It might not be that long before you see red lights in your rear view mirror only to hear a voice come over a P.A. system that says, “PULL IT OVER.” As you find yourself along the side of the highway and you’re asking yourself, “Was I speeding? I don’t think so and I’m positive I came to a complete stop at that last stop sign.”
As the officer gets out of his car and puts on his trooper hat you can see that look in his eyes that confirms it…Yep, I’m gonna get a ticket but what in the hell did I do?”
“Driver’s liscense and proof of insurance please.”
“But officer, I wasn’t speeding was I?”
“Mr Smith, would please step out of the car and walk to the rear of the car with me.”
“Mr Smith. just take a look at that tire. Do you have any idea just how low that is? Do you realize how bad that can affect your gas mileage?”
“Officer, I’m so sorry. I guess with the radio on and the kids in the car I just wasn’t paying attention.”
“That’s really no excuse Mr Smith. Have a seat in your car while I check for warrants. I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you a citation. That’s right, for not being full of hot air.”
All kidding aside, I was recently invited by the Air Resources Board (ARB) of California, to attend an upcoming workshop meeting to discuss the development of a regulation to reduce emissions from under-inflated vehicle tires. That’s right, the State of California wants to figure out a way to implement a means to control how much air you have in your tires as well as a means to enforce it. In other words, the state has asked us to come to a meeting to figure out a way to legally figure out a means to check (regulate) everyone’s tire pressure and then find a way to make it cost effective. (ticket???)
I can’t wait to hear how they intend to do this. Back in the 60’s and 70’s here in California, the California Highway Patrol had random road-side vehicle inspections in which an officer would randomly wave in unsuspecting motorist and then perform a checklist of required safety items. After the list was checked which consisted of things like horn, lights, turn signals, emergency brakes, cracked windshields and yes, even bald tires, and should there be any infractions the motorist was then given a “fix-it” ticket. The motorist was then given X-amount of days to have the safety items repaired and signed off or suffer the consequences.
As a professional who has been in the business of auto repair/service over 40 years and counting, I will tell you that I am willing to wager that not even 1 in 10 vehicles that come into most facilities has tires that are properly inflated. It’s a well known fact that improperly inflated tires causes not only pre-mature tire wear which in it’s self can be a safety concern, but it can greatly affect the vehicle’s gas mileage as well. This in turn has a direct impact on vehicle emissions and in turn has an adverse effect on global warming.
As I recall, the main reason road side vehicle safety inspections were eliminated was because of it’s cost effectiveness and it also took officers away from what many considered more important duties. The truth is I can see this dilemma from two different viewpoints. On one hand I am sure a lot of motorist are going to consider such inspections, whether they be road side inspections or otherwise, a waste of time or even possibly a violation of their rights. But then again, if you worked on as many cars on a daily basis for and many years as I have and if you saw some of the deathtraps I see that are running around out there, you might just start thinking vehicle inspections might just be what the doctor ordered.
On a regular basis many auto related business’s all over the country see motorist vehicles with dangerous brakes, bald tires, unsafe suspension components and worse. Most of the time after we mention these unsafe concerns to them we hear comments like, “I’ll take care of it with my next pay check.” or “I’ll do it when I have more time.” and so on but the simple facts are, these same cars (lots of them) are the very same cars that are right behind you when you are trying to panic stop on the freeway because someone in front of you has swerved over into your lane. Or they are the ones with bald tires that are passing your child’s bicycle or his or her way to the little league game. They are all around you… their doing freeway speeds and they have no idea that they can not possibly keep their car in control should something go wrong in a panic second. While your car may be able to stop on a dime because you keep it well maintained, that car behind you may not be able to stop for a couple hundred more yards because… “My neighbor has some tools and I’m sure he can figure out how to do a brake job. The tires? Oh hell, they must have at least a 100 more miles on them.”
When it’s all said and done, the truth is, I would personally love to see random, surprise, road side vehicle inspections again in an effort to get these issues taken care of or at very least, regular state regulated vehicle saftey inspections. Here in the State of California we have licensed facilities where smog inspections are performed. They could be set up by the same agency that oversees smog inspection stations and so on. At the same time, tire pressures could be checked as well as the all important condition of tires. And while there are at it, make it mandatory that every service station have free air pressure hose in a safe place where motorist can check their tire pressure when their getting gas. Besides, as much as the oil companies are charging for fuel they can afford to offer what they should be considering a reward for paying their ransom prices in the first place.
So what do you think? Do you feel there is a need to attempt to make motorist more aware of the importance of checking the amount of air in their tires? Should the state be the one enforcing it? If not, who? And is simply checking tire pressure enough or should there be vehicle safety inspections again like there are in a few?
3 comments ↓
Gary,
I ran an article a while back looking at the veracity of several gas saving tips. This one is actually false, you don’t get any better fuel economy with your tires more properly inflated. So, CARB is just spinning it’s wheels on this one, going with commonly accepted ‘wisdom.’
Just in case CARB starts talking about making people buy gas early in the morning, that tip is false, too.
Sources:
der5er.com “Only YOU can prevent gas waste”
http://www.der5er.com/2006/05/17/only-you-can-prevent-gas-waste/
Edmunds.com “We Test the Tips” http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/106842/article.html#test5
Der5er,
I think you must be a bit confused or possibly you have never worked around cars. Are you on meds?
Regarding the question, will under inflated tires lessen gas mileage, there is a pretty simple test even someone like you can try. Take your car (if you have one) into a “level” parking lot and shut off the engine and release the brakes and leave it in neutral. Now, get behind the car and try pushing it 100 feet. Pretty easy isn’t it. Now reduce the tire pressure by 5 or 10 pounds and try it again. When you’re finished try coming back and telling me it didn’t make you work much harder. Keep in mind, if you have to work that much harder so will your engine and any time an engine works harder it’s only common sense that it requires more fuel. For the record, you may want to recheck your sources because Edmunds.com also says proper tire inflation is important.
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Edmunds.com
Test #5: Check Your Tire Pressure
No matter how many times drivers hear about the importance of tire pressure, most of them don’t do anything about it. They probably don’t like squatting beside their car in a busy gas station with fumes swirling around them. But is it important? The answer is yes, for a number of reasons. Properly inflated tires are less likely to fail at high speeds. They wear more evenly and, yes, they deliver better gas mileage.
Of course inflating tires to the correct pressure will increase fuel economy! And, as hard as it is to do it, slowing down on the highway can help, too. My PT Cruiser gets 21 MPG at 80. It gets 26 MPG at 65. At $4.00 per gallon, I drive 65. Michigan passed a law to put in check stations to make sure each car was safe. After people invested in the stations, made them meet Michigan standards and have all the headlight checking, emission checking, tire checking etc etc. equipment ready, they rescinded the law. Lots of money was lost on that deal! Government. Go figger. Mustang Mike
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