BERU Tyre Safety System Picks Up “Genius 2007” Safety Award

In April, Jürgen Brust, managing director of BERU Electronics GmbH, received the “Genius 2007” Allianz safety award for the Beru direct pressure monitoring Tyre Safety System (TSS) at a ceremony in Leipzig.
Allianz’s annual “Genius” award is designed to honour pioneering technical developments which have already been implemented in practice and which contribute to the creation of safer road traffic. With this award, the insurance company aims to motivate automotive manufacturers to install safety features such as the BERU tyre pressure control system into their vehicles.

At the award presentation, Dr. Karl-Walter Gutberlet, board member of Allianz, underlined this when he said: “The TSS does not only provide better safety in road traffic, but it also helps to minimise CO2 emissions.” Jürgen Brust responded: “For the engineers and development staff at BERU, the continuous optimisation of our direct pressure monitoring system remains a permanent challenge. The lasting success of the product is also shown by the fact that we have already introduced the third generation of the system.”

Dr. Rainer Podeswa, board member of BERU AG added: “We are very proud that this award is another confirmation of the important and demonstrable contribution of the TSS to safe, environmentally-friendly and economic driving on our roads.”

Studies have shown that one in three vehicles is running on incorrectly inflated tyres, resulting in higher fuel consumption and higher CO2 emissions. For example, experts reckon that if the tyre pressure is down by just 0.6 bar, a vehicle will use around four per cent more fuel. According to the experts’ statements, around 200 million litres of fuel could be saved by ensuring that tyres are at the correct pressure.

Also, if the tyre pressure is down by 0.4 bar for an extended period of time, tyre wear increases: the service life of tyres is shortened by around 25 per cent, and by about 50 per cent if the pressure drops by 0.6 bar.

Accident statistics show the reason why a tyre pressure control system, such as BERU TSS, is indispensable for road traffic safety: a study in Germany for 2005, showed that 1,233 accidents involving personal injury were directly due to technical defects of tyres, while figures from the General German Automobile Association showed that in 2006 their breakdown service was called out 122,200 times due to defective tyres and wheels.

BERU TSS is a direct pressure monitoring system which automatically monitors the tyre pressure when the vehicle is both stationary and on the move. It alerts the driver in a display and control unit in the instrument panel when the pressure is down by just 0.2 bar. It also warns of a gradual or sudden loss of pressure. In addition, the TSS supplies a position identification for the wheel electronics units and hence for the individual tyres. All wheel electronics units are designed to withstand even extreme environmental conditions.

The BERU TSS is the first system of its kind which has been factory installed by leading automobile manufacturers as standard or as an optional extra since 1998. Prof. Dr. Ing. Dieter Anselm, managing director of the Allianz Technology Centre, said on the occasion of the Genius award: “Allianz thanks BERU for their pioneer role in the development of the direct pressure monitoring system and hope that this award will contribute to the introduction of a standard equipment with this technology with blanket coverage.”