News

Why use tyre pressure monitoring?

In a recent
article prompted by accidents involving tyres I outlined how essential correct
tyre pressure is to personal safety. The
article generated questions about how to manage tyre pressures. This article discusses the importance of
using tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS).

For years
industry has kept a close, real time watch on mechanical equipment. Some large equipment manufacturers have more
than 250 sensors on their machines, all of which can be read in real time, even
in a back office application. The large
miners are now using autonomous units which can be controlled from thousands of
kilometres away. Yet we maintain our
1950’s outlook on tyres by using a manual inflation pressure gauge. Why?

In the late 1990’s
Ford US released the Explorer SUV. It
had fitted Firestone tyres for which Ford recommended a particular inflation
pressure. After more than 80 fatalities
as a result of vehicle rollovers it was deduced that the tyre pressures may
have influenced the unfortunate events.

The US
Congress agreed introducing the TREAD Act in 2008 mandating the fitting of TPMS
in all light passenger vehicles “manufactured” in the US. Even the GM Holden HSV vehicles produced in
Australia destined for the US market have TPMS fitted.

The European
Union agreed with the intention even though many of Euro manufacturers had
already installed indirect TPMS (which operates from the ABS sensors). Korea followed suite as has China.

Australia has
a history of under reporting (I agree and over reporting in others!) in many
fields. An opinion piece in Mining
Australia (6th March) titled “the temptations of incidental
reporting
” which discussed
how the reporting is done and how safety slogans are portrayed and conveyed.

We tend to be
bombarded by so many signs, alerts and alarms that we just don’t take any
notice. Car alarms being comprehensively
ignored, say, in a super market car park?

Whether the
vehicle we are travelling in is a car or a haul truck tyres connect it to the
road. A tyre requires a set air volume
and so pressure to support the load it carries as well as providing the correct
profile of the tyre so that it will perform brake steer and accelerate as
designed.

If a tyre
does not have the appropriate amount of air it will not perform as intended. This was the problem with the Ford Explorers,
when a sharp directional change was undertaken the vehicle rolled.

Australia has
installed the 5 star safety rating for passenger vehicles which is a fine
outcome but it is a cure to an issue not the answer. If a driver understands that a tyre is not
correctly inflated there is a good probability of avoiding a manoeuvre the tyre
(and so the vehicle) is not capable of.
The driver can take corrective actions by either driving slower,
inflating the tyre correctly or just not asking it to do what it is not capable
of doing.

This is the
crux of real time tyre pressure monitoring, identify the issue before it
becomes a problem. It is an example of
the hierarchy of control where elimination is the prime outcome. The driver realises there is an issue before
it becomes a hazard. The 5 star rating
is perhaps like PPE, it protects the occupants in an event, which as safety
professionals will inform is the least preferred option.

So why has
tyre pressure monitoring been viewed as an unwarranted expense? A simple is that tyres work for the great majority
of the time. Will they when you
absolutely need them?

Tyres have
been a grudge purchase for most people.
Many buy on price and expect the highest performance. Tyres are one of those items where you get
what you pay for. The development costs
are huge with moulds for OTR tyres running to USD$1m each. Get them wrong and that’s an expensive
mistake. Just because it looks good
doesn’t mean it will perform as you require it to.

On road truck
tyres are usually second only to fuel in terms of operating expenses for most
operators. Buying a cheap tyre may
result in increased fuel bills. Does
that sound strange? It’s not. It’s about
rolling resistance. As anyone who’s had to
push their bike home with a flat tyre will remember it’s hard work. A tyre with a higher rolling resistance
requires more energy to move it down the road.
A poorly designed tyre will not perform as a well-designed tyre will.

Tyre
pressures reflect the work a tyre is being asked to perform.

Real time
tyre pressure monitoring provides instant feedback on tyre condition. Whether it’s going flat or working too hard it
doesn’t matter a tyre will continue operating without complaint until it fails,
sometimes catastrophically or else just goes flat. Either way your safety is at risk.

Far too many
people have told me “I wish I’d known about this before my accident….” The TPMS shows a visual alert and sounds the
alarms if a tyre has an issue. It’s then
up to the driver to acknowledge and react accordingly.

Tyres can
provide great service and perform to economic expectations only when they are
correctly inflated. In today’s
electronic world no one wants to put a gauge on a tyre anymore. Pushing a button or having a machine tell us
there’s a problem is the norm.

Tyre pressure
monitoring means keeping your family safe, delivering your freight safely and on
time. Why wait until it happens to you,
proactive measures are always the
best. Eliminate the potential.

Leave a Reply

Send this to a friend