TYRE SAFETY
The tyre industry’s Responsible Recycler Scheme now has the support of TyreSafe, the UK’s leading tyre safety organisation. TyreSafe states that it hopes to help cut the number of illegal part-worn tyres entering the market and encourage safer worker practices within tyre dealers, garages and workshops.
Whether your attitude towards caravans could best be described as “enthusiastic” or “Clarksonesque”, one potential problem for the holiday home on wheels has possibly escaped you: the degradation of its tyres during idle Winter months. With one of the brightest start to Summer since records began, UK safety organisation TyreSafe has taken the opportunity to address the problem, suggesting that caravan owners should pay particular attention to the condition of their tyres before heading off on holiday this year. Since caravans often stand unused for much of the off-season, there is a strong potential for tyre related problems to develop – such as cracking caused by the sun’s UV rays – making them unsafe or dangerous to use. To help owners identify such problems, TyreSafe, the UK’s leading tyre safety organisation, has launched a new section on its website at www.tyresafe.org dedicated to caravan tyre safety.
In coordination with National Tire Safety Week, Hankook Tire America Corp. is offering tips and advice to ensure consumers’ tyres are in good working condition for summer travel, reports Tire Review. “Not maintaining proper tyre inflation pressure costs consumers hundreds of dollars during their driving lifetime,” said Bill Bainbridge, director of brand communications for Hankook Tire America Corp. “Even slightly underinflated tyres require more energy and build up damaging heat more quickly. This leads to reduced fuel economy and paying more for gas than you need.”
In the USA, Goodyear is taking to the skies with its fleet of company blimps in order to publicise the tyre safety messages coming out of the country’s ‘National Tire Safety Week’. Spirit of America, based in Carson, California; Spirit of Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio; and Spirit of Innovation, based in Pompano Beach, Florida will fly with specially designed day and night messages between 6 and 12 June. Messages will include: “Keep your tyres properly inflated,” “Check the air pressure monthly or before a long trip,” and “Check your tyres’ tread wear and rotate your car’s tyres every 3-5,000 miles,” will be programmed on the airships’ EagleVision message boards, a company press release states.
Birmingham City Council’s trading standards officers recently found that nine out of ten part worn tyres examined in an inspection failed to meet the minimum legal standards. In response industry body TyreSafe is publicising the results of the investigation in order to raise awareness of what it calls “the high levels of risk associated with buying part worn tyres.”
According to Birmingham City Council’s trading standards officers, tyres which had nails embedded, illegal tread depth, exposed cords, inadequate markings and one tyre which was 17 years old were among the failures. The investigation comes just a few weeks after TyreSafe found that more than one in ten drivers was more likely to buy part worn tyres compared with 12 months ago.
The investigation formed part of an ongoing programme by Birmingham City Council to target sales of part worn tyres. This year was its ninth annual investigation and saw it buy 10 tyres from retailers across the city. Over the course of the entire programme, the team bought and tested more than 190 part worn tyres with 25 per cent found to have “some form of structural defect.” In this year’s survey 30 per cent of tyres had structural failings including illegal tread depth and a nail embedded in the casing while 90 per cent did not have the correct markings required by law, which identify them as a part worn tyre.
To coincide with the start of the 10th annual National Camping and Caravanning Week (29 May – 4 June), TyreSafe has launched a new section on its website dedicated to caravan tyre safety. The pages provide a host of technical tips and information aimed at helping to keep the record number of UK caravan owners safe and legal on the roads.
British tyre manufacturer, Avon Tyres, has announced it will be the tyre partner to National Family Week 2010, giving away 70,000 tyre safety kits with its tyres. This year’s event is the UK’s largest celebration of family life, packing in thousands of events, activities, competitions and promotions, all to encourage families to spend more quality time together. Backed by all major political parties, National Family Week will take place during summer half term holiday, between 31 May and 6 June.
Research by Micheldever Tyres Services shows that over 30 per cent of cars coming into the company’s flagship outlet in Hampshire have at least one illegal tyre – up from 19 per cent one year ago. Furthermore, over 80 per cent of cars have badly worn tyres, with a tread depth below 2mm.
During a two-week long tyre safety campaign held in the United Arab Emirates, police stopped and confiscated 1,099 trucks running on unsafe tyres. Tyre related faults are reported to be one of the main causes of accidents in the UAE, a problem compounded by the preference of many truck drivers for cheap but inferior quality tyres.
As part of the new look Bridgestone has given its First Stop tyre network, the tyre major has created a dynamic new consumer website. The site, firststop-tyreexperts.co.uk, features a new style of navigation that Bridgestone says is designed to “drive users to their nearest dealer” by enabling them to locate the closest tyre centre simply by entering their postcode. It also offers a product guide that includes detailed specification across the Bridgestone range and gives users the ability to narrow their tyre search according to the vehicle they drive. Alternatively, a new tyre selector function allows drivers to find the correct tyres for a car simply by entering its registration number.
ATS Euromaster has announced a new promotion o small businesses operating between five and 50 company cars or vans (up to 3.5 tonnes). The company will give the first 500 companies – who are not already ATS-E customers – to contact their local centre manager a complimentary tyre safety inspection for their fleet. The fast-fitter, which has over 380 centres and 1,000 mobile service vans operating across the UK, will also undertake the first tyre repair it identifies per fleet free of charge.
ATS Euromaster will continue to fit Michelin rubber to Gregory Distribution’s 500-plus trucks and 850 trailers over the next three years after the logistics firm renewed its contract with the service network. ATS-E reports the deal is worth more than £4 million. The relationship between the two companies dates back to the early 1990s, and involves two ATS Euromaster technicians working full-time at Gregory Distribution centres at Cullompton and North Tawton.
Europeans’ concern about the spiralling cost of fuel is being exacerbated by the state of motorists’ tyres according to research conducted by Bridgestone. According to the manufacturer, four billion litres – worth approximately £4.6 billion – of fuel are being wasted every year due to the under-inflated tyres of four in every five motorists. This inadequate tyre care does not just affect motorists’ wallets; the wasted fuel equates to 9.3 million tonnes of unnecessary CO2 emissions, and therefore increases the harm to the environment caused by motoring. The findings come from safety checks carried out on 52,400 cars in 15 E.U countries in 2009.
TyreSafe has continued its April campaign to promote motorbike tyre safety by reminding bikers that they can reduce some of the problems associated with damaged roads by ensuring their tyres are properly inflated. The increase in the number of potholes on the UK’s roads following the harsh winter has increased the vulnerability of tyres running at incorrect pressures, especially from the angular edges of potholes or kerbstones. This damage can result in dangerous bulges in the sidewall, or cuts that render the tyre illegal.
Results from 15 European countries where Bridgestone’s “Think Before You Drive” campaign was conducted last year show 81 per cent of motorists to be driving on under-inflated tyres. The tyre maker drew this conclusion after conducting tyre safety checks on some 52,400 vehicles in the UK and on the Continent, and notes that this inattention to correct tyre pressure wastes the annual equivalent of four billion litres of fuel and adds 9.3 million tons of unnecessary CO2 emissions to the air we breathe.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
