By admin 
California drivers already pay some of the nation’s highest prices for gasoline, electricity and car ownership. Now, Sacramento is giving us something else to worry about: How much we’ll pay for our next set of tires.
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Regulators at the state Energy Commission just approved the nation’s first “efficiency standard” for replacement tires sold for passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s social media team celebrated the new mandate with their usual restraint, declaring: “MAGA HATES TO SEE IT.”
But it’s Californians who will hate seeing the prices for the tires they’ll be required to buy when the new regulation is fully enforced.
The outlines of the program are more than two decades old, and were passed by the Legislature in 2003. The Energy Commission just now gotten around to making the rule. It arrives in a state with more than 420,000 regulatory restrictions, which already is the most in the country, according to the Mercatus Center, and adds yet another household expense to overburdened family budgets.
The goal of the Replacement Tire Efficiency Program is “to ensure that replacement tires sold in the state , on average, as the tires sold in the state as original equipment on these vehicles.” Beginning in 2026, a tire will have to meet a state standard for “rolling resistance,” or how much energy is lost as a tire rolls down the road. Lower rolling resistance can increase fuel economy and lower emissions. Replacement tires will have to have even less resistance in 2033 when the second phase of the policy takes effect.
The California Energy Commission says those tougher requirements “will help Californians save approximately $1 billion a year on refueling.” The commission projects that a typical gas-powered passenger car or SUV will see tire costs increase by $6 for a set of four during the first phase, but save $85 in fuel. Then, drivers will pay an extra $26 a set in the second phase and save $179.
But while Michelin declared that “California’s direction is consistent with” the company’s strategies, others in the industry say the savings are a fantasy. Goodyear representatives have warned that the regulation could increase a family’s tire costs by hundreds of dollars per tire higher than baseline alternatives in Phase 2.
And there is another potential cost the Energy Commission should be compelled to get right: How long the tires last. One way manufacturers can reduce rolling resistance is by reducing tread depth. This means that the tires will wear out faster and have poorer wet-weather performance, forcing Californians to buy tires more often.
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Federal regulators this tradeoff, citing an industry estimate that achieving a 20% reduction in rolling resistance through tread-depth reduction could reduce tread life by 30% and wet traction by 15%. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine say the impacts could be “higher prices for new tires or reduced durability, requiring more frequent replacement.”
It’s a flaw that can be rectified by adding silica compounds and emulsifiers during the manufacturing process, but doing so adds costs, making the tires even more expensive.
A shorter life span means that manufacturers could have to increase production by as much as double, creating “an energy-intensive, emissions-heavy process,” says Autoblog. They also wonder if the California Energy Commission properly accounted for this not-so-minor detail in its estimates.
To keep the commission honest and accountable, consumers should demand that lawmakers order it to show exactly how much the scheme has saved over its first five.
History suggests the new rule will eventually creep beyond California’s state line. That means that the rest of the country needs to be ready for a future tire market that’s distorted by higher prices and greater scarcity.
Kerry Jackson is the William Clement fellow in California reform at the Pacific Research Institute and co-author of “The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide.”
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