Goodyear Dunlop explains road safety benefits of tyre labelling

Goodyear Dunlop hosted an event at its Innovation Centre in Luxembourg, showing the road safety benefits that it believes the European tyre labelling legislation will have when it is introduced on 1 November 2012. 140 guests from over 25 European countries attended Road Safety Days, during which Goodyear argued that the 7.5x11cm label could help reduce stopping distances of vehicles on wet roads by “up to four car lengths”, in addition to reducing fuel consumption “by 7.5 per cent and lessen CO2 emissions.” During her presentation Lie Junius, the company’s EMEA director of public affairs, hinted that the “game-changing” labels could be introduced early in a “six-month transaction period… depending on the [EU] legislature.” A full report will be published in Tyres & Accessories’ December issue.

Guests to the Road Safety Days divided their time between a press conference in the distinguished Old Hemicycle plenary hall in Luxembourg, well-known for having hosted the European Parliament for several years, and Goodyear’s Innovation Centre. The event previewed of the label through live demonstrations, self-drive activities and workshops with tyre engineers. The company also invited several guest speakers, such as Sean H. Haight from the Collision Safety Institute in San Diego, USA; Renzo Cicilloni, director safety, European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), in Brussels, Belgium,; and Dr Alex Stedmon, psychologist from the University of Nottingham in the UK.

Jean-Pierre Jeusette, general director Goodyear Innovation Centre, Luxembourg explained that the event’s live demonstrations and self drive activities were designed to “bring the tyre label to life” and show the difference between an A-graded tyre and a G-graded tyre. The company also described the many other important performance criteria that will not be mentioned on the tire label but need to be taken in consideration when purchasing a new tire.

“We were able to demonstrate how the difference between an A and a G graded passenger car tire could be the equivalent of a 300 euros saving over the tyres’ life, and up to 18 metres difference in stopping distance. We want consumers, fleet owners and other tire purchasers to understand how important tires are for their safety on the road and how the new tire label will guide them towards safer and more environmentally-friendly tires, giving them the opportunity to make a better-informed purchase decision,” said Jeusette.

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