Tyre external rolling noise (dB and A–C)
How loud the tyre is to people outside the car as it rolls past, in decibels, with a class showing how far it is under the EU legal limit for its size.
- What it looks like on the label
- A tyre with sound waves, a number in dB, and the letters A, B, C with one highlighted (bottom of the tyre label).
- Printed on
- Tyre
- Unit
- dB(A); class A, B or C
- Regulation
- Regulation (EU) 2020/740, Annex II (content and format), Annex I (grading)
Where the regulations differ
Unlike the appliance noise class, this is not sound power of a machine but noise measured beside a test track as the vehicle rolls past, and the class is relative to a legal limit: A is at least 3 dB under it, B within 3 dB of it, C over it. It says nothing about noise inside the car. See appliance noise: /energy-label/appliance-noise-class/.
What the regulation says
On a tyre label
- What the number measures
- External rolling noise N, compared with the limit value LV for that tyre in Regulation (EC) No 661/2009.
- Unit
- dB(A); class A, B or C
- Test condition
- pass-by measurement under Annex 3 to UNECE Regulation No 117.
- Classes
- A: N ≤ LV − 3 · B: LV − 3 < N ≤ LV · C: N > LV
Regulation (EU) 2020/740, Annex I, Part C (grading); Annex II, point 1.1 (label): The external rolling noise measured value ( N , in dB(A)) shall be declared in decibels and calculated in accordance with Annex 3 to UNECE Regulation No 117.
Checked 2026-09-25.
Other icons on the tyre label
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2020/740 — Regulation (EU) 2020/740 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 2020 on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency and other parameters. Label content: Annex II (content and format), Annex I (grading). Article 18: “It shall apply from 1 May 2021.” Checked 2026-09-25.
Read in the Official Journal text on the date shown. Our drawing is not the official pictogram; the regulation’s own label figure is the authority.