RMA said it expects “record participation” this year for NTSW, which runs from June 7-13.

In prior years, NTSW was held in April during Spring National Car Care Month. It was moved to June this year to accommodate the now cancelled RMA annual meeting.

The association said that over the first seven years of NTSW, more than 5.5 million Be Tire Smart brochures have been shipped to more than 21,000 retail tire outlets nationwide.
 
A recent RMA-sponsored study found that about half of surveyed passenger vehicles had at least one underinflated tire. “More alarming is that nearly one in five vehicles had at least one significantly under inflated tire that can compromise safety and waste gas,” RMA said.

Among the RMA tire pressure survey findings:
 
• 9% of vehicles had four properly inflated tires
• 50% of vehicles had at least one under inflated tire
• 19% of vehicles had at least one tire under inflated by 8 psi
• 26% of vehicles had at least one tire under inflated by 6 psi
• 38% of vehicles had at least one tire under inflated by 4 psi
 
“Although all new vehicles are now equipped with tire pressure monitoring systems, these systems issue a low pressure warning only after tire pressure drops 25% below the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended pressure,” RMA said. “In many cases, an 8 psi loss of pressure would not trigger a warning light and would cause a loss of fuel economy and could lead to a vehicle safety issue.”
 
For the study, tire pressure data was collected on 5,478 vehicles across the country by retailers Sullivan Tire and Auto, National Tire and Battery, Discount Tire Co., Auto Tire, Les Schwab Tire, Pep Boys, and Tire Kingdom.

For more information or to obtain supporting materials, visit the NTSW Web site at www.betiresmart.org. (Tire Review/Akron)