Yet to be enacted, but seriously being considered. What's your tire pressure at? -- A Car's New Job: Checking Its Own Tires DRIVERS aren't doing it for themselves, so the government plans to reassign the job of checking tire pressures. The cars will do it. The proposal for a new regulation, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Sept. 15, would require new cars and trucks weighing less than 10,000 pounds to have systems that monitor tire inflation and warn the driver when the pressure is 25 percent below the automaker's recommendation. Installation would begin with the 2006 model year and the monitors would be required on all new cars by 2008. More than a quarter of all cars and trucks on the road in the United States have at least one substantially underinflated tire - defined as 8 or more pounds per square inch below the recommended pressure - according to a government study. Underinflation is a serious safety hazard; the rollover crashes of Ford Explorer S.U.V.'s in the 1990's were attributed partly to tires that overheated and failed because of low pressure. Tires with insufficient air pressure also impair handling, hurt fuel economy and wear unevenly. Tire makers suggest checking air pressure at least once a month, just before long trips and whenever the car will carry extra loads. About 10 percent of new vehicles sold in the United States today have pressure monitors, either as standard equipment or as an extra-cost option. Among other applications, the monitoring systems are needed in vehicles that use "run flat" tires, a type that can be driven even after a puncture has allowed all the air to escape. High-performance sports cars like the Chevrolet Corvette and Dodge Viper use run-flat tires to eliminate the need for a bulky spare. Monitors are also available for use in existing cars, trucks, recreational vehicles and motorcycles from tire retailers and accessory companies. Such systems cost about $200 to $400, plus installation of the sensors and receiver unit. The regulations originally proposed by the safety administration allowed a choice between two monitor types, either direct- or indirect-reading. Indirect systems work by comparing the relative turning speeds of the wheels, using data that are collected by sensors for the antilock brakes. When one tire softens enough to reduce its diameter, making it turn faster than the others, the driver is alerted by a light on the dashboard. The indirect system is simple and inexpensive, and it needs no additional sensors or batteries in the wheels, but it is also less informative: no warning is sent until one tire is at least 20 percent low. Nor can the system report which tire needs air. And because it works only when the tires are rolling, it cannot issue a warning when the car is standing still. Direct-reading monitors have pressure sensors inside each tire, attached to the valve stem or the wheel - or, in the case of Tire IQ, a system being developed by Goodyear and Siemens, an electronics supplier, built into the tire itself. The sensors measure the actual pressure and transmit the information by radio signal to a display. In response to widespread criticism and court rulings, the government's revised proposal allows only direct-reading pressure monitors. The safety administration estimates the systems will add about $70 to the cost of each new vehicle. In early systems, pressure sensors had to be moved from wheel to wheel when tires were rotated; later designs can be reprogrammed for the wheels' new locations or even sense them automatically. The first direct sensors used small radio transmitters with batteries rated to last 5 to 10 years. Newer passive systems are read by radio-frequency identification devices similar to those in toll payment systems like E-ZPass.
A close friend says this is very likely to go -- and it'll be a good thing in my opinion. Tire Rack, one of his clients, is rumored to be un happy about this legislation because itll probably mean less tire sales. Afterall, if we all drive around with properly inflated tires, they won't wear as quickly...
I feel no sympathy for Tire Rack. Businesses that thrive on taking advantage of inefficiencies in the market and then complain when those inefficiencies correct themselves need to step up and move out the way of equilibrium. MAN UP!!!
I'm all for it, underinflated tires are dangerous - hate it when the fronts are slightly underinflated and it really pushes. Safety first. Right. Probably won't effect tire rack too much. Mfgs will take this into account when they design tread life into their tires - planned obsolesence . . . two ugly words.
I'm all for it. There's nothing more dangerous than running a high performance tire at high performance speeds (aka EC run) with low pressure or "unexpected" low pressure.
Actually, us F-car owners should check the fix-a-flat in our toolkits and replace it if it's expired...
I have the tire pressure monitor on my Cayenne Turbo. I goes off at 1 LB under pressure. It is interesting to see how much the tire pressure changes while driving, and how uneven it changes.
Ferrari road side assistance will not help you out if your car is not under warranty. I know from experience.
Rijk, I assume the monitor automatically adjusts its definition of optimal tire pressure as the wheels get hot from use, and the pressure correspondingly changes.
More manning up... Use nitrogen instead of air. Then all the lapping you do in the Cayenne will keep the tire pressures in check.
