Content references source material no longer available at its original location.
Tire pressure monitoring and maintenance systems improved motor carrier fuel economy by 1.4 to 1.8 percent.

Results from the FMCSA Tire Pressure Monitoring and Maintenance Systems Operational Test

Date Posted
08/24/2012
Identifier
2011-B00746
TwitterLinkedInFacebook

FMCSA Fleet Field Tests Show Promise for ATIS, TPMS

Summary Information

This source documented initial findings from a field operational test conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to evaluate the performance of commercial motor vehicles equipped with commercial tire inflation and monitoring products. During a 12-month test period, three different products were tested on two different fleet operators (Sheetz and Gordon Food Services).

  • 10 Sheetz tankers and 20 Gordon Food Services carriers tested the Meritor Tire Inflation System by PSI*
  • 16 Sheetz tankers and 19 Gordon Food Services carriers tested the Tire SafeGuard Monitoring System from HCI Corporation*
  • 10 Sheetz tankers tested the Integrated Vehicle Tire Monitoring System from Wabco*
FINDINGS

Preliminary findings from the five hypotheses tested are shown below.
  • Hypothesis 1 - Tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) or automatic tire inflation systems (ATIS) use will increase the life of equipped tires. FMCSA observation: GFS tire wear data points toward increased tire life (Sheetz reported that tires on the control fleet showed faster wear*)
  • Hypothesis 2 - TPMS or ATIS use will improve fuel economy of equipped tractor-trailers. FMCSA observation: Fleets saw a 1.4 percent improvement in fuel economy. (Sheetz reported that after traveling 4.6 million miles the vehicles equipped with the system had a 1.8 percent increase in fuel economy*)
  • Hypothesis 3 - TPMS or ATIS use will reduce road calls for damaged/flat tires of equipped tractor-trailers. FMCSA observation: Test fleets experience fewer road calls.
  • Hypothesis 4 - TPMS or ATIS correctly measures the tire pressure of equipped tractor-trailers. FMCSA observation: Minor issues were identified in each fleet.
  • Hypothesis 5 - TPMS or ATIS use will not introduce unscheduled maintenance that adversely affects day-to-day fleet operations. FMCSA observation: Technicians did not report altered work habits due to TPMS equipment.
Overall, the findings indicate that tire pressure monitoring and automatic tire inflation systems can influence tire maintenance intervals and improve performance and safety.

* = Content derived from related FMCSA presentation entitled "Talking Safety Technology," May 2010.
Deployment Locations