Between November 2016 and summer 2017, a TPMS and Tire Inflation Pressure Field Study has been conducted in three EU member states. Purpose was to find out whether the fitment of TPMS influences the average inflation pressures of passenger car tires and whether different types of TPMS are equally effective.
Data was collected from a total of 1470 cars in Sweden, Germany and Spain. 54% of the participating, randomly selected vehicles had no TPMS, 25% had dTPMS and 21% were equipped with iTPMS.
Participating parties were NIRA, Dunlop Tech, TÜV Nord, TÜV Süd and DEKRA in co-operation with OICA , who presented the results at the 84th GRRF session in Geneva, click to view the presentation GRRF-84-33e which can also be downloaded from http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29grrf/grrf84.html
The key results can be summarized as follows:
- TPMS fitment increases the average pressure by ~3%
- TPMS fitment reduces general and especially severe underinflation significantly
- Both iTPMS and dTPMS are equally effective
- No indications about safety risks connected to the TPMS reset function could be found.
The results clearly show that the typical prejudices and campaigns against iTPMS lack factual background and should hence be regarded as what they most likely are: A lobbying campaign based on virtual arguments to enforce the mandatory fitment of dTPMS at the expense of the EU citizens and the environment.
Further details to be published soon.