Risking Lives With Tyre Pressures Readings

A surprising finding in November 2016 has revealed that thousands of car users may be driving a vehicle that is unfit and dangerous on the road which may result in serious – life changing injuries or fatal road accident claims.

‘FOUR OUT OF 10 CARS HAVE AT LEAST ONE DANGEROUSLY UNDER-INFLATED TYRE”

This is due to under-inflated tyre pressures which may not revealed on the vehicles’  warning system to alert the driver of low and dangerous tyre pressures.

Vehicles In Laboratories Past The Tyre Pressures Tests

Whilst the computer tyre pressure systems passed the tests in laboratories on the road this appeared to be different.  A VW Golf failed to detect under-inflated tyres in 14 out of 16 real-world tests.

A Fiat 500L was reported to fail all 16 tests according to research by an Independent Company commissioned by the campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E).

Legal Requirement for Tyre Pressure Systems in Vehicles

All cars since 2014 have to be fitted with tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) that pass official approved tests.  There are mainly two systems that are in use, where one TPMS will actively monitor each tyre where as others will, detect pressure changes by comparing the wheels rotational speed.  The latter are called indirect systems that are slightly cheaper than the former.

However T&E advise that the indirect TPMs systems may be unsafe and can lull the driver into a false sense of security.  No driver warning light on the dash board may about tyre pressures can lead the driver to think everything is okay with the tyres and not bother to do a least a visual inspection.

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