One-quarter of you are driving around on underinflated tires. Not only are you losing gas mileage (and money) by doing so, you’re putting yourself at risk of blowing out your tires, losing control in inclement weather, and possibly even killing yourself. But, as always, the government is here to make matters worse.
It all started in 2000, when Bridgestone/Firestone recalled 14.4 million Wilderness AT tires which had been used on Ford SUVs after reports of underinflated tires shredding themselves to bits when they got hot, causing several model year Ford Explorer SUVs to roll over and kill the people inside them.
Congress, having nothing better to do, rushed through the so-called Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act, which directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue regulations that would require auto manufacturers to install tire pressure monitoring systems in new cars and light trucks. You know, the usual feel-good, we’re really going to fix it this time legislation.
Because, of course, underinflated tires were and still are a serious problem. They kill and injure more people than terrorists.
“While not a leading cause of highway accidents and fatalities, a NHTSA study shows that, in 1999, underinflated tires contributed to 247, or 0.8 percent, of 32,061 fatalities and 23,100, or 0.8 percent, of almost 3 million injuries,” according to a Government Accountability Office report (PDF) prepared especially for Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.). “In addition, NHTSA estimates that 41 vehicular-related deaths occur annually because of blowouts alone from underinflated tires.”
Before you do anything else, go buy this very nice digital tire pressure gauge (or some other one). Check your tires and make sure they’re up to where they are supposed to be. If they aren’t, put some air in them. Why? Because, as I said, the government stuck its nose into the picture.
The feel-good law that Congress passed requires NHTSA to develop regulations, which it did in 2002. Several groups then sued NHTSA, arguing — perversely — that the regulations didn’t do enough to promote safety and allowed for ineffective and inaccurate tire pressure monitoring systems to be used. An appeals court agreed and told the government to write tougher regulations.
Confused yet?
The case is still in litigation today, with consumer groups claiming the rewritten regulations, which apply to all new cars as of September 1, are still dangerous.
The new rule, however, does not meet the requirements set by Congress and would allow for motorists to ride on dangerously underinflated tires. The systems under the new rule are to alert motorists if any tire falls 25 percent below the recommended inflation pressure. A key problem, though, is that the baseline by which the 25 percent will be measured will be dictated by the recommended tire pressure set by automakers. Because this recommendation is usually a range, and because the rule allows for a fudge factor of 2 pounds per square inch in the systems, this could allow some tires to be on the road at 30 percent underinflation or more before an alert is provided.
Additionally, the rule doesn’t require tire pressure monitoring systems to operate with replacement tires — a dangerous omission given that an estimated 61 percent of passenger and 54 percent of light truck mileage occurs on replacement tires. Also, under the rule, systems need not measure tire pressure until a motorist has been driving between 30 and 60 miles per hour continuously for 20 minutes. This means that the system would be useless for someone who does a lot of city driving with attendant stops and starts. There are systems that would provide more accurate information to motorists faster. — Public Citizen
That’s right, your tire pressure monitoring system in your new car just might not alert you to a problem until it’s much too late and the vehicle has already flipped over and killed everyone inside. And this system meets government standards!
And, of course, you could have had an accurate, safe monitoring system years ago — they existed — if not for all the hoopla and government interference in a free market process that was already well underway. You don’t really think these safety systems came out of a bureaucrat’s head, do you? Of course not. The automakers and tire manufacturers invented them. Why? To keep you safe, regulation or no regulation.
The Tire Industry Association joined the lawsuit and is pushing for even more stringent government regulations on tire pressure monitoring systems.
You heard right. Apparently car buyers would rather have the inaccurate monitoring system which won’t alert them to a problem until after it’s killed them, and so they have to be forced to make the “right” choice.
Instead of actually influencing people to voluntarily choose the safer, more accurate tire pressure monitoring systems, they’re sacrificing you at the altar of government regulation. Sure, writing “tougher” regulation sounds fine now. But every such regulation has unintended consequences. In the case of this regulation, it turns what would have been a life-saving safety feature that automakers would have been happy to advertise, educate you about, and you would be glad it’s there, into yet another idiot light on your dashboard that most people are going to ignore.
And that doesn’t even get into the possibility of technology advances. Once there’s an even better system available, nobody will be able to have it until the government bureaucrats sign off on it — and that could take years. It isn’t about keeping you safe. It’s about restricting your freedom, giving you an illusion of safety, and when your SUV does flip over, limiting your recourse.
Did I mention that underinflated tires aren’t even a leading cause of highway accidents? For accident causes, they’re far, far down the list. After this regulation takes effect and the lawsuit is finally settled, though, you should expect the death toll to rise.
As for your tires, well, monitor them yourself. It’s the only way to be sure.
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velojym
Mar 06, 2007
Naturally, when government mandates end up killing folks,
nobody in said government is held responsible for the deaths.
