Michelin Trailer Tyre Named Fleet Safety Product of the Year

Michelin’s X One MaxiTrailer tyre has been named Fleet Safety Product of the Year at the annual Fleet Safety Forum awards for excellence, organised by road safety charity Brake. Brake’s decision to reward Michelin was supported by data recorded on a tilt-table at QinetiQ’s Chobham-based test facility which found that a fully laden 44-tonne tractor unit and trailer fitted with 455/45R22.5 X One MaxiTrailer tyres achieved a 6.5 per cent improvement in tilt angle (the angle at which a vehicle will overturn) compared to the standard 385/65 R22.5 fitment.

The judging panel’s comments were: “The X One MaxiTrailer tyre was selected as the winner for its innovative design and demonstrable results in improving the safety of truck trailers through a reduced risk of rollovers. Michelin’s commitment to continually improving the safety performance of its products really shone through in its entry.”

Michelin says it entered the award on the recommendation of an owner-driver and frequent contributor to Big Lorry Blog on www.roadtransport.com, who writes under the pseudonym of ‘The Boss’. In a posting in October 2009, he praised Michelin for having produced “tyres which should be sold as offering stability with a capital S”, and which he likened to being “Formula 1 tyres for the road haulage industry!”

Describing his experience pulling a trailer fitted with X One MaxiTrailer tyres, The Boss added: “Taking this tyre to the limit (for test purposes only), on bends, roundabouts and even across the motorway central reservation in some roadworks had the trailer sitting like a big fat Buddha. It did not budge, not even so much as a small roll! Dare I say that with the BBC reporting so many rollovers each day on its traffic news, a lot more operators should consider this tyre.”

Michelin claims that more than 75 fleets in the UK already use X One MaxiTrailer tyres, with Cheshire-based Boughey Distribution the largest user in Europe, with 150 sets on its trailers. The French manufacturer says the tyre’s larger footprint – a 120mm increase in tread width – combined with the use of a new technology developed by Michelin called InfiniCoil – a 400-metre steel cord wrapped continuously around the tyre’s crown – deliver the robustness that has led to this new accolade.

This is the second major UK award for the X One MaxiTrailer, having emerged victorious in the Innovation category at the Motor Transport Awards in July 2009. The Fleet Safety Forum awards for excellence were held on 1 July, 2010, with Michelin’s Martin Covington, Head of Truck and Earthmover Marketing, and his guest on the night – ‘The Boss’ – jointly collecting the award at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwickshire.

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