RMA announces cities with top tyre inflation

ERJ staff report (R&PN)

Washington, DC -- Honolulu; Baltimore; Boston; Providence, Rhode Island; and Charlotte, North Carolina, are the five US cities where motorists are most likely to have four properly inflated tyres, the Rubber Manufacturers Association said in a press release leading up to the ninth annual National Tire Safety Week June 6-12.

But Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Antonio and Birmingham fared worst among tyre care knowledge among more than 30 cities surveyed by the RMA and several tyre retailers.

In its 2010 national tyre safety survey, the RMA also found that 17 percent of vehicles have four properly inflated tyres. Fifty-five percent of vehicles had at least one underinflated tyre, the association said, and 15 percent of vehicles had at least one tyre underinflated by 8 psi or more.

Underinflated tyres in the US contribute to more than 600 highway fatalities and 33,000 injuries every year, while also wasting 1.2 billion gallons of fuel, the RMA said. Although tyre pressure monitoring systems are now the law on new vehicles, the TPMS warning only comes on after a tyre is 25-percent underinflated, making it clear that TPMS is no substitute for motorists checking their own tyres for proper pressure, the association said.

Last year more than 20,000 tyre and service outlets participated in National Tire Safety Week, distributing the RMA's “Be Tire Smart-Play Your PART” tyre safety and maintenance brochures and offering free tyre pressure checks. The RMA's public service announcements on tyre safety aired more than 22,000 times in 2009, the association said.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)

View results of survey, city-by-city from RMA