You've GOT to be $hitting me!

[AFJuvat]

Reading a trade publication (Auto News, a small regional publication for the auto industry)

Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) will become required equipment on all cars starting with the 2006 model year.

The NHTSA estimates that TPMS will save up to 150 lives per year.

Have we become so lazy that the act of checking the air in our tires has become too much of a burden? Is personal responsibility so far gone that we must now rely on computers to say "Hey doofus, put air in your tires!" to save 150 people that are so situationally unaware that they can't or don't notice a low tire?

Discuss

AFJuvat

[pwd72s]

Hoot! A friend has a '94 'Vette...he told me a long tale of the hassles with the air checking system when he bought a set of tires...Chev dealer ended up replacing a $$$ black box because a dash light warning of low pressure was on. Nope, turned out that for his year 'vette each wheel had to remain on the same corner. After hearing this saga, I bought a pressure gauge at Sewars for $3.95, mailed it to him as a "birthday gift"...
Yep, we have degraded, as a society, haven't we?

[Tyson Schmidt]

Well, there are nails out there. And SUV's are beyond dangerous with a low tire.

And yes, only about 5% of car owners regularly check tire pressure. Even Porsche owners.

[dd74]

Originally posted by AFJuvat
Have we become so lazy that the act of checking the air in our tires has become too much of a burden?

Yes, but I'm changing my ways...

As for the various stop gaps in American driving (ABS, airbags, monitored speed, power, tire pressure, etc.), my belief is the American car has become more an exercise in lower insurance rates, manufacturer ownness and an absence of personal responsibility than something cherished with enthusiasm back in the love-of-motoring age. To complain about these changes surely dates us and our cars back to a period when cars were fun. We're a dying breed.

This certainly makes the Elise a much more attractive automobile. Everything else on four wheels increasingly seems to be just a tool.

[dtw]

Originally posted by AFJuvat
Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) will become required equipment on all cars starting with the 2006 model year.
AFJuvat

[island911]

Originally posted by AFJuvat
.. . (TPMS) will become required equipment on all cars starting with the 2006 model year. . ..

Laws requiring some "defined/constrained technology" do us a disservice.

For example; catalytic-converters . . rather than simply required emmissions standards.

Here we have requirements which will make no sense for say the tweel

. . .it also would make sense to design "cars" to not flip-over from a blown tire. (it kinda seems to be a bit smarter than a sensor telling "your tire just blew; prepare to flip.")

[Rick V]

Forget making the pressure sensors, let the 150 people a year go to a better place, and we'll just call it the thinning of the herd

[86 911]

In my eyes: Another thing to go wrong and break and be a hassle. Plus, tires today are so complexly designed that any type of air leak would be rare, thus not much of a threat for tire pressure to rapidly drop and cause a hazard. Maybe 50 years ago this would have been helpful (I'm thinking about tire quality), but today people are not getting educated enough to look for these things when owning a car since cars are a dime a dozen now and literally anyone smart enough to get a license can drive one.

[Victor]

Only in Amerika hopefully.

[kaisen]

Corvettes since 1999 have had tire pressure monitors that have trouble 'reading' through any tire except the oem Goodyear Eagle F1 GS Run-Flats. If you put on a Michelin Pilot Sport, you may not get signal and the system malfunctions. Even a non-runflat Goodyear can give the system fits.

SoCal911SC brings up an interesting point regarding litigation.

The truth is, most people don't check ANYTHING on their cars. Even their mirrors! Tire pressure monitoring isn't an evil thing, just another senseless expense to idiot-proof life for the window lickers among us.

E

[304065]

SoCal, it's an accepted principle of tort law that "evidence of subsequent remedial measures is not admissible to prove defects of design" in products liability cases.

Translating that into layspeak, just because a manufacturer introduces a later improvement doesn't mean you can sue them because the old product wasn't as safe. This is a POLICY choice to encourage innovations in products.

But looking at this from a "law and economics" perspective, is anyone clamoring that they NEED tire pressure monitoring?

Is the direct cost of the 150 deaths per year greater or lesser than the cost of mandatory installation of the TPMS? What about the social cost, i.e. the harm to society done from the loss of those 150 people, the impact on their families and employers, the municipality, etc.?

You mandate something when the direct costs to the group are low on average but the social cost is high. For example, we mandate motorcycle helmets because the ultimate price is paid by only a few involved in accidents, while the vast majority of people remain unscathed, but the SOCIAL COST is high, particularly if you have a welfare state picking up the tab when the victim becomes a ward of the state. The state protects its own by imposing an offsetting social cost (in the form of the TPMS) that it believes will be less costly to IT, by shifting the burden for the problem away from the government, to the manufacturer.

The idea that the state would shift the burden to the INDIVIDUAL by requiring a tire pressure check every month, well, that's just not the kind of thing a politician does if he wants to get re-elected. Also, the social cost of administering such a system is higher (it's harder to police 100 million motorists than it is to police a dozen manufacturers).

But isn't this a solution to a problem that nobody asked for?

[KNS]

People are lazy. I work in EMS (emergency medical services). I can't tell you haw many accidents we go to that are the result of a tire blow-out. One hundred and fifty seems like a low number to me. Walk through any large parking lot and look at all the underinflated tires, it pisses me off. In Arizona, the heat takes even more of a toll on underinflated tires traveling at 80 mph on the interstate, and the tires will fail. The vehicle either leaves the road or plows into some other inocent motorist - that's the part that pisses me off.
Sorry for the rant...

[gaijindabe]

And what will these lazy people do when the low tire pressure warning light comes on?

Ignore it.

[RickM]

A benefit is the tens or hundreds of millions of barrels of oil that will be saved due to properly inflated tires.

[KNS]

Let me add to my rant. When the vehicle leaves the road, it usually rolls several times. Often, the same lazy f*cks who neglected to check their tires didn't bother to put seat belts on their child or infant. The child or infant then ricochets around inside the vehicle or gets ejected out a window. It amazes me in this day and age that someone would get into 2-3 tons of metal and choose not to put on their *saftey* belt.
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.
Oh, and by the way, it's the big SUVs that seem to be the quickest to leave the road and roll. I've seen it and the stats back it up.

[1967 R50/2]

I think this is a prime example of an organization which over reaching. There are lots of things which would make the highways safer than this tire pressure thing:

1. Ban cell phone use.
2. No cupholders in cars. No eating or drinking allowed.
3. More extensive driver training in order to be licenced.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by KNS
it's the big SUVs that seem to be the quickest to leave the road and roll. I've seen it and the stats back it up.

I bumped into a auto-safety lawyer at the barber shop last week. He wants so see "stablity control" added to all new cars. Claims it would save thousands of lives.

So would getting tipsey SUV's off the road.

[KNS]

SUVs aren't inherently unsafe, it's just that the majority of people buying them have little idea of how the vehicle will behave at it's limits. SUVs are less forgiving than a pass. car in similar stituations. Mom would rather chat on the phone, discipline the kids, etc. than DRIVE the car. If the driver has to slam on the brakes or make a suddden avoidance manuever, the SUV is going to react differently than the car they learned on. At 80 mph that has deadly consequences. If a tire blows, a roll is likely. I agree 100% with R50/2 with the things he listed that should change but it will never happen.

[Jeff Higgins]

This is a pretty weak effort in my opinion. The low tire pressure warning light should not only go off in the vehicle in question, but also at the local DMV office. It should automatically lock out the igniton and broadcast the location of the vehicle via a GPS monitoring system to said DMV office. The DMV would be required to suspend your license until the situation is corrected, locate your mother in their vast database, and send her to your location to scold your sorry ass for being the lazy S.O.B. she said you would always turn into.

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by 1967 R50/2
I think this is a prime example of an organization which over reaching. There are lots of things which would make the highways safer than this tire pressure thing:

1. Ban cell phone use.
2. No cupholders in cars. No eating or drinking allowed.
3. More extensive driver training in order to be licenced.

What! Expect average people to be intelligent and responsible...

THAT'S JUST CRAZY TALK!