Accidents caused by burst truck tires occur almost every day somewhere on the German freeway network. Take Lower Franconia, for example: the police headquarters responsible here informed the trade journal "kfz-betrieb" as follows: "In 2014, we recorded nine accidents on freeways in which tire blowouts on trucks were the cause. This resulted in 13 people being injured. In addition, we discovered tire defects 82 times during traffic checks." Nevertheless, the EU Commission sees no need for a mandatory tire pressure monitoring system for trucks.



Tire pressure monitoring systems, which have been mandatory for passenger cars since November 2014, could prevent many of these damages. Nevertheless, these systems are not mandatory for trucks. Checking the tire pressure on the up to 22 wheels of an articulated truck is the responsibility of the driver, who unfortunately does not always perform this task with the necessary concentration. "Up to three percent of truck tires fail prematurely," says Hartwig Kühn from Continental, summarizing the plight. "And the reason is almost always under-inflation." A survey by the German tire manufacturer revealed that commercial vehicles are on average under-inflated by around twelve percent. This not only shortens the service life of the tires by almost ten percent, but also increases fuel consumption by around 1.5 percent.



However, the EU Commission came to different conclusions in a study in 2013. According to the study, widespread use of TPMS would reduce the fuel consumption of the European truck fleet by just 0.18 to 0.35 percent and the total number of accidents by 0.8 to 4 percent. This was probably not enough for the authors of the study to recommend that the EU Commission make TPMS mandatory for trucks.



You can order a free press copy of issue 15 of "kfz-betrieb" from: heidelinde.gutowski@vogel.de.



"kfz-betrieb" is the most widely read trade magazine in the automotive industry and has been informing the automotive trade and service sector for over 100 years. "kfz-betrieb" is the official organ of the German Motor Vehicle Trade (ZDK), the professional interest group for around 38,000 car dealerships and workshops. News from the entire automotive industry is available at www.kfz-betrieb.de and in the daily newsletter.

The parent company Vogel Business Media is Germany's largest trade media company with 100+ trade journals, 100+ web portals, 100+ business events as well as numerous mobile offerings and international activities. Its headquarters are in Würzburg. The company celebrates its 125th birthday in 2016.