US owners beginning to trust their TPM systems - J D Power

ERJ staff report (DS)

Westlake Village, California -- Releasing its annual report into OE tyre satisfaction in the US, J D Power said more vehicle owners are accepting their tyre pressure monitoring systems.

As well as an increase in awareness of slow leaks from tyres, largely due to effective TPMS, owners of new vehicles say they are most satisfied with tyres made by Michelin and Pirelli.

The study finds that original equipment tyre customers in their second year of vehicle ownership experience 13.4 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) due to slow leaks, up from a rating of 11 in 2009.

Owners who experience a slow leak have also become more accepting of the problem, as 15 percent of these owners say they "definitely will" recommend their tyre brand, compared with 11 percent in 2009. In comparison, only 3 percent of owners who experience fast tread wear say they "definitely will" recommend their tyre brand.

The J D Power survey showed that warnings from TPMS have become more common over the last year, increasing to an average 2.2 warnings per year from 1.5 in 2009. This has led to more owners taking their vehicles into a service station to check tyre condition, and 99 percent of owners who saw a TPMS warning took some action to remedy the problem, compared with just 1 percent who ignored it and took no action.

In terms of satisfaction, JD Power divides the vehicle market into four segments: luxury, passenger car, sporty performance and truck/utility.

In the luxury segment Michelin scored top with 743 points out of a potential 1000. Dunlop came second with 735. All other manufacturers scored below the segment average of 709.

In the main passenger car segment, Michaelin again came top, with 705, followed by Firestone, Pirellli and Hankook, all of whom scored above the segment average of 639.

For performance tyres, Pirelli topped the rankings with 742, followed by Goodyear with 727. All the other makers fell below the segment average of 704.

In the light truck segment, Michelin once more topped the scale with 727, followed by Pirelli and Bridgestone who both came above the segment average of 672.

This is an external link and should open in a new window. If the window does not appear, please check your pop-up blocking software. ERJ is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Press release from J D Power