With temperatures starting to heat up and rain in the forecast, it's time to pay attention to your tires. So, at what point is your tire tread too low?

Samantha, from Kissimmee, asked:

I took my car in for some work recently, and they told me my tire treads were low and I needed to replace them. Do a lot of people have this problem, and is it really dangerous to keep driving?

A recent study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discovered that 50 percent of all 11,500 vehicles they checked had at least one tire with half-worn tire tread. Ten percent of that 50 percent had bald tires.

"And where we see that go wrong is in a lot of our rainy weather," said Sgt. Kim Montes, of the Florida Highway Patrol. "You need those treads to be there to pus that water away so that rubber sticks to the road so you don't hydroplane."

A driver was recently killed when his vehicle overturned along Florida's Turnpike because of tire tread separation. The driver was ejected from the vehicle.

"You know, unfortunately, we've had four crashes in the last month — the latest being on the Turnpike — where the tire tread separates suddenly and the tire blows," Montes said. "And what happens is that the driver ends up not knowing exactly how to recover from that sudden tire explosion."

Tread wear is measured in increments of 1/32 of an inch. For example, most grooves on new tires measure about 10/32 of an inch. Tires are considered technically bald when they become as low as 2/32 of an inch.

A simple way to check your tire tread is with a penny. Place one with the Lincoln head down into one of the grooves. If Lincoln's head becomes uncovered by any of the grooves, it may be time to replace the tire.

Montes said not to panic if you experience tire tread separation while driving. Do not hit the brakes. Drive straight down your lane without suddenly turning the steering wheel. Any movement of the wheel could cause the car to spin and possibly flip.

Once you have slowed down to a safe speed, pull your car to the shoulder for a safe stop.

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