On the other hand, the companies who have to scramble to meet those gov’t ‘standards’ are then taken to court by the victim’s family.
Remember antilock brakes in the late ’70s?
mdf
Mar 06, 2007
I don’t remember ABS, but I do remember air-bags. Government mandated, everyone happy … until people who otherwise would have survived the accident were being killed by the airbag itself. Now there are “advanced” air-bags which try and figure out if it is ok to inflate, or inflate without as much force. So now there will be people who would die in the accident who might actually saved by the airbag! No doubt this will converge to the point where the airbag will have no effect whatsoever on mortality — at least on those who have a smidgen of a brain and wear a seatbelt — but will be mandatory anyways.
Just don’t have anything in your mouth. And too bad about your ringing ears and the burns on your face. Smile! The government is protecting you!
All of this illustrates the principle mechanism of “unintended consequences”: lowering the mean at the expense of the variance.
Ray
Mar 06, 2007
How about pulling that stupid “wear your seatbelt” warning form the visor and requiring that the tire pressure values be placed there instead. Certainly a lot more useful than buried in your users manual. (where is your users manual)
Potential Threat
Mar 06, 2007
The tire pressure values for most cars are *not* ranges, and on many you’ll find the recommended values listed on a decal inside the driver’s door, glove box or trunk lid.
A lot of people replace their tires and then overinflate them to the maximum pressure listed on the sidewall. That causes just as many problems as underinflation. With a few rare exceptions, replacement tires should be inflated to the pressure specified by the car manufacturer.
I could live with having TPM in cars, because it makes something I do regularly a bit easier. The technology is cheap; we might as well benefit from it. As a motorcyclist, having a car blow a tire and come skating into my line is one of a long list of things that could do me in out there, and the average driver is far less diligent about checking tires than the average biker. (There are TPM systems for motorcycles, and I will very likely install one on my next tire change. Pressure on two wheels is a lot more critical than it is on four.)
I’m a little puzzled about why they picked 25%, though. My car tires are spec’d to be inflated to 30 PSI. 75% of that is 22.5 PSI, which is far lower than I’d be caught dead with them on the road. 10-15% would be a much more reasonable figure IMHO.
–Mark
geri
Mar 06, 2007
I think what this is pointing out is not that this would be a useless thing to have but that, because of government interference, we could have had it much sooner and it would have been better built.
I, myself, think that it’s stupid that the government thinks they have to act like a nanny for all of us and tell us what and when to do things. I am, quite frankly, getting sick and tired of it.
Yes, underinflated tires can and do cause deaths. Yes, we should check our tire pressure. (My dad always taught me to keep a guage in my glove compartment and the signs of tires that were too low) but the majority, it seems, are doing this because the death toll from underinflated tires is very low compared to the number of drivers on the road.
My heart goes out to those who have lost family members like this but, seriously, if I dont keep an eye on my brakes, for instance, and they fail and I get killed in a wreck than it’s my own damn fault. And I dont expect the the government to jump up and assume everyone else doesnt have the sense to replace their brakes when they need it.
Potential Threat
Mar 06, 2007
You can have one right now that’s better than the idiot light we’ll probably end up with:
I don’t think we’d have seen TPM on cars earlier because the market demand isn’t really there for it. The automakers aren’t going to expend effort on something like that when they can put in DVD players to distract other drivers…
Hawk
Mar 08, 2007
How about just getting off you dead asses and checking the tire pressure yourself with a tire gauge. Or doesn’t anyone out there know how to read a tire pressure gauge anymore? One more thing on a vehicle that can break and cause more money to get fixed. Kinda like the “modern” 5 mph bumper requirements. Don’t work and cost a hell of a lot more to fix. I drove a ’46 Doge pickup for years and never had to replace the front or rear bumper because they actually worked, even up to 15 mph. I know, I used it to haul wood for years and have hit more than one tree in the back wooods. Oh, and the tires never gave me any problem. I checked them and adjusted the air pressure when needed.
martymc2@aool.com
May 21, 2007
Recently purchased 07 Toyota camry w/standard wheel tire pressure sensors. Had mag wheels installed at a large tire store and they broke one tire sensor. Couldn’t tell which one as they didn’t have the equipment. Told me to go to Toyota dealer, which I did. Long story short – the dealer found and replaced the broken sensor (part was missing).The sensor was $117.15 and labor to initialize the other sensors was $150.00. The 4 mag wheels cost about $20. more than repairing one (1) tire pressure sensor on a camry. Not a cheap system. Recommended solution from a master auto mechanic. Go to WallMart or somewhere & buy a set of air pressure external sensors for $4.87 thats right. Semper Fi, Marty. P.S. these not so cheap computer sensors will be mandatory on all cars in 09 I think.
Dennis
Sep 12, 2007
They ARE mandatory on all cars in 07.