Tire registration, recalls and the TIN: dealer checklist

What 49 CFR part 574 asks of tire makers and dealers on new tires, how to read the 13-symbol TIN, and how to look up a plant code or a tire recall.

Who has to register what

Federal tire registration is a new-tire rule. Under 49 CFR 574.8, an independent dealer selling new tires either hands the buyer a paper registration form already filled in with each tire's full tire identification number (TIN) and the dealer's name and address, or registers the tires for the buyer, on paper or electronically, within 30 days.

A dealer that isn't independent works differently. It sends the registration information to the manufacturer itself, at least every 30 days, with a 40-tire and six-month rule for slow months.

"Independent" has a precise meaning here. Section 574.3 defines it, for a distributor or dealer, as "one whose business is not owned or controlled by a tire manufacturer or brand name owner." A shop that belongs to a tire brand isn't independent, and it follows a different paragraph.

This page summarizes the regulation text as it stands on eCFR; it isn't legal advice. Read the sections themselves before you change how your counter works; the links are in the sources.

Look at the last row. It's the only one that mentions used tires. The registration text in 574.8 is written for "selling or leasing new tires," and 574.3 defines a tire purchaser as someone who buys or leases a new tire. The recall sale ban in 573.12 is broader: it covers "any new or used item of motor vehicle equipment (including a tire)" sold "for installation on a motor vehicle" and "in a condition that it may be reasonably used for its original purpose."

The three options for an independent dealer

Pick one per sale. The rule in 574.8(a)(1) lets you:

1. Give the buyer a paper registration form at the time of sale, with the entire TIN of each tire and your name and street address already filled in. The buyer sends it in.
2. Fill in the buyer's name and address, the entire TIN and your own details, and return the form to the manufacturer yourself, at no charge to the buyer, within 30 days.
3. Send the same information electronically by a means the manufacturer lists or authorizes, using secure means, at no charge, within 30 days.

Option 3 has one extra step. Section 574.8(a)(4) says a dealer registering electronically "shall include a statement to that effect on the invoice for that sale or lease and provide the invoice to the tire purchaser." Put it on the tire shop invoice template so nobody has to remember it.

Some details that save rework. In place of a street address you may record an email address or website. Several tires bought by the same customer can go on one paper form or one website transaction, and the manufacturer's form has space for six TINs. Write the entire TIN. Not the last four digits.

Reading the 13-symbol TIN

Section 574.5 sets the layout for new tires: 13 symbols in three groups, molded into one sidewall.

A real one, from a 2025 recall notice on NHTSA's site: 1D2BT4A6R3524. Split it into groups of 3, then 6, then 4, and you get plant code 1D2, manufacturer's code BT4A6R, and date code 3524, week 35 of 2024. The notice lists the production week as September 1 to September 7, 2024, which matches.

Week "01" is the first full calendar week of the year, running Sunday through Saturday. Retreaded tires carry a seven-symbol TIN (plant code plus date code) and an "R" mark that isn't part of the TIN. The letters G, I, O, Q, S and Z aren't on the rule's list of authorized symbols, so a character that looks like an O is a zero.

Older tires use the old format, and it doesn't split 3, 6, 4. Under 574.5(g) the old TIN is a two-symbol plant code, a tire size code of no more than two symbols, an optional descriptive code of up to four symbols, and then the four-digit date code. NHTSA assigns three-symbol codes to replace the two-symbol ones, and 574.5 let a maker keep using the old format until April 13, 2025. On either format, only the last four digits give the week and year. The DOT date code guide has the worked examples.

Plant code lookup

NHTSA's Manufacturer Information Database, vPIC MID, has a search called Equipment Plants (Tires, Brake Hoses, Retread and Glazing). Set the equipment type to Tires and type the plant code into the DOT Code field. The page notes that the DOT Code field applies to both new and old DOT codes, so a two-symbol code from an older tire can be searched too.

You rarely need it at the counter. It's useful when a customer asks where a tire was made, or when a recall notice names a plant.

Checking a tire for recalls

NHTSA's recall search at nhtsa.gov/recalls has a Tire tab. It isn't a serial-number check the way the VIN search is. NHTSA says searches for tires return "general results for recalls, investigations, complaints and manufacturer communications," so you find the recall in those results, then compare the tire in your hand against the notice.

Compare the tire with every criterion the notice lists. A notice can name a range of TINs or date codes, plus a tire line and a size; the 25T-004 table, for instance, has start and end columns for the DOT week and year, though both read 3524 in that recall. Its wording leaves no room: "If the TIN (i.e.,1D2BT4A6R3524), tire line (i.e., 'R123 Ecopia'), and tire size (295/75R22.5) do not exactly match the description above, the tire is not part of this recall."

Then do what the notice says with a recalled tire. Each one sets its own steps. The 25T-004 notice says "All tires removed from service under this recall campaign must be rendered permanently unserviceable," and it asks dealers not to alter the TIN.

For a used shop, the useful habit is at intake:

• Log the full TIN, not only the date, in the record next to the grade and tread depth.
• Search the brand and line on nhtsa.gov/recalls before the tire goes on the rack.
• If the tire meets every criterion in a notice, it doesn't go on the rack, and the notice's instructions decide what happens to it. 573.12 covers used tires.
• Re-check what's sitting in stock now and then. NHTSA's own tip is to "register your vehicle, tires, car seats & equipment and check recalls twice a year."

What the manufacturer does with registrations

When a maker decides on a recall, NHTSA's recall page says manufacturers "will notify registered owners by first class mail within 60 days of notifying NHTSA of a recall decision." The registration form says it more bluntly. Section 574.7 requires the card to carry the sentence: "In case of a recall, we can reach you only if we have your name and address."

That sentence is the whole reason to do the paperwork on every new tire you sell. A buyer who never registered finds out about a recall by luck. For what else belongs on the receipt itself, see what to include on a tire receipt, and for repaired tires coming through the door, the plug vs patch checklist.