NHTSA Tire-Related Surveys: Results and Implications

Details

• Creators:
  Kindelberger, John C
• Corporate Creators:
  Bowhead Mission Solutions, LLC
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Office of Regulatory Analysis and Evaluation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Fuel Conservation Monitoring Tire Pressure Tires Vehicle Safety
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT HS 813 617
• Series:
  National Transportation Statistics (NTS)
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Contracting Officer:
  Wochinger, Kathryn
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Abstract:
  Low tire pressure has been shown to be an issue of safety and of fuel economy. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 138 required a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) in most passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating under 10,000 lb as of September 2008 with a phase-in starting in September 2006. NHTSA conducted an evaluation survey in 2010 and 2011 that found direct TPMS to be 55.6 percent effective at reducing severe underinflation (more than 25% under the vehicle’s recommended tire pressure). In the evaluation, questions arose about TPMS malfunction in older vehicles possibly reducing TPMS effectiveness. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2015 mandated the Secretary of Transportation to update FMVSS No. 138 to ensure that TPMS cannot be overridden, reset, or recalibrated in a way that will prevent the system from identifying a tire that is significantly underinflated, and that the revised requirements shall not contain any provision that has the effect of prohibiting the availability of direct or indirect tire pressure monitoring systems that meet the requirement. To help inform these topics, NHTSA conducted the Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Outage Rates and Repair Costs (TPMS-ORRC) study, including a vehicle and driver survey, to learn more about TPMS operational status and driver facts, and a repair facilities survey to learn more about malfunction incidences and repair costs. This report compiles the TPMS-ORRC operations and results and looks at earlier survey results for historical perspective. Topics examined include TPMS operational status and related factors; driver knowledge about TPMS and tire pressure; driver engagement with tire pressure; TPMS malfunction reasons, repairs, and repair costs; driver acceptance of TPMS and reaction to malfunction; indirect TPMS; and State requirements.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:eab0bb5c51c7b0b58a025dcb336629ddafd3f85e8e0f1b3bdb0da3e81124eaeacd2a5e3ed73e8585daf0930e16de3b52bf3def31abafd568283cfd80891b2482
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/80057/dot_80057_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.86 MB ]