Tires are our lifeline on the road. It doesn’t matter how powerful, torquey, balanced, nimble, safe, or anything else you care to describe your vehicle as; without decent tires, our cars can’t be any of those things. While car recalls happen often enough, something about a tire recall is a bit more unsettling. A new Michelin truck tire recall affects over 500,000 bad tires. 

What Michelin truck tires are being recalled?

Almost 550,000  Michelin light truck tires have been recalled. The recall is specifically aimed at the Agilis CrossClimate C-Metric tires with DOT numbers 0117 through 1423. According to Michelin, the affected tires feature the Alpine Symbol, marking them as snow tires. However, the classification and the symbol don’t match. Michelin clarifies that “the Alpine Symbol is depicted by a snowflake inside a three-peaked mountain outline.”

What vehicles use these tires? 

While anyone could buy these tires to put on whatever wheel would fit them, Michelin notes that the most common vehicles to use the Lite Truck tires (confusingly) are the Ford Transit^®, RAM ProMaster, Volkswagen Crafter, Nissan NV200, Chevrolet City Express, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. 

What is the cause of the Michelin tire recall? 

As The Family Handyman reports, the tires don’t meet the U.S. safety standards, as pointed out by the company. While testing, Michelin didn’t use the proper air pressure making the tests invalid. 

The voluntary recall was issued by Michelin. In its own words, the products “do not meet the traction requirements for snow tires” and, thus, “fail to comply” with federal regulations. 

How do you know if you have recalled tires?

Reading tire sidewalls can feel a little like a treasure map clue from a Nicolas Cage film. The sidewalls are covered in secretive texts requiring some knowledge to decipher; instead of going all the way in on how to read tire codes, we’ll just look at what the affected tires would say. 

If your vehicle has  Michelin snow tires with the Alpine Symbol on one of the models listed above with DOT numbers 0117 through 1423, your tires might be affected by the recall. Family Handyman says if you can confirm that you have Agilis CrossClimate C-Metric tires with those DOT numbers, they’re included in the recall. 

What should you do with a recall? 

As with all car-related recalls, the best course of action is to take the recall seriously and follow the directions given by the manufacturer or an associated dealership. Manufacturers don’t issue recalls lightly. It would be wise to take them seriously and get the issue resolved or the product in question replaced.