In their never-ending quest to punish citizens — especially those who dare to drive a car — California overlords regulators announced on August 19 that they’d approved new regulations on replacement tires. It’s all supposedly about something called “rolling resistance,” or how much energy it takes to keep a tire moving down the road, but what it’s really about is taking away your choices and making life even less affordable in the formerly Golden State.
The California Energy Commission, which is behind this dreck, claims it will save consumers money, but I have yet to see a single regulation that the climate fanatics have passed that hasn’t resulted in higher costs. And there are just a couple of problems with the new requirements: they will ban 70 percent of the tires available now for purchase, the new models are almost sure to be more expensive, and critics claim “lower resistance” also means less safe.
Darren Thomas, the CEO of one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers, Dunlop Tires North America, weighed in at a press conference Monday and said regulators are blowing a stop sign on this one and should hit the brakes. He had a great line:
Generally when you attempt to regulate something you don't understand or don't care much about, you create bad policy and that's probably what we have here.
Watch:
Dunlop Tires North America CEO Darren Thomas on CA's new tire rules:
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) August 25, 2026
"Generally when you attempt to regulate something you don't understand or don't care much about, you create bad policy and that's probably what we have here." pic.twitter.com/mk3rOf1xWh
Thomas said of course prices will shoot up:
“Will prices increase? You bet they’ll increase. It’s going to be a real issue, in terms of cost, it’s going to go up. By how much? We don’t know. Is there going to be fuel savings? In theory,” Thomas said.
Dunlop Tire executives said California drivers can already save money and improve tire performance simply by keeping their tires properly inflated.
According to the Tire Industry Association, the new rules will cause the average replacement tire price to shoot up from about $81 to up to $157. If you have to replace all four, you’re looking at dropping some serious change.
How does this help with the affordability crisis, I’d like to know?
MORE: California's War on Drivers Speeds Up — Now They're Coming for Your Tires
Goodfellas or Public Servants? CA Official Urges Reporter to Take 'Different Tone' on Tire Story
Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt had thoughts:
This very odd bird who is now regulating what tires you can get in CA just gave away the whole scam. She cites high gas prices to justify it: "If we can bring down those costs even a little bit, why wouldn't we do it?"
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) August 18, 2026
Of course, no mention of reducing CA's self-imposed gas taxes… pic.twitter.com/Ua3NZiOwfK
This very odd bird who is now regulating what tires you can get in CA just gave away the whole scam. She cites high gas prices to justify it: "If we can bring down those costs even a little bit, why wouldn't we do it?" Of course, no mention of reducing CA's self-imposed gas taxes that make our fuel costs 2X the national average. See the magic trick? They deliberately make your gas prices more expensive, to compel you to stop driving. Then they use the artificially high cost of fuel to impose further regulations and higher tire costs on you. The whole communist schtick is a positive feedback loop. It's the Arsonist-Firefighter Fallacy. What's even more rich about this is that this is essentially an EV tax. EV ownership is skyrocketing, and what's their fatal flaw? They are VERY heavy vehicles, and they chew through tires like crazy. As the state has pushed more and more drivers into EVs, they're trying to find new ways to hurt drivers financially now that they're skipping out on the gas taxes. Devious, devious little commies.
Former Democrat Assemblyman Joe Nation, who drafted the law 20 years ago that gave the Commission the authority to make these regulations, had some rather jaw-dropping comments when interviewed by KCRA 3 Sacramento’s Ashley Zavala. She’s been following the story closely and was “encouraged” by the Commission’s spokeswoman to take “a different tone.” Gee, that's not threatening.
Asked about reports that estimate costs will explode, Nation didn’t even sound like he knew what the hell is in the regulations:
To be fair, I haven't looked at those analyses, but—but again, the CEC is a really top-notch organization, and—and I am confident that—that they did it right.
It gets worse. If this doesn’t sound like a Soviet Union apparatchik telling you how you’re allowed to live your life, I don’t know what does:
Well, but you know, a budget tire is kind of like budget sushi, right, or budget anything else. And—and if you buy something that's well below that's, you know, that's cheap, it's probably lower quality, it's probably not going to last as long, and you're probably going to end up going back to buy those the new set of tires even sooner than you expected.
Maybe so, Joe, but in America that’s our choice. If I want gas station sushi, I’ll get gas station sushi and it’s none of your business. But to Nation, evidently, the nanny state should even dictate your budget.
California: “saving democracy” and the environment by taking your freedoms away one day at a time.
Unelected bureaucrats like the California Energy Commission should not be passing policies that ultimately affect the pockets of families.
— Senator Tony Strickland (@SenStricklandCA) August 18, 2026
Did you hear about the CEC's latest policy about the new tire rules?
Tires are not optional for CA drivers. Drivers need the to go to… pic.twitter.com/rCQQuOfHRG
Unelected bureaucrats like the California Energy Commission should not be passing policies that ultimately affect the pockets of families.
Did you hear about the CEC's latest policy about the new tire rules?
Tires are not optional for CA drivers. Drivers need the to go to work, take kids to school, and get around.
Affordability, safety, and consumer choice. That's the conversation we should be having.
Editor’s Note: California is the poster child for everything that is wrong with the Democrat Party and the “progressive” movement.
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