the threshold since usually only one size of a specific tire line, which can encompass multiple sizes and diameters, is tested.
In the U.S., a tire manufacturer can select a popular size in its lineup as a representative sample for the 3PMS testing.
"What that self-certification allows is for some engineering expectations because if this falls into this level, we can reasonably expect that this size would also fall into a very high level, and we don't need to necessarily test every single SKU that we offer the market to ensure compliance," said Steve Bourassa, director of products and pricing for North America, Nokian Tyres Inc., which sells all-weather and winter tires that are tested in Europe and North America.
He said this is a more economical method than in Europe, where government entities certify every tire SKU — which is "incredibly time consuming and expensive for tire manufacturers," he said.
Every tire manufacturer operates a little differently, with different standards and rules they make for themselves, he noted, adding that every company probably would test a certain number of sizes across a product line to ensure compliance.
While the certification threshold is 110, companies might aim for a fudge factor of 112 or higher so that all sizes in a line always come into compliance, Bourassa said, "an internal allowance for a safety margin on how far we want our products to exceed that minimum threshold to ensure compliance, if ever it gets checked."
"At end of the day, manufacturers want to give consumers what they're looking for," Bourassa said. "And if they're buying products because they want winter grip, I don't think there's many of us that want to disappoint that consumer by selling them a product that has three-peak-mountain-snowflake but does really, really poorly in snowy conditions, for example. …
"Is it a perfect standard? Is it a perfect marking? Nope," he said. "It only does testing in medium-packed snow. It doesn't take in full winter conditions into account.
"When talking about standardized tests, you have to be pretty narrow in what you're looking at. We've had the three-peak-mountain-snowflake designation for a long time now."
Brandon Stotsenburg, vice president, automotive at American Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd., noted: "The USTMA standard that was established in 1999, I think, can be reconsidered by the industry to maybe consider other criteria that would be enabled within the industry for actual performance, including possible ice performance and consistency across acceleration, braking within winter conditions and winter temperature conditions.
"Additionally, that there would be some consistent certification that would confirm that the tires that are designated within that standard can make that and that there is some level of on-going third-party testing with spot testing to make sure that the products actually meet those standards."
He also agreed that it would be prohibitively expensive to require manufacturers to test every size in a tire line, but he said the industry should come up with compromises.
His concern is that various sizes and diameters within a certain tire line may perform differently in testing.
A tire pattern with multiple sizes may only have one size tested, and if a tire maker doesn't have reliable modeling, it may not know that the other sizes don't meet the standard.
"I am concerned from a consumer perspective. I want to make sure that the consumer gets a product that has a standard that they can feel comfortable with," Stotsenburg said, noting that Kenda contracts third-party testing for its all-weather tires.
Nokian Tyres does both in-house and third-party testing, Bourassa said. Testing against a competitor's tires is usually for benchmarking purposes, not for comparing 3PMS performance.
"We're not in the business of making sure our competitors are matching that standardized test. We want to make sure we are and then we want to see how we compare against some of those competitors," he said.