The Motor Trade Association says changes to the Warrant of Fitness frequency introduced in 2014 have led to more deaths on the roads.
The regime was changed to make WOFs annual instead of bi-annual for vehicles first registered after January 1 2000 - meaning longer periods between warrants.
The MTA says this has led to more crashes involving worn tyres, pointing to NZTA statistics.
Those statistics show a distinct upswing in the number of crashes related to vehicle factors - 1239 in 2014, 1313 in 2015, 1590 in 2016 and 1667 in 2017.
They also show the number of fatal crashes specifically related to worn tyres is rising - 6 in 2014 and 2015, 12 in 2016 and 14 in 2017.
MTA chief executive Craig Pomare said motorists need to check their tyre more often, and replace them sooner.
"It is vital drivers check their tyres every few months to make sure there is plenty of tread to get them out of trouble if they need to brake suddenly," he said.
"A tyre with even half the original tread will still take twice as long to stop as a new tyre.
"All the international research shows that the more tread a tyre has, the safer you'll be if you have to brake hard or accelerate out of a dangerous situation on the road."
Mr Pomare said the recently-released Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, saying it missed the fact that road factors - such as worn tyres - were linked to nine per cent of road deaths.
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