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Tires will soon be able to tell you when they're under-inflated


Under new standards released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), all passenger cars will have tire pressure monitoring systems that will alert motorists when the tires are under-inflated.

The regulation will require that manufacturers install a system that can detect when one or more of the vehicle's tires are 25 percent or more below the recommended inflation pressure. Starting in 2006, the regulation will be phased in over several years, with all new four-wheeled vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less required to be equipped with the system by the 2008 model year.

The condition of tires is one of the most important safety features of a motor vehicle, yet it is one that is often overlooked by motorists, AAA reports. Under-inflated or poorly maintained tires increase the probability of tire failure and crashes. In addition, under-inflated tires can adversely affect fuel economy and vehicle handling.

Studies have found that many drivers are at risk for wrecks because of their tires. In 2001, one NHTSA study found that 27 percent of passenger cars on U.S. roads were driven with one or more substantially under-inflated tires. Results were even worse for sport utility vehicles, vans and pickup trucks, with 33 percent having one or more substantially under-inflated tires.

NHTSA estimates that about 120 lives a year will be saved when all new vehicles are equipped with the tire pressure monitoring system. The manufacturer's average cost per vehicle is estimated to be between $48 and $70, depending on the technology used.

However, AAA advises motorists that no amount of technology can replace the simple act of routine tire inspections. Checking pressure, tire tread and sidewalls regularly are vital to maintaining the safety and efficiency of vehicles. Motorists must not be lulled into a false sense of security simply because a warning light has been installed on their dashboard.


Will someone PLEASE come and do everything for ME!

The more we cater to stupidity, the dumber society becomes!

Under-inflated tires are one of Gods methods of culling out the less intelligent people among us.

About the same amount could be spent by manufacturers on in-car breathalyzers.

Natural selection.. it's only natural!

THIN THE HERD!

If people are too stupid or careless to regularly check things like tire pressure, I can only hope their entire family is in the car with them when it flips over.. we don't need people like that further contaminating the gene pool.

Same goes for those crackheads who don't bother to unload their guns before they clean them.. and right up there with the people who need to be told not to bathe with a toaster.

I don't know about you folks, but when I was a kid, I had to take a drivers ed course. One of the first things they told us in that course was to walk around the car and check things like busted taillights, flat tires, etc BEFORE you got in and drove off.

No "saftey" rule is a substitute for good old fashion common sence.. somthing this country seems to lack more and more every day.

WOW the goverment is mandating us to spend more money to save 120 morons. That is right up there with the folks that get hit by lighting. The next mandate will be that everyone will have to have a hat with a lighting rod attached just in case you are hit. At a cost of ??? from some big business mogal.

People just need a tin-foil beenie.

PLEASE mister goverment politician SAVE us all

Just another way to drive up the cost of a new vehicle like air bags have. Makes old, pollutin' vehicles more and more appealing to folks that enjoy fixing their own vehicles. Before we know it, a compact car will cost in excess of $30,000.

Phil 53,
I can foresee the day when we will no longer be able to drive our stovebolts because we will not be able to afford all of the upgrades to make them pass vehicle standards that will be imposed on us all. That will be a sad day indeed. :mad:

boy, I am glad that I dont have all of those buzzers, warning lights, and junk on my 52.. I do keep a tire guage with me though... guess I could get one of those hi-tech digital ones

They need to discount all the people that were driving F@#$d explorers with underflated tires from that 120. Maybe the stats wouldn't look so bad to the insurance people.

V6,

I agree with most everything you said.

> Studies have found that many drivers are at risk for wrecks because of their tires.

This I believe.

> Under-inflated or poorly maintained tires increase the probability of tire failure and crashes.

This I don't believe.

Reason is, that as a pilot, I thought wrecks were caused by vehicles and crashes were caused by airplanes.

So how is an under-inflated or poorly maintained tire gonna increase the probability of tire failure? That means that the tire inflation would first have to cause the car to become airborne, right? I just don't buy that.

You guy's comments above are all sooooo right. So who can we write congress about this?

Rance

I already got a monitoring system in my '66. It gets very hard to steer in a parking lot if the front tires get a little low on air.

How is this going to help the morons I see on the freeway running the little donut spare? Seems like I see at least one every trip to the city.

Yeah what Cletis said! I had one of those goomers pass me the other day and I was going 75! I wouldn't dare go that fast on one of those donuts.

An under-inflated tire will fail prematurely, will increase the likelihood of the driver loosing control and will decrease fuel mileage. An under-inflated tire will have higher side wall and edge temperatures. The nascar boys run a inferred temp gauge across every tire they pull off. They know that if they can get consistent temps all the way across the tread, the overall temperature will be lower, the tire will last longer, the corner speeds will be higher and the car will spend less time in the wall.
I too, hate the fact that politicians think they know how to build cars better than Detroit.
Since around 1970 they have never failed to help Detroit raise the price of new cars, whenever the opportunity presented itself.
I'm afraid I have to go with this one. The technology has been around and used on GM cars for 20 years that I know of. A simple low pressure warning light as opposed to a continuous digital reading would be very inexpensive and could be easily retrofitted if a person chose.

I love the genius who's driving on the "spare" donut that's flat. had one of them pass me last week. could barely hold it in his lane but that didn't stop him from goin ten over the posted limit.

talk about natural selection. the only problem is some of them make it home to pro-create another generation of donut drivers.

Another problem that I'm surprized that nobody has mentioned yet, is that the morons tend to kill other innocent people who happen to be in their vicinity while the morons themselves end up with only a scratch from the crash. I see it time and again.

America is dying, can't you feel the heartbeat getting fainter?

Dadgum stupid people...

-W

So let's do this math:

Total light duty vehicles sold in the US (2002):
16,817,500

Price per vehicle of this system:
$70

Total price of installing this system for one year:

$1,177,225,000

Total lives saved:

120

Price per life saved:

$9,810,208.33

So you and I are going to be paying almost $10M per life saved! That's a VERY expensive solution to stupidity!

Brian

That goes along with the stupid statement that goes "If it saves just one life, it's worth it". What a bunch of crap!!!

Brian's example of cost analysis speaks volumes!!! If a solution (a new drug, i.e.) saves "X" number of people at an economical cost to all involved, super! But, when it costs $10M per life, who in the decision-making process is smoking all of the crack???

It's all about power.