What Is A Tyre Pressure Monitor & Why Have One?
These are without doubt the two most common questions we hear when someone first learns that such a device even exists. Fortunately for the average Australian motorist we have never been exposed to an event like the Firestone tyre disaster in the United States, which claimed so many lives it lead to the federal government passing legislation to make tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) mandatory on all new vehicles. We in Australia are relatively uneducated about why tyre pressures actually matter, yet alone the consequences of what can go wrong if they are not correct.
The process of determining why you should care about your tyre pressures then leads directly to why the rest of the world is already accepting of the TPMS technology as a necessity rather than a luxury. As shown in a recent segment on A Current Affair, Ian Luff, one of Australia 's foremost experts on driver training, showed the exact effects of under inflated tyres. As was pointed out during the controlled testing, braking distances were fundamentally increased and handling through a slalom course led to the complete loss of control of the vehicle. It was then that they conducted a random test of a car park and found some tyre pressures down to 18 psi!
We see both new car manufacturers and major tyre chains now advertising the increased benefits of either increased fuel economy or low rolling resistance tyres to convince you that theirs is a more economical alternative. What people fail to realise is that unless you keep the pressure at or above the recommended level, both fuel economy and rolling resistance, but far more importantly safety, will quickly diminish. Remember the fundamental fact: it is the air in the tyre that separates the vehicle from the road, not the tyre structure itself. What is the benefit of purchasing the latest generation fuel efficient car, if you don 't check the tyre pressure to make sure it is still the same as the manufacturer recommended it needs to be to achieve that superior fuel efficiency? What is the point of paying more for a new generation low rolling resistance tyre to improve your fuel economy if it no longer has low rolling resistance due to under inflation?
Although reluctant to admit it, the majority of drivers still rely on a quick visual check of their tyres as an indication of pressure loss. Some tyres can already have lost a large percentage of their correct inflation pressure before this becomes visually apparent. TPMS has been MANDATORY on new vehicles in the USA now since 2007 and is now standard equipment in a great deal of luxury cars from Europe. All new HSV vehicles also carry this technology. This device can save fuel, extend tyre life, reduce your carbon footprint and most importantly has the potential to save your life. These are FACTS already proven elsewhere in the world, so how can you not afford to fit one?
Correct Tyre Pressures…Save Your Money & Your Life!
TPMS Australia would like to take this opportunity to remind motorists that not only can they stay safe on the road but they can also reduce the impact of the latest round of fuel price rises by keeping their tyres correctly inflated. According to research carried out by a major tyre manufacturer, driving on tyres which are just ten psi under the vehicle manufacturer 's recommended pressure can increase fuel consumption by 2.5 percent. By keeping tyres at their correct pressures, motorists can travel further on each tank of fuel, reduce their CO2 emissions and stay safer. Making sure that tyres are correctly inflated costs nothing yet can save motorists significant sums of money. By maintaining the recommended levels, significant improvements in road safety can be made but also drivers will see a reduction in their fuel consumption, helping to offset any fuel price rise.
When tyres are under-inflated, the contact patch with the road surface gets larger, causing increased drag, which in turn places more load on the engine. Keeping tyres correctly inflated minimizes this negative effect and ensures that the car continues to operate safely. Research conducted revealed that one in 20 motorists were unaware that running a car on under-inflated tyres leads to an increase in fuel consumption. The research also showed that even those people who were aware that fuel consumption would increase were still not checking their tyre pressures regularly enough. Fewer than half of respondents had checked their tyre pressures within the last month, the maximum period recommended between checks.