When is Tyre Safety Month 2026?

Tyre Safety Month takes place throughout October 2026 in the UK. Organised by TyreSafe, the annual campaign encourages drivers to regularly check their tyres and understand the role they play in keeping a vehicle safe.

What is the Tyre Safety Month 2026 campaign?

The theme for Tyre Safety Month 2026 is “Act Before You REact”. It focuses on encouraging drivers to check their tyres before something goes wrong, rather than waiting for a puncture, MOT advisory or near miss to make them think about tyre safety.

What is the legal minimum tyre tread depth in the UK?

For cars and light vans, the legal minimum tread depth is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre, around its entire circumference. However, 1.6mm should be regarded as the legal minimum rather than a target for tyre replacement.

How can I check my tyre tread with a 20p coin?

Place a 20p coin into the main tread grooves of the tyre. If the outer band around the coin disappears into the tread, this is a useful indication that the tread is above the 1.6mm legal minimum. Check several points around each tyre and use a proper tread-depth gauge if you're unsure.

How often should I check my tyre pressures?

It's sensible to check your tyre pressures at least once a month and before long journeys. Check them when the tyres are cold and use the pressures recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, remembering that these may change when the car is heavily loaded.

Where can I find the correct tyre pressure for my car?

Recommended tyre pressures can usually be found in your vehicle handbook, within the car's infotainment system, on a label inside the driver's door opening or sometimes inside the fuel or charging flap. Don't simply use the maximum pressure printed on the tyre itself.

Do I still need to check tyre pressures if my car has TPMS?

Yes. A Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, or TPMS, is a useful safety feature, but it shouldn't replace regular manual checks. Checking your tyres also gives you an opportunity to spot cuts, bulges, cracking, uneven wear or objects embedded in the tread.

Do electric cars wear tyres more quickly?

Not necessarily, but some electric cars can place greater demands on their tyres. EVs are often relatively heavy and can deliver substantial amounts of torque instantly. Driving style, tyre choice, pressure, wheel alignment and the vehicle itself will all affect how quickly a tyre wears.

What tyre damage should I look for?

Look for cuts, cracks, bulges, exposed cords, embedded objects and uneven or excessive tread wear. Pay attention to both the outer and inner sections of the tyre where possible. If you discover a bulge or significant damage, have the tyre professionally inspected rather than continuing to drive on it.

Can I get points for illegal tyres in the UK?

Yes. Driving with defective or illegal tyres can result in a fine of up to £2,500 and three penalty points per tyre. If all four tyres are illegal, that could potentially mean fines of up to £10,000 and 12 penalty points.

Does passing an MOT mean my tyres are safe for another year?

No. An MOT only confirms that the vehicle met the required standards at the time it was tested. It remains the driver's responsibility to keep the vehicle roadworthy between MOTs, which includes regularly checking tyre tread, pressure and condition.

When should I replace my tyres?

A tyre must be replaced if it no longer meets the legal requirements or has damage that makes it unsafe. You may also choose to replace a tyre before it reaches the 1.6mm legal tread limit. If you're uncertain about the condition, age or remaining life of a tyre, have it inspected by a qualified tyre professional.

Am I personally responsible for illegal tyres if I drive a company car?

Yes. Driving a company car doesn't remove your responsibility for making sure the vehicle is safe and roadworthy. Even if your employer or leasing company owns the vehicle and pays for its maintenance and replacement tyres, you are still responsible as the driver for checking that the tyres are safe and legal before driving. Illegal or defective tyres can result in fines and penalty points on your driving licence, with penalties potentially applying to each defective tyre. Your employer or fleet operator may have responsibilities too, particularly around vehicle maintenance and providing a safe vehicle for work, but that doesn't mean you can knowingly continue driving a company car with unsafe tyres. If you spot low tread, a bulge, significant damage or another tyre defect on a company vehicle, report it through your employer's fleet or maintenance process and arrange for it to be inspected or replaced rather than continuing to drive it.

