The Critical Case for Action on Tyre Safety

Tyres are a vehicle’s only contact with the road. Every time a driver accelerates, brakes, steers or corners, the grip comes through four patches of rubber, each roughly the size of a hand.

Yet tyre-related deaths and serious injuries are rising, millions of tyres are driven until they are illegal, and most drivers don’t check their tyres regularly. The figures below set out the scale of the problem, and why TyreSafe is calling for action.

The UK is one of Europe’s safest countries for road deaths, but progress has stalled: deaths fell 8% between 2014 and 2024, against 17% across the EU. (Source: European Transport Safety Council, PIN report 2025.)

Tyre safety at a glance

• 201 people killed or seriously injured in collisions involving defective tyres in 2025, up 19% in a year
• 15 million MOT tests fail on tyres every year, and 7 in 10 of those defects are dangerous
• 58,000+ tyre-related breakdowns on England’s motorways and major A-roads in 2025, the largest single cause
• 1 in 6 tyres is already below the legal limit by the time it is replaced: about 6 million a year

Road casualties

201 people were killed or seriously injured in 2025 in collisions where police recorded defective tyres as a factor, including 10 deaths. That’s up 19% in a year, and almost four people every week.

Over the last five years (2021–2025), an average of 163 people a year have been killed or seriously injured in tyre-related collisions, up from 150 for 2020–2024.

Against the Government’s Road Safety Strategy baseline (the 2022–24 average), tyre-related deaths and serious injuries are up 21%. Over the same period, all deaths and serious injuries rose 3%.

More driving doesn’t explain the rise. Motor vehicle traffic grew 1.9% in 2025, while tyre-related deaths and serious injuries grew 19%.

The harm reaches well beyond the driver of the defective vehicle. In 2025, tyre-related collisions killed or seriously injured 120 car occupants (up from 104 in 2024), 39 motorcyclists (the highest figure in a decade) and 26 pedestrians and cyclists.

On motorways, defective tyres are recorded in 2.4% of collisions, four times the rate on all roads (0.6%). In 2025, as many motorway collisions involved a tyre defect (58) as involved every other mechanical defect combined (58).

(Source: Department for Transport, Reported road casualties Great Britain 2025, tables RAS0701, RAS0401 and RAS0703, published 30 July 2026; Road traffic estimates in Great Britain 2025. Analysis in TyreSafe’s supplementary written evidence to the Transport Committee, October 2026.)

Why tread matters: stopping distances

At 70mph in the wet, tyres at the 1.6mm legal limit add 27 metres to stopping distance, about six car lengths. A car on good tyres stops in 96m; on legal-limit tyres it needs 123m. Using a phone adds about 15.5m, so worn tyres have nearly twice the effect. (Source: Halfords plc and Professor Peter Wells, Centre for Automotive Industry Research, Cardiff University, March 2026.)

At 70mph, worn tyres add around seven times more to stopping distance than drinking alcohol. (Source: Halfords plc and Professor Peter Wells, Cardiff University, December 2022.)

Independent tests agree that grip falls away long before the legal limit:

• TyreSafe: braking from 50mph in the wet, a car stopped in 25.9m on new tyres and 37.8m on tyres at 1.6mm, 46% further.
• Continental: braking from 50mph in the wet, tyres at 1.6mm took 10m longer than new tyres, and were still travelling at 26mph when the new tyres had stopped. (Source)
• DEKRA: braking from 60mph in the wet, tyres with 2–3mm of tread took 16–18% longer to stop than new tyres. (Source)

The tyre label grade matters too. Braking from 50mph in the wet, an A-rated tyre can stop up to 18 metres shorter than an E-rated tyre. (Source: DEKRA.)

Wet roads are where grip matters most. Between 2021 and 2025, 28% of road deaths in Great Britain (2,265 of 8,033) were on wet or damp roads, and a collision on a wet road was almost a quarter more likely to be fatal than one on a dry road (1 in 57, against 1 in 70). In December, almost half of all injury collisions happen on wet roads.

Vehicles in collisions on wet roads were almost twice as likely to have skidded as those on dry roads (11.8% against 6.3%), and a vehicle that skidded was 1.8 times as likely to be in a fatal collision. About one fatal collision in five involves a vehicle that skidded. Skidding is recorded by police at the scene: it shows a loss of grip, not necessarily a tyre defect. (Source: TyreSafe analysis of Department for Transport road safety open data (STATS19), reported injury collisions 2021–2025.)

Safety technology is rated on new tyres. Euro NCAP tests emergency braking on new tyres at the correct pressure, on a dry, high-grip surface. Real-world tyres are often worn and under-inflated.

