Tire pressure monitors to be commonplace

Automakers to be forced to equip vehicles with technology
Updated: 7:11 p.m. ET April 6, 2005

U.S. regulators are set to make automakers equip all lightweight passenger vehicles with tire pressure monitors, concluding a fight over what technology to adopt that would keep costs down.

The regulation, due as early as Thursday, covers all cars and light trucks, including vans and sport utility vehicles. It is central to congressionally ordered safety changes stemming from the Firestone tire debacle several years ago.

Accidents caused by blowouts and tread separations killed nearly 300 people in the United States. Most of the rollover crashes involved Ford Explorer sport utilities. Firestone is a unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp.

After legal and other delays, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will require auto companies to install sensors that measure pressure simultaneously on all four tires.

Industry sources say the requirement is mainly consistent with an agency proposal last September and a court ruling that rejected the government's first plan and ordered it to draft a tougher monitoring standard.

A spokeswoman for the auto safety agency would not comment on the regulation, which was in the works for years and will set a broad threshold for inflation pressure.

If tires are under-inflated by more than 25 percent, a dashboard light will warn motorists. But tire makers and some safety groups oppose a single alert level because tires vary in size and thickness.

A 25 percent drop in recommended pressure may leave some tires so under-inflated that they cannot safely carry a fully loaded vehicle, manufacturers say.

Under-inflation can expose rubber and other materials to more heat -- especially during hot weather -- and create dangerous wear at the edges and sides of a tire.

The government estimates the plan will cost industry between $800 million and $1.1 billion to phase in the technology on all new vehicles from this year through 2007.

Auto manufacturers do not oppose the requirement, which will apply to new vehicles. Properly inflated tires can help create a smoother ride, improve fuel efficiency, and reduce expensive tire maintenance and replacements.

Tire monitoring systems are already installed on between 2 million and 4 million vehicles, mainly luxury vehicles. Most pressure monitoring systems use sensors that are tied into anti-lock brakes.

In 2002, NHTSA proposed giving automakers the option of a direct monitoring system, which safety groups favor, and one that works with brakes, which is cheaper. But safety advocates successfully sued in federal court to force regulators to adopt the more stringent standard with a 25 percent pressure differential.

Nearly 20 percent of all towing calls received by AAA last year were tire related.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

source : MSNBC

 

Since when do courts dictate what Governments agencies can or cannot require? Courts do not have jurisdiction in this area.......they can interpret regulatory action but cannot enact it themselves. Federal law.......going all the way back to the first Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966......states that safety standards in the auto industry WILL be determined by the NTHSA and DOT, not by judges. Let's hear from some of the lawyers in CL....this appears to me to be unconstitutional.

 

This also brings up another interesting point.....something I mentioned many months ago when the idea of this regulation was first proposed.
If these tire-pressure sensors are required, they may not work with aftermarket wheels. You guys may have to use the stock wheels on future cars in some areas beacuse state safety inspections may require that the sensors be hooked up and working if they were factory-installed. Yes, you could just take the stock wheels on and off just for the inspection, but that would be impractical.

 

imho that's a pretty good idea, i have seen sooo many people running on flat everywhere....

marshall, it's nothing different from people who take off their intake and put on the stock airbox before inspection. it's one of those who cares if i wanna mod the car things

 

Let me see if I comprehend this. 300 people have died because of tire failures. Most of which, were the Explorer/Firestone scenario. So "most" of the 300 people don't even fall under the underinflation category since the Firestone issue was a design fault.

Of the people that are left, what percentage are result of underinflation? Considering there's punctures (MUCH) more common as it's unavoidable, pothole damage, or blowouts due to excessive wear because people are too lazy/cheap to get new tires or proper alignments.

So this leaves what? MAYBE 50 people that have died from underinflated tires? And this needs government mandated sensors? More people die from faulty brakes, bad alignment, drunk driving, wreckless driving, unsafe speed, lack of common sense, etc, etc and THIS is what they are pushing? Making sure our tires are inflated? PFFFT.

Even so, checking tire pressure has to be the EASIEST thing to check on your car. Gas stations have compressors just for this. Some are even free in my area. It's easier than checking your oil even tho it takes more time. If you can open a bottle of coke you can check your tire pressure.

