On Sept. 26, 2019, at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Biloxi, Mississippi, the CVSA Board of Directors voted on and approved a new inspection bulletin which outlines tread depth measurement of evolving commercial motor vehicle tires.
2019-03 – Evolving Commercial Vehicle Tire Design Tread Depth Measurement Inspection Bulletin explains how to properly measure the tread depth of commercial motor vehicle tires with evolving treads. An evolving tread design is a tread pattern that experiences a significant and noticeable transition in appearance as the tire wears down from the new state to the worn state. As the tread wears, some features disappear, while new features are revealed. This evolution in the tread pattern allows for the balancing and optimization of multiple performance characteristics over the full life of the tire as well as maximum use of all available tread rubber. The bulletin is also available in French and Spanish.
Inspection Bitz, a one-minute informational video explaining the inspection of an evolving commercial motor vehicle tire, is available online, and can also be accessed through the CVSA member portal and via the 2020 CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria app, which will be released in spring 2020.
CVSA reminds all certified roadside inspectors to visit the inspection bulletins section of the CVSA website to check that they have the latest versions of all inspection bulletins. We want to ensure all inspectors are conducting roadside inspections using the most up-to-date version of each bulletin. The CVSA website will always contain the current version of each inspection bulletin which should be used by CVSA-certified roadside enforcement personnel.