Damascus Road Experience

That’s it – I’m converted. If I previously had any niggling hesitancies about the need for run-flat or cold-weather tyres, the events of the previous few weeks have well and truly seen them off. And don’t even get me started about indirect tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS)! So far 2007 has seen two bouts of snow hit most of Great Britain. In mid-February thousands of schools closed and traffic ground to a halt because a measly inch or two fell. Thinking back I saw dozens of cars squirm and understeer on the thin layer of motorway slush, largely because there was hardly a cold weather tyre in sight.

This memory came into sharp focus during the more recent round of wintry showers in mid-March. One day on the way to the airport my car lost traction and dramatically careered off the road. Thankfully I wasn’t going very fast and I am grateful that I landed in a turf field, meaning there was no discernable damage to either me or the car. But I still needed to be winched out of the field my car came to a standstill in (thank you George Wright).

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we only need cold weather tyres when there is black ice on the roads, or surface snow or slush about. I am just glad there was nothing coming the other way. And perhaps cold weather tyres would have helped my car maintain grip. In this case, the initial loss of traction appears to have been caused by pressure loss in one of the tyres, which suggests run-flats, or better still winter run-flats would have been most effective.

But run-flats have to be fitted to a TPMS equipped car, and mine has been crying wolf lately. In the three months I have been driving this car the TPMS has gone off four times. The first time one of the tyres was slightly under inflated (but within the 25 per cent tolerance most indirect TPMS systems operate on). The second and third time there was no problem. The irony is the system did not pick-up the slow puncture that led to my blowout, but did register a 3 psi variance on the car a week later. And I am not alone. Speaking to other motoring journalists reveals that one of the leading vehicle manufacturer’s assistance programmes refuses to attend call-outs to TPMS warnings. The manufacturer in question most often uses indirect TPMS in its vehicles and so the inference is that TMPS warnings are not reliable enough for them to invest their time in answering calls. All this must be terribly confusing for consumers.

I was driving a 1.9 litre diesel at the time. Just think of the damage that might have been done in the Ferrari F430 I borrowed earlier in the month, which incidentally was equipped with both Pirelli Sotto Zero cold weather tyres (see High Performance Tyres section) and a Beru direct pressure monitoring system.

In light of this experience, I am very glad that in run-flats, cold-weather tyres and TPMS we now have the technology available to maximise road safety. But I don’t envy those that are struggling to get all the players (the OEMs, tyre manufacturers and TPMS producers) to pull together. The danger is consumers won’t make the most of the technology they now have at their disposal. And unless we want thousands of motorists to under-use their over-engineered products, improved communications between those involved is necessary.