Vehicles on our roads: what the MOT finds

Around 2.15 million MOT tests fail on tyres every year, and around 1.55 million find a dangerous tyre defect. The number failing on tyres has been above 2 million every year since 2019–20. (Source: DVSA, MOT testing data for Great Britain, updated 10 September 2026; tyre counts calculated by TyreSafe from DVSA’s published rates and test totals.)

Tyres account for 61% of all dangerous defects found on cars and light vans at the MOT. Tyres and brakes together account for nine in ten.

One car in four is warned about its tyres at the MOT. In TyreSafe’s analysis of 1.91 million car and van tests, 25.2% recorded at least one tyre advisory, most often for tread worn close to the legal limit.

Those warnings predict failures. Cars with a tyre advisory were nearly twice as likely to fail on tyres a year later (9.6% against 5.3%). Of the 2.15 million vehicles that failed on tyres in 2023–24, 36% (more than 750,000) had received a tyre advisory at their previous MOT. (Source: TyreSafe analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test data, February 2024 and February 2025, as set out in TyreSafe’s supplementary written evidence to the Transport Committee, October 2026.)

Many drivers assume a pass means their car is safe. In research for National Highways, 87% assumed that a car that passes its MOT is safe to drive, and 23% said they had ignored or delayed acting on a tyre-related MOT advisory. (Source: National Highways T.R.I.P. campaign, 2026.)

The fleet is ageing, and older cars carry more dangerous tyre defects. The average licensed car is now 9.6 years old, up from 7.9 in 2014. Cars aged ten or more are more than twice as likely as cars under three to have a dangerous tyre defect at the MOT (5.6% against 2.6%). (Source: DfT/DVLA vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH1107; TyreSafe analysis of DVSA MOT data, February 2025.)

Around 6 million cars a year are tested after their MOT has expired, and one driver in six books only after it has run out. Kwik Fit estimates that more than 1.5 million cars on the road without a valid MOT would not be roadworthy. (Source: Kwik Fit, March 2026.)

Tyres run to the limit

One tyre in six (17.1%) is already below the legal limit by the time it is replaced, and a further 40.4% are between 1.6mm and 2mm. That suggests around 6 million tyres a year are driven until they are illegal. (Source: TyreSafe and National Highways, tread depth at the point of replacement survey, 549,558 car and van tyres, April 2022 to March 2023, analysis by Imperial College London, published August 2023.)

Four in ten vehicles checked by tyre retailers had a tyre that was illegal or barely legal: 7.7% below the 1.6mm limit and 31.8% between 1.6mm and 2mm, up from 17% in 2000. (Source: National Tyre Distributors Association, TyreCheck 2025.)

What we find when we look:

• Airport car parks: more than a quarter of 1,527 cars checked at Edinburgh, Gatwick and Manchester had at least one dangerous tyre (damaged, cracked, bulging or worn enough to need immediate replacement). (Halfords and NCP, June 2024 – source)
• Jersey: of 984 tyres checked on 246 vehicles, 21% needed replacing and 27% were borderline. A year on, 99.7% of tyres checked were above the legal limit. (TyreSafe and the Government of Jersey – case study)
• Fire and rescue car washes: of 728 cars checked at charity car washes and road safety events run by five fire and rescue services, 12% had at least one illegal tyre and 20% had a tyre that was unsafe or borderline. (Pilot with TyreSafe, March–September 2024)
• Operation ACT, Bolton: 19 of 137 vehicles stopped (14%) faced formal tyre-related enforcement action. (Greater Manchester Police, Safer Roads Greater Manchester, DVSA, Bolton Council, Halfords and TyreSafe, October 2025 – case study)

Part-worn tyres are a particular risk. In Norfolk, 69 of 191 part-worn tyres checked (36%) were dangerous, and only one met the legal safety and marking requirements. In Preston, none of 30 part-worn tyres inspected met the legal requirements. (Sources: Norfolk County Council Trading Standards and Norfolk & Suffolk Constabulary, August 2025 – case study; Lancashire County Council, June 2025.)

Warning traders isn’t enough on its own. In Dudley, Trading Standards officers and a TyreSafe technical expert returned to five part-worn retailers who had already been given advice on the law. All five failed. Officers found string repairs and punctures in the shoulder or sidewall that can’t legally be repaired, tyres without a permanent PART-WORN mark, tyres up to 15 years old with hardened rubber, and one below the 2mm minimum for part-worn tyres. (Source: Dudley Council Trading Standards and TyreSafe, October 2026 – case study.)

