TyreSafe Warns of Handling Issues Linked to Under-Inflated Tyres

Drivers are facing an increased risk of being involved in a serious or even fatal accident by failing to regularly check their tyre pressures. This warning has been issued by UK tyre safety organisation TyreSafe as part of Tyre Safety Month, held throughout October.

“Although the majority of motorists are uninterested in their vehicle’s tyres, it is important to remember that they are a complex component of the vehicle that have been engineered to work in harmony with the vehicle’s sophisticated brake, steering and suspension systems and must be taken seriously,” explains TyreSafe chairman Rob Beddis. “Without regularly ensuring that tyres are correctly inflated, motorists risk compromising the way that their car behaves on the road. The first time they may become aware of this performance deficit could be when they lose control of the vehicle on an innocuous bend and are heading towards a hedgerow or into the path of an oncoming vehicle.”

While many motorists understand that insufficient tread depth can hamper a vehicle’s stopping distance, fewer are aware of the effect tyre pressure can have on vehicle performance. For a car travelling at 30mph, the tyre’s contact patch has only fourteen hundredths of a second to do its job, so any influential factor such as under-inflation can produce significant changes in vehicle behaviour. When a tyre is under-inflated, the tyre contains insufficient air to support the weight of the vehicle properly, which adversely affects acceleration, braking and cornering.

Research conducted by TyreSafe showed that more than half of motorists have not checked tyre pressure during the previous month, the maximum period recommended by TyreSafe between checks, indicating that this percentage of vehicles on UK roads may be experiencing reduced performance due to this factor.

“Checking tyre pressures is a simple maintenance activity that is free and takes only a few minutes each month to complete,” adds Beddis. “By following these guidelines, motorists can ensure that their vehicle continues to behave in the way it should and they can continue to drive safely on the roads without any dramatic loss of performance.”