Schrader: EU Accident Prevention Rules May Compromise Road Safety

From 2012 all new cars sold in Europe will have to be fitted with tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) as standard. However, leading TPMS-maker Schrader Electronics believes the legislation passed by the European Parliament earlier this year is flawed and could even compromise road safety. The concerns centre on the fact that the forthcoming rules make two types of TPMS technologies available to car companies – direct and indirect measuring systems. The tyre and TPMS industries favour solutions such as the direct system which places a pressure sensor in each wheel and transmits reliable pressure measurement information back to the car data centre which then informs the driver immediately about the condition of its tyres.

The problem is that indirect systems, while a less expensive option, compare one wheel against the others and/or perform an analysis of the vibration characteristics using the car’s ABS sensors. The car’s computer (ECU) analyses the data and works out if the tyre is changing diameter and the software interprets this as a loss of tyre pressure. The delay in providing this information to the driver is considerable opening up the possibility of a rapidly deflating tyre not being detected and the possibility of an accident. In some instances (for example when tyres are worn unevenly) this can lead to phantom blow outs where a TPMS light signals, but pressures are actually correct.

The other crucial difference between the two systems is that the indirect version requires, when the tyre pressures are adjusted or a tyre changed, that the driver must – to make the system effective – re-calibrate the system. This relies heavily on the driver checking the tyre pressures with an accurate gauge, and in the optimum conditions when the rubber is cool, and then hitting the re-set button. With tyre pressures ranking low down on the agenda of most drivers, the process is open to mistakes. This is a fundamental flaw and could provide a false sense of safety to the driver who could be running on severely deflated tyres yet the system is indicating “correctly inflated”

However the indirect system is favoured by some car companies and supported by OICA (Organisation International Constructeurs d’Automobiles).                                                          

Those lobbying for the direct method are encourage the European Commission to ask the UNECE committee, responsible for implementing the technical details of the new regulation, to favour the accurate tyre pressure monitoring technology which will maximise its contribution to road safety and CO2 reduction, an issue at the top of the EU agenda. A campaign to highlight this road safety issue is being spearheaded by Schrader Electronics, one of the principle developers and suppliers of TPMS, with support from major tyre companies. Leading industry bodies have issued position papers supporting strict performance requirements for TPMS, currently achievable using only the direct TPMS option, these include ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation), CLEPA (the European Association of Automotive Suppliers) and the European Federation for Transport and Environment.

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