Tires: They’re the all-important contact points between today’s advanced safety technology-equipped trucks and the roads they travel – and their upkeep is vital to driver, fleet and highway safety. For National Tire Safety Week (May 24-30), Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC offers expert insight on the role that proper tire maintenance, regular inspection, and correct inflation play in the safe operation of today’s commercial vehicles. Sponsored by the Rubber Manufacturers Association, National Tire Safety Week is part of the association’s year-round efforts to raise awareness about the importance of keeping tires in good working condition.
“Simply put, safe and efficient trucks run on properly maintained and regularly inspected tires,” says Jon Intagliata, product manager for Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) at Bendix, the North American leader in the development and manufacture of leading-edge active safety and braking system technologies for commercial vehicles. “Tire performance and longevity are directly related to proper tire pressure, as are other fleet concerns such as fuel economy and maintenance costs.”
Research by the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) has shown that tire underinflation by as little as 10 percent can result in a 1.5 percent drop in fuel economy, and underinflation by 20 percent results in a 30 percent reduction in tire life. Fuel and tires are typically among fleets’ largest expenses, and maintaining the right tire pressure day in and day out pays dividends in both fuel savings and tread life. Technologies like the SmarTire Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) by Bendix CVS for tractors and SmarTire Trailer-Link TPMS for trailer systems are available through all major North American truck manufacturers or as aftermarket kits, and offer real-time status information to drivers and maintenance technicians. They provide early warnings of tire-related problems and reduce downtime by eliminating the need for time-intensive manual pressure checks, which fail to address changing road conditions that can affect pressure during operation.
When linked to a back-office Web portal such as SafetyDirect from Bendix CVS, these systems allow fleet management to analyze real-time, wirelessly transmitted safety information such as tire pressures, temperatures, and alerts. Using this data, fleets can develop comprehensive tire management strategies by examining tire replacement frequency, downtime due to tire repair, and occurrences of roadside breakdowns due to tire failure.
Because tire pressure rises as temperature increases during normal vehicle operation, Bendix TPMS systems use wheel-mounted sensors to continuously monitor both temperature and pressure inside each tire. These sensors enable the system to provide a deviation value that shows the amount of overinflation or underinflation from the tire’s cold inflation pressure (CIP), automatically taking into account any increase in pressure due to temperature, and adjusting the system’s alerts accordingly. This compensation allows the system to provide earlier warnings of potential tire problems – and when it comes to safety, sooner is better.
When tires are driven while underinflated, they undergo increased stress and higher temperatures, which increases the risk of failure. Industry statistics show that 90 percent of tire blowouts are the result of underinflation, and nearly half of all emergency service road calls are tire related. Additionally, underinflated tires are a violation in today’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) inspection environment, which can impact a fleet’s CSA scoring.Properly maintained tires also optimize the performance of the active safety systems in growing use across the commercial vehicle industry.
“There are dozens of makes, models, and tractor-trailer configurations on North America’s highways, but all of them have this in common: Only their tires touch the road,” Intagliata says. “We can’t overstate the importance of tire care when it comes to keeping trucks on the road and in good working condition, and Bendix will continue to work toward that goal with fleets and drivers everywhere.”
Bendix’s SmarTire systems are part of the company’s ever-growing portfolio of technology developments that deliver on safety, actionable information, reliability, fuel economy, and stopping power: areas critical to fleets’ success. By improving vehicle performance and efficiency, and providing thorough post-sales support to the industry, Bendix helps fleets and drivers strengthen return on investment in the technological advancements that make the highways safer for everyone.
