Very interesting video on how to decode the age of your tires? Check your tires and stay safe.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

 

notice all of the wrecked cars were SUV's?
Problem with SUV's with underspec'd tires (TOO LOW of a load rating).
Thus, not having enough headroom for aging more"brittle" tires.
Additionally, if the tires are underinflated, they heat up too much and the tires can't take it any longer.

Most of the separated tread you see on the hiway are from Semi's with re-treaded tires that separated.

I think the issue is most people don't monitor their tires enough. simple things such as pressure and wear/condition. And underspec'd tires on heavy SUV's provide very little measure of negligence.

 

I had the tread separate on the '97 M3 that had about 15k miles on it. Fortunately I didn't swerve out of control or anything, but I did have to change it wearing a suit in 15 degree weather... Wonder if they've inspected tires on cars that are new at the dealership to see how old they are??

 

Please read this for more accurate info than that report.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=138

 

I go through a set of tires every 6 weeks, so thats how I deal with the tire age problem!!

 

see also:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/1972477-post1.html

this is a PS1?? was it built longer than 2002?