Statistically speaking, you’re more likely than not to be driving on underinflated tires.
When Bridgestone Europe headed out last year and checked the tire condition of 38,000 cars in nine European countries, it found 71% of participating motorists to be driving on tires inflated to a lower than recommended pressure. The majority of these underinflated tires were admittedly less than 0.5 bar under pressure, yet 7.5% of motorists’ tires were more than 0.5 bar under pressure and 0.5% of motorists were driving on tires at least 0.75 bar under pressure.
The tiremaker points out that 18% to 26% of the total force upon a vehicle comes from tire rolling resistance. Using this figure, it calculates this inflation laxity is costing Europeans £2.4 billion and two billion tons of wasted fuel per year. What’s more, by not keeping our tires at the correct pressure we “gift” the environment 4.8 million tons of additional and unnecessary CO2 emissions annually – the equivalent of 1.8 g/km for every car on the road.
And if that’s not enough to ruin your morning, then consider this – Bridgestone estimates that 12.2 million tires in Europe are removed from circulation each year because of premature wear. The cost of replacing these is not pocket money, particularly bearing in mind that the tiremaker announced a fresh round of price increases only yesterday.
“Driving on underinflated tires and insufficient tread depth is doubly dangerous,” states Bridgestone. “The loss of vehicle handling control and increase in vehicle drift rise sharply as tire pressure is reduced. Low tire pressure also has an extremely negative effect on tire durability, due to excessive shear stress in the tire shoulder and heat build-up from sidewall bending. Motorists identified with seriously low tire pressure face possible tire failure due to these factors.”
In addition to widespread under-inflation, Bridgestone’s tire checkers found almost 12% of tires on the road to be worn down below the EU legal minimum of 1.6 mm tread depth. Bridgestone informs that when driving on wet roads, cars traveling on tires with a tread depth below 1.6 mm are prone to hydroplaning at speeds up to 40% lower than for cars traveling on deeper treaded tires. A final statistic from the tiremaker is that around 2% of inspected tires were both severely worn and severely underinflated; the proud owners of these specimens can only hope the increased rolling resistance experienced will slow them enough to counter the added aquaplaning risk. (Tyres & Accessories)
