This article describes the "Blowout Resistant Tire Study for Commercial Highway Vehicles" conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). While relatively few fatal crashes result from truck tires blowing out, about 70% of them occur on the front tire. They also have a greater chance of putting the truck in the path of other traffic, since the front axle is also the steering axle. The main maintenance lapses are failing to keep tire pressure high enough and overloading. Retread tires were not identified as significantly more likely to cause a crash. Some blowouts are purely accidental, when a truck runs over a piece of debris in the road, but most are due to tire wear, which can be monitored and predicted. Nearly all tire makers are developing electronic chips to monitor tire pressure and heat. Some make the data available to the driver in a continuous stream of data; others store it for periodic scanning at truck stops or weigh stations. There are still problems with making them sturdy enough to be reliable. Some are developing tires that can withstand complete collapse after blowing out for a brief period of time, but to date none are sturdy enough to hold a truck.
Samenvatting