Jim Amer sees them roll into his West Hill Marathon service station every day: cars with underinflated tires.
The reason, according to Amer: “Today’s average motorist never checks or rarely checks air pressure.”
But that indifference may be changing in the wake of the Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. tire recall in August. With more than 100 deaths linked to Firestone tires, attention has been focused on tires and tire inflation.
Casual conversations have turned to tires. Drivers are pouring into service stations and tire centers and asking, among other things, what is the safe pressure for their tires. Tire gauges have become a hot seller for retailers such as Sears Roebuck & Co. and NTB.
“I think there is an increased awareness of tire safety” in light of the stories about the tire controversy, Sears spokesman Tom Nicholson said.
“We’ve seen a lot of questions from customers coming into our stores saying, `Can you look at our tires and are they safe?”‘ he said.
The link between tire inflation and safety cannot be overlooked. The Tire Industry Safety Council says underinflation creates excessive heat, which can lead to tire failure.
Yet the renewed attention on tires raises an important question: Just who keeps their tires properly inflated?
Not Tom Clark.
“I don’t believe I have ever put air in my tires,” said Clark, senior vice president of First Union Securities in Fairlawn, Ohio.
On a morning workout at a fitness club, Clark suggested to several friends that most people rarely check the air in their tires or even know what air pressure to keep them at. His pals agreed.
“I think if you talk to 100 people on your phone line and ask them what the air pressure should be, they wouldn’t have a clue,” he said.
Clark, 47, said he and his wife lease two cars and regularly have the oil changed in their cars. When the oil is changed, he said, “I assume they take care of [putting air in the tires].”
One reason drivers ignore their tires, according to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. spokesman Chuck Sinclair, is because of the many technological advances in tires in the last two decades. The added comfort level has led many people to ignore their tires.
The tire, he said, “is a neglected part of the vehicle. If you want your tires to last, let alone be safe, you want to make sure they are inflated properly, make sure they are rotated and balanced. