The new product, called Accutire Monitor (Model MS-4359), retails for less than $70 and is an alternative to the wheel-mounted TPM systems that will be mandatory in all new cars in the U.S. by 2008, the company said.

This product will be unveiled next week at the AAPEX (Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo) show in Las Vegas. At the show, Measurement Ltd. will be located in booth No. 230 on the upper level of the Sands Expo Center.

"The Accutire Monitor system provides four specially designed tire caps that can be programmed with the correct tire pressure for your vehicle by using the accompanying programming digital tire gauge,” said Steve Rodrig, director of operations for Measurement Ltd. “The tire gauge encodes the caps with the correct tire pressure through the use of Measurement Ltd.’s proprietary (patent pending) sensor technology. Essentially, the caps and the tire gauge ‘talk’ to one another through sensors.

"Once the programmed caps are placed on the tire valve, they stay in a ‘sleep’ mode until the consumer wants to check the tire pressure,” Rodrig said. “He or she can simply hold the Accutire Monitor gauge next to the cap (no need to touch or unscrew the cap, keeping hands clean) – the cap ‘wakes up’ and changes color to indicate the range of air pressure that’s inside the tire.”

In September 2000, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics published the results of an Omnibus Household Survey that reported that there were approximately 193 million licensed vehicles traveling on America’s roads. In that same year, the Federal Highway Administration estimated that there were 6,356,000 car accidents. Vehicles with incorrect tire pressure are known to contribute greatly to the number of accidents, hence the government’s decision to require TPMS in all new vehicles by 2008.

But for the millions of pre-TPMS cars on the road, the only option has been for consumers to pay to have a wheel-mounted TPMS installed, at a cost of approximately $500 per vehicle. The BTS Omnibus Survey also reported that more than half of American households owned two or three vehicles, and one in 10 households owned four or more, representing a cost of $1,000-2,000 per household to retrofit their older cars with TPMS. At that cost, it is unlikely that many consumers will be able to afford to have the wheel-mounted TPMS installed on their existing vehicles.

The Accutire Monitor system with patents pending allows consumers to get the benefits of the more costly alternative systems at a fraction of the cost, the company said.