Survey reveals tyre neglect by UK fleets

Throughout 2011, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) conducted research to analyse the defects that in-service Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) have. The results, which were collected over four, two-week periods, revealed over 1,000 tyre defects on the 6,000 vehicles inspected.

The FTA is one of the UK's largest trade associations and represents the transport interests of companies moving goods by road, rail, sea and air. For over 45 years FTA's Vehicle Inspection Service has been supporting companies by inspecting and auditing the safety, legality and overall performance of their commercial vehicles, related equipment and general maintenance arrangements, to ensure that fleets operate to a consistently high, UK standard.

The team inspected the tyres for defects including tread depth, under inflation, objects in the tread and the condition of the sidewall.

According to the FTA analysis, tread depth, tread cuts and objects in the tread, accounted for almost 60 per cent of all of the defects found. These defects would have been swiftly identified through effective tyre husbandry and regular maintenance checks.

The table below shows the main defects revealed by the FTA’s surveys.

Alan Osborne, FTA’s Director of Vehicle Inspections said, “Tyre care plays a huge part in a vehicle’s road safety performance, for example under inflation will affect vehicle handling and braking performance while increasing fuel consumption and tyre wear. But tyre defects also give rise to other potential costs in terms of test failures, failed roadside checks, GFPs for the driver and, potentially, greater targeting by VOSA. Our VIS team has analysed thousands of customers’ tyre data and clearly drivers and operators should be particularly mindful of the depth of their tyre tread, especially with winter weather being with us.”
These sentiments are echoed by TruckForce, which is backed by Goodyear Dunlop and provides a premium truck tyre service and breakdown assistance support network across the UK. The organisation believes that commercial fleets unnecessarily overspend on both fuel and tyres and can assist by offering a complete tyre life cycle management and care service.

Adam Stanton, Goodyear Dunlop’s Product Marketing Manager for Commercial tyres said: “We at TruckForce believe that through efficient tyre husbandry; ensuring tyres are maintained at the correct pressure, tread depth and in the best possible condition, fleets are only paying for what they need and are not purchasing additional tyres unnecessarily.

“Once the customer has bought a tyre, the TruckForce team will get the longest and most efficient performance from the tyre as possible. Given that fuel takes up at least 25 per cent of a fleet’s total operating costs, and that the state of the tyre severely impacts a vehicle’s fuel efficiency, the need to manage tyres is greater than ever.”