So why do *I* need to pay for a stupid monitoring system (what, you thought the industry was going to buy that for you?) when I have the brain stem to check my own tire pressure?

What's worse, people will rely on these things and only check their tires after they are below 25%. Fabulous, now the public will run their tires underinflated at 24% for thousands of miles and not give it a second thought because "the light never came on."

That'll save lives!



This money is better spent on education. Pamphlets, commercials, advertisements, whatever. Just inform the public that checking their tire pressure is important. Have dealers explain this. Have mechanics explain this. Include a blurb in the Owner's Manual (that's already there).

There are other much larger problems to fix. This is a waste of time.

 

I think it might limmit aftermarket wheel choices for a little while, but the aftermarket will catch up and either offer rim designs that fit the OEM sensors or they will come out with their own sensors that work on the OEM RF signal. I've seen a bunch of people with the 05 RL that uses the tire pressure sensor valve stems have already swapped the OEM sensor valve stem into their aftermarket rims and it works with no problems. Since this is all new, some rims are too shallow to fit the sensors, but if this becomes standard I'm sure the aftermarket will figure it out and come up with a solution.

 

Maybe...we'll see. CK6Speed feels that the aftermarket will catch up after a while.

 

Addressed this a week or so ago in the RX forum when I got a warning light on the freeway:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=156553

Briefly, the RX reads the relative wheel speed via the anit-lock sensors on each wheel, meaning that one wheel turning faster is assumed to have a smaller diameter, thus is low. In this case, aftermarket rims would not affect the system, whatever the outside diameter of the tire, the sensor is reading speed, not pressure. This eliminates having a pressure transducer built into the rim and receivers at all four corners reading them (as in the Corvette).

This mechanism is relatively cheap (a $5 chip, plus wiring a warning light, i'm told) - not an optimal situation because it doesn't tell you which tire is low, but it is effective. Bravo, Lexus!

 

yeah i wouldn't be surprised too. making aftermarket wheels that allow the sensors aren't that hard, just some extra work, so if the sensors are really picking up, i would expect the wheels to follow

 

From what I hear from the very few people that have done it is that right now it depends on how large the rim is since low profile tires come into play, and also more inportently I think is where the valve stem hole is on the rim. As you know, some aftermarket rims use that right angle type valve stem and I think those will be trouble right now. The ones that use the traditional type valve step location seem to be okay for the most part. You still need trial and error right now, but at least there are a buch of aftermarket rims that fit OEM air pressure valve stems right now. I'm pretty sure it is an RF signal, so I wouldn't think it would be too hard for aftermarket companies to come up with slim profile and right angle pressure valve stems that work on the correct RF signal.

 

i don't know the construction of the sensor position on the rim so i can't say much, but i know for example if you get hre 840r series in 20s you can still get the sensor to be mounted no problem. those are some very low profile tires and the valve stems are verticle to the rim.

but maybe it's just one of very few of course

 

Yes, the valve stems on my 448R are the right angle type so the tire pressure sensors of my G35c has to be banded with straps inside the circumference of the wheels, not as secure as in the valve stems IMHO. On the other hand, the tire sensors of my SC430 can fit with the valve stems of the BBS wheels.

Henry, do you think the SC430 sensors can be mounted on the valve stems of a 19" 840R series wheels ?

 

It's a positive step for sake of safety if they work correctly. Prices of the cars will go up no doubt, but hey, I buy used anways so it will be free when I get my next car!

 

if i am correct i believe all the R models (440r, 540r, and 840r) they all work on sc430 with tire sensors no problem. at least that's what i heard last time i talked to them. oooops, i didn't say anything @_@

 

The valve stems on the 440R & 540R series are the non traditionally located type, they certainly won't work with my G35c tire sensors, & from I' ve read from SC430 owners(Doc C, I remember for sure) with the 540R, they have to strap the sensors around the circumference of the SC430 wheels the same way it's done on my G35c wheels. The 840R series on the other hand have the traditionally located valve stems correct ? That's why I ask whether they may be able accomodate the sensors