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Mounting concern over new tyre safety law
publication date: Aug 22, 2009
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author/source: Robin Roberts
 | | | There is mounting concern that a new safety rule for
cars could increase the likelihood of serious accidents if
manufacturers opt for a cheap way to meet the new regulations.
Ground breaking legislation passed by the European Parliament
earlier this year will see all new cars sold in Europe from 2012 fitted
as standard with a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS). Tyre safety
organisations have estimated that up to 80pc of cars on UK roads have
tyres that are incorrectly inflated.
However, fears are being expressed that one of the two TPMS
technologies being made available to car companies may in fact put both
motorists and the environment at risk.
The two systems, direct and indirect, approach the monitoring of a
tyre’s pressure in different ways. The tyre industry favours solutions
such as the direct system which places a pressure sensor in each wheel
and transmits reliable pressure measurement information back to the car
data centre which then informs the driver immediately about the
condition of its tyres.
The indirect system, favoured by some car companies and supported by
OICA (Organisation International Constructeurs d’Automobiles), is a
less expensive option, and measures the rotation rate of the tyres and
compares one wheel against the others.
Some systems perform an analysis of the vibration characteristics using
the ABS sensors. The car’s computer (ECU) analyses the data and works
out if the tyre is changing diameter and the software interprets this
as a loss of tyre pressure. The delay in providing this information to
the driver is considerable opening up the possibility of a rapidly
deflating tyre not being detected and the possibility of an accident.
The other crucial difference between the two systems is that the
indirect version requires, when the tyre pressures are adjusted or a
tyre changed, that the driver must – to make the system effective –
re-calibrate the system.
This relies heavily on the driver checking the tyre pressures with an
accurate gauge, and in the optimum conditions when the rubber is cool,
and then hitting the re-set button.
With tyre pressures ranking low down on the agenda of most drivers, the
process is open to mistakes. This is a fundamental flaw and could
provide a false sense of safety to the driver who could be running on
severely deflated tyres yet the system is indicating “correctly
inflated”
Due to its intrinsic flaws and limitations, independent research proves
that the indirect system also compromises two other important
environmental benefits that flow from the fitment of TPMS, reducing CO2
emissions and saving fuel. Under inflated tyres are known to have a
detrimental impact in both of these areas.
The European Commission is being encouraged to ask the UNECE committee,
responsible for implementing the technical details of the new
regulation, to favour the accurate tyre pressure monitoring technology
which will maximise its contribution to road safety and CO2 reduction,
an issue at the top of the EU agenda.
A campaign to highlight this road safety issue is being spearheaded by
Schrader Electronics, one of the principle developers and suppliers of
TPMS, with support from major tyre companies.
Leading industry bodies have issued position papers supporting strict
performance requirements for TPMS, currently achievable using only the
direct TPMS option, these include ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim
Technical Organisation), CLEPA (the European Association of Automotive
Suppliers) and the European Federation for Transport and Environment. |
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