How Tire Recall Data Capture Can Improve Recall Success Rates

The dealer notice lists three tire identification numbers that differ by a single digit, the one that marks the production week. It asks your store to check its sales records for any of them. Answering means finding those numbers among the tires your team fitted, along with the car each one went on. If a code was saved without its date, the week in the notice has nothing to match against.

What is tire recall data capture?

Tire recall data capture is the part of a digital tire inspection that records each tire’s full DOT code with the vehicle, the customer, and the date. Recall reports to NHTSA must list the affected tires as a range of tire identification numbers (TINs). Every recall search runs on that code. The vehicle and the customer turn a match into a phone call.

The code itself can be the reason for a recall. At least three passenger tire recalls filed between April 2025 and January 2026 were about the marking on the sidewall. One tire line lacked the DOT symbol, one had a number too long to register, and one had the wrong number. For the last two, the recall summary names the risk. Without registration, owners may not receive a recall notice.

Why are tire recall success rates so low?

Tire recalls succeed less often because a tire has no owner on file until a store links it to a customer. A recalled car can be traced through its VIN. NHTSA estimated that tire recalls averaged about 44 percent completion from 2009 to 2013, according to the NTSB’s 2015 review of tire safety. Most vehicle recalls reached about 78 percent.

Owners rarely know their codes, and finding them takes effort. In NHTSA’s electronic tire identification study, researchers took 2 minutes and 43 seconds on average to find and write down the codes on all four tires. One vehicle took 5 minutes and 45 seconds, because its front tires had the full codes facing inward.

Nothing newer than those completion figures is public. NHTSA’s annual recall completion reports leave tires out.

What does a tire recall notice ask you to match?

A tire recall lists the brand, line, and size of the affected tires, plus a range of TINs, as federal reporting rules require. That range is a plant code, a size code, an optional code, and the first and last production weeks. The weeks are often few. One October 2025 recall covered four sizes from one plant: three ran for two weeks, and the fourth for one.

A record with only the brand and size would flag every such tire your team has fitted. A record with the full code finds the handful that matter. Only the full code carries the date. Federal rules place it on the intended outboard sidewall of tires built since 2009, as our guide to DOT tire regulations explains.

How do you find recalled tires among your customers’ cars?

Search your inspection history for the recall’s plant and size codes, then filter to the listed weeks. Each match gives you a vehicle and an owner to call. A 2025 dealer notice asked stores to check their sales records and send the tire maker the details of every buyer.

Timing matters more for tires than for cars. Federal law only requires the tire maker to remedy a recalled tire that the owner presents within 180 days of the notice. A customer who hears from you in the first week has nearly the whole window left. The same law bars selling a recalled tire for installation until it has been remedied, so run the same search on your tire shop inventory.

Rotations and seasonal changeovers bring in tires your store never sold. For a tire that was never registered, your tire data collection may hold the only record that exists.

Which way of recording tires works best for recalls?

Three of these five approaches win on a point that camera capture in a digital inspection cannot match.

How each way of recording tires holds up when a recall notice arrives.

Why choose Anyline for tire recall data capture?

Anyline reads tire and vehicle identity in one digital inspection, so every visit leaves the record that a recall search needs. It does not decide whether a tire has been recalled or file registrations. Your shop system runs the match, and your team makes the call.

Full DOT codes in seconds, date included

Anyline’s tire DOT number scanner reads the code with a phone or tablet camera, up to 300% faster than writing it down. The result comes back as text that your software can store and search. Test any vendor on a worn sidewall covered in brake dust, and check that the week and year arrive intact.

Tire and vehicle identity in one inspection

The TireBuddy workflow starts with the license plate or VIN, then reads each tire’s DOT code, so every code belongs to a vehicle. Ask a vendor how many screens it takes to link one DOT code to one VIN.

A TIN scanner inside the tools you already use

Stores that want a ready app use the TireBuddy App. Software partners add the same DOT capture to their own app with Anyline’s mobile SDK for iOS and Android. Discount Tire relies on Anyline’s DOT code reading across almost 1,100 US stores. Ask each vendor for a reference at that scale.

AI-Powered DOT Tire Scanning

Capture DOT / TIN production dates from tire sidewalls in seconds—accurately, reliably, and without manual entry. Anyline’s AI-powered DOT scanning is purpose-built for workshops, dealerships, fleets, warranty centers, and tire retailers that need fast, compliant DOT data at scale.

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