Driver knowledge and behaviour

Only 39% of drivers know the minimum legal tread depth of 1.6mm. Of those who said they knew it, 41% gave the wrong answer. (Source: RAC, research by Online95, September 2024, 1,775 drivers.)

Only 19% of drivers check their tread depth every month, as recommended, and only 29% use a gauge. Just 36% know the penalty for illegal tread: a fine of up to £2,500 and 3 penalty points per tyre. (Source: Anyline and TyreSafe, Opinium survey of 2,000 UK drivers, September 2024.)

For half of drivers who don’t check regularly, it simply doesn’t cross their mind. 40% rely on a garage or mechanic, and a quarter know checks matter but don’t get round to them. 5% never check and wait for the MOT to find faults. (Source: RAC, September 2024.)

55% of drivers in England don’t always check their tread before a long journey, and 24% assume an MOT or service covers it. (Source: National Highways, survey of 1,764 adults, September 2024.)

83% of drivers believe they are in full control of their vehicle’s stopping distance. Yet only 6% know that stopping from 70mph in the rain takes about 96 metres (24 car lengths) more than on a dry day. Half think it adds 36 metres or less. (Source: TyreSafe survey by Opinium of 2,000 UK adults, April 2026.)

Four in ten drivers (38%) had a near miss in the past year, rising to 53% of 18–34-year-olds. Only 11% of them checked their tyres afterwards, and one driver in ten has never checked their own tyres at all. (Source: TyreSafe survey by Opinium, April 2026.)

53% of drivers admit continuing to drive with a fault they know about. Of those, a third had tyres at the wrong pressure and one in five had worn tyres needing replacement. (Source: Uswitch, survey of 2,000 UK drivers, April 2025.)

Two-thirds of drivers (66%) don’t know what the tyre label is for, and 61% don’t check it before buying tyres. (Source: eBay, OnePoll survey of 2,000 UK motorists, September 2025.)

Breakdowns

Tyres are the largest single cause of breakdowns on England’s motorways and major A-roads. In 2025, National Highways recorded more than 58,000 tyre-related breakdowns, 19% of 303,213. Breakdowns rose 7% between 2024 and 2025 while traffic rose 2.5%, and 24% between 2022 and 2025. (Source: National Highways, T.R.I.P. road safety partner toolkits, Spring and Autumn 2026 – campaign page.)

21% of drivers who broke down on a motorway think proper tyre checks before the journey could have prevented it. (Source: National Highways, October 2024.)

The AA attended more than 620,000 tyre-related faults in 2023. (Source: The AA, May 2024.)

Towing is a growing problem. Incidents involving caravans, horseboxes and trailers on National Highways’ network rose 23% between 2022 and 2025, to 6,272. One in four (1,577 in 2025) was a tyre-related breakdown, with the highest number in the North West. (Source: National Highways, ControlWorks incidents involving towed vehicles on the Strategic Road Network, 2022–2025.)

Most tyre failures are preventable. In fatal collisions on motorways and major A-roads between 2014 and 2022, 71% of tyre defects were due to lack of maintenance – 75% for cars. (Source: TRL, The effect of tyre defects on road collisions, October 2023, analysis of the National Highways Fatality Research Database.)

Enforcement

Defective tyres remain the most common reason drivers receive penalty points for an unroadworthy vehicle. In 2025, 6,670 drivers had their licences endorsed for defective tyres, two-thirds of all 10,054 vehicle-defect endorsements. That’s down from 8,945 in 2024. (Source: RAC Freedom of Information request to the DVLA, June 2026.)

Convictions for defective tyres in England and Wales fell to 5,662 in 2025, the lowest in nine years and 727 (11%) fewer than in 2017. Prosecutions have fallen 24% since 2021. (Source: Ministry of Justice, Criminal Justice System statistics, outcomes by offence 2017–2025.)

Fewer penalties don’t mean fewer defective tyres. There are 21% fewer roads policing officers in England and Wales than in 2015: 4,149, down from 5,237. (Source: RAC analysis of Home Office data, October 2025.)

Vehicle defect offences have nearly tripled since their 2017 low, from 5,920 to 16,170 in 2024 (England and Wales, excluding the Metropolitan Police). (Source: Home Office, Police powers and procedures: roads policing, year ending December 2024.)

Retraining courses are now the main police response to motoring offences, but not for vehicle defects. In 2024, 51% of fixed-penalty motoring offences ended in a course, against 2% of vehicle defect offences. (Source: Home Office, Police powers and procedures: roads policing, year ending December 2024.)

The cost

Preventing the tyre-related casualties of 2025 would have been worth around £93 million to the UK. That’s around £82 million for the 201 people killed or seriously injured, plus slight injuries. (Source: TyreSafe calculation using Department for Transport average values of prevention, 2025 prices, table RAS4001.)

Under-inflated tyres cost car drivers in the order of £350–450 million a year in wasted fuel. Vans and lorries would add to that. Under-inflation also wears tyres faster and lengthens braking distances. (Source: TyreSafe estimate, 2026, based on Michelin’s measured pressure data and published fuel-economy penalties of 1–2.5%.)

Potholes add to the damage. Drivers paid a record £1.8 billion for pothole damage in a year, and tyres were damaged in 56% of cases. (Source: Kwik Fit, research by Opinium, March 2026.)

28% of tyre replacements are linked to potholes and poor road surfaces. (Source: HiQ Tyres & Autocare, October 2024.)

By road user

Motorcyclists

39 motorcyclists were killed or seriously injured in tyre-related collisions in 2025, the highest figure in a decade. Overall, 386 motorcyclists were killed, up 14% on 2024, while motorcycle traffic rose 2%. Seven in ten rider deaths happen on rural roads. (Source: Department for Transport, motorcyclist factsheet 2025, and table RAS0701.)

At the MOT, tyres are the biggest source of dangerous defects on motorcycles, ahead of brakes: 35% of all dangerous defects found. When a motorcycle tyre fails, the defect is dangerous 85% of the time. (Source: DVSA, MOT testing data for Great Britain, 2025–26.)

The average licensed motorcycle is 16 years old, the oldest of any vehicle type. The legal minimum tread for motorcycles over 50cc is 1mm. (Source: DfT, vehicle licensing statistics 2025.)

Three in ten riders killed between 2021 and 2025 (471 of 1,641) were on a motorcycle that skidded. Motorcycles skid in 21% of injury collisions, three times the rate for cars, and older bikes skid more: 30% of motorcycles aged 15 or more, against 18% of those up to two years old. Skidding shows a loss of grip, not necessarily a tyre defect. (Source: TyreSafe analysis of Department for Transport road safety open data (STATS19), 2021–2025.)

Lorries

Tyres are the second most common reason lorries fail their annual test, after brakes. About one HGV in ten fails first time. (Source: DVSA, commercial vehicle testing data, 2025–26.)

At DVSA inspections between April and June 2026, tyres were the most common defect serious enough to take a lorry off the road: 7.62% of lorries inspected, three times the next most common defect. On trailers it was 15.48%. DVSA targets vehicles it suspects are unroadworthy, so these rates are higher than across all lorries. (Source: DVSA, vehicle enforcement data for Great Britain, April–June 2026.)

Since February 2021, tyres over ten years old have been banned on the front steered axles of lorries, buses and coaches. A tyre’s date code must be legible. (Source: DVSA.)

Buses, coaches and minibuses

Tyres were also the most common defect serious enough to take a bus or coach off the road at DVSA inspections: 6.29% of those inspected between April and June 2026, more than twice the next most common defect (brakes). (Source: DVSA, vehicle enforcement data for Great Britain, April–June 2026.)

The ten-year rule also covers every single wheel of a minibus with 9 to 16 passenger seats. At the MOT, tyres account for more than half (51%) of all the dangerous defects found on minibuses and other passenger vehicles with more than 12 seats. (Source: DVSA, MOT testing data for Great Britain, class 5, 2025–26.)

Vans

Large vans fail their MOT more often than cars: 34% of vans of 3–3.5 tonnes fail first time, against 27.5% of cars and light vans. As with cars, a tyre advisory roughly doubles the chance of a dangerous tyre defect at the next MOT. (Source: DVSA, MOT testing data for Great Britain, 2025–26; TyreSafe analysis of DVSA MOT data, February 2024 and February 2025.)

At DVSA roadside checks between April and June 2026, 22.7% of vans inspected had a tyre defect serious enough to take them off the road, the most common defect found. DVSA stops vans it suspects are overloaded or unroadworthy, so this is not a rate for all vans. (Source: DVSA, vehicle enforcement data for Great Britain, April–June 2026.)

 

Check your tyres: ACT

Check your tyres at least once a month and before every long journey. Remember ACT:

• Air pressure: check it matches the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendation.
• Condition: look for cuts, bulges, cracking or anything embedded in the tyre.
• Tread: the legal minimum for cars is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tread, around the whole tyre.

Safe Tyres Save Lives.