Tyre Safety Month 2026: How Safe Are Your Tyres?

We obsess over horsepower, range, acceleration and technology, but arguably the most important safety equipment on any car is also one of the easiest things to ignore.

Manufacturers will proudly tell us how many milliseconds it takes an electronic stability system to react, how sophisticated the latest driver assistance technology is, or how quickly an electric car can get from 0-62mph. Yet all of that technology ultimately relies on four tyres maintaining contact with the road.

Whether you drive a £15,000 hatchback, a two-tonne electric SUV or a supercar with carbon-ceramic brakes, your ability to accelerate, steer and, most importantly, stop ultimately comes down to those relatively small patches of rubber beneath you. And when you think about it like that, perhaps we should pay rather more attention to them.

October is Tyre Safety Month, and for 2026 TyreSafe is asking drivers to “Act Before You REact”. It sounds like another road-safety slogan, but the research behind it is genuinely interesting.

We might not be as good at stopping as we think

Most of us probably consider ourselves reasonably competent drivers. And when something unexpected happens, we instinctively believe we'll be able to deal with it.

Someone pulls out.
Traffic suddenly stops.
An animal runs into the road.
You hit standing water on a motorway.

Your reaction might be instantaneous, but what happens next depends on considerably more than how quickly you move your right foot.

TyreSafe's research found that 83% of drivers believe they are in full control of stopping distance, yet just 6% correctly identified stopping distance in wet conditions at motorway speeds. Some 94% underestimated the risk.

Perhaps even more interestingly, 42% considered themselves better than average at dealing with an emergency. It's a very human contradiction. We trust our own abilities, but physics doesn't particularly care how good a driver we think we are. And neither does a worn tyre.

Britain's tyres aren't necessarily in great shape

This isn't just theoretical; according to TyreSafe, 201 people were killed or seriously injured in incidents involving defective tyres during 2025, 19% more than in 2024 and 28% above the five-year average. The charity also estimates that more than six million tyres on UK roads have illegal tread each year.

Then there are the tyres which are technically legal, but only just. Research covering more than 58,000 vehicles found that 31.8% of tyres inspected in 2025 fell into the 'barely legal' category of 1.6mm to 2mm of tread. Back in 2000, that figure was 17%.

That's an interesting distinction. There's a difference between asking "Is my tyre legal?" and "Is my tyre in good condition?"

The MOT is not an annual permission slip that means your car remains roadworthy for the following 12 months. The Government is quite clear that drivers are responsible for making sure their vehicle is safe to drive at all times, even when it has a valid MOT certificate.

Which brings us back to those four patches of rubber.

ACT: three checks that take a few minutes

TyreSafe's 2026 campaign uses a pleasingly simple acronym: ACT.

A is for Air Pressure.
C is for Condition.
T is for Tread.

You don't need specialist equipment, mechanical knowledge or an afternoon set aside on the driveway. These are checks almost anyone can make.

A: Air pressure

Tyre pressure is probably one of the easiest maintenance jobs to neglect.

Modern cars make this even easier because tyre-pressure monitoring systems sit quietly in the background. The temptation is to assume that if the dashboard isn't complaining, everything must be fine.

I'd still check them.

The correct pressures for your car can normally be found in the owner's manual, within the infotainment system, inside the driver's door shut or sometimes behind the fuel flap.

Remember that recommended pressures can also change depending on the load you're carrying.

Incorrect pressure isn't simply about fuel economy. It can affect the way a car handles, brakes and wears its tyres. The Highway Code states that tyres must be correctly inflated to the vehicle manufacturer's specification for the load being carried.

Check them when the tyres are cold and get into the habit of doing it roughly once a month and before a particularly long journey.

C: Condition

This is probably the simplest check of all.

Walk around the car and actually look at the tyres.

You're searching for anything that doesn't look right: cuts, cracking, bulges in the sidewall, embedded nails or screws and unusual wear.

Don't forget the inside edges either.

A tyre can look perfectly healthy from a standing position while excessive wear is developing elsewhere across its width. Uneven wear can also be an indication that something else needs attention, such as wheel alignment.

If you spot a bulge, significant damage or something you're unsure about, get it inspected professionally rather than hoping it'll be fine.

Tyres aren't really an area in which "it'll probably be alright" is a particularly good maintenance strategy.

T: Tread

For most cars and light vans in the UK, the legal minimum tread depth is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre and around its entire circumference.

You can buy an inexpensive tread-depth gauge, but there's also the familiar 20p test.

Insert a 20p coin into the main tread grooves around the tyre. If the outer band of the coin disappears into the groove, that's a useful indication that the tread is above the legal minimum. If that outer band remains visible, the tyre needs properly measuring.

It's worth doing this in several places rather than checking one convenient section and declaring victory.

And remember, 1.6mm is a legal minimum, not a target to aim for.

What about electric cars?

There's another reason I've become particularly conscious of tyres: EVs.

Electric cars aren't fundamentally different when it comes to tyre safety, but their characteristics can make tyre condition particularly worth watching.

Many EVs are heavy, thanks largely to their battery packs, and even relatively ordinary electric cars can produce substantial amounts of instant torque. Combine that with enthusiastic acceleration and it's perfectly possible to ask quite a lot of the tyres.

Regenerative braking doesn't remove the need to inspect them either.

In fact, because EVs require less routine mechanical attention than the petrol and diesel cars many of us grew up with, I think there's an argument that basic checks become easier to forget.

There may be no engine oil to check and servicing requirements can be comparatively light, but the tyres remain every bit as important.

The near miss that should make you check your car

One aspect of this year's Tyre Safety Month campaign particularly stood out to me.

TyreSafe found that 38% of drivers had experienced a near miss during the previous 12 months, yet only 11% checked their tyres afterwards. Another 22% admitted doing nothing at all.

That's fascinating because most of us have experienced one of those moments.

You brake harder than expected.

The ABS kicks in.

The car moves around slightly on standing water.

You narrowly avoid someone pulling out of a junction.

Your heart rate rises, you probably mutter something unrepeatable about the other driver, and five minutes later you're carrying on with your day.

But perhaps that's exactly the moment to ask a different question.

How did the car respond?

A near miss doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with your tyres, of course. But if you've just demanded everything from them, there's nothing wrong with taking a few minutes afterwards to look at their condition.

That's really the point behind "Act Before You REact".

Don't wait for the MOT

Tyres are one of those components we tend to replace reactively.

An MOT advisory appears. A warning light comes on. The garage mentions them during a service. We get a puncture.

Only then do we start paying attention.

But tyres don't suddenly become important at 1.6mm.

They're important every time it rains, every time you brake hard, every time you encounter standing water and every time another road user does something unexpected.

And as we head into autumn and winter, those situations become increasingly relevant.

Dark mornings, wet roads, falling temperatures and standing water all make October a particularly sensible time to spend five minutes walking around your car.

Five minutes this weekend

So here's my suggestion for Tyre Safety Month. At some point this weekend, before you get into your car, spend five minutes checking it.

Check all four tyre pressures against the manufacturer's recommendation.
Look over the sidewalls for cuts, cracking or bulges.
Check the tread across each tyre rather than just glancing at the easiest bit to see.

And while you're there, if your car has a spare wheel, check that too. If it uses a puncture repair kit, it's worth making sure the sealant hasn't expired.

That's it. No specialist mechanical knowledge. No expensive equipment. No trip to a dealership required.

We can spend thousands of pounds upgrading to cars with better brakes, more sophisticated stability systems, all-wheel drive and increasingly clever driver-assistance technology. But none of them can repeal the laws of physics. Ultimately, everything your car does still has to make its way through four relatively small pieces of rubber.

Perhaps Tyre Safety Month is a useful reminder to give them the attention they deserve.

Tyre Safety Month 2026: The Four Small Patches of Rubber We Trust With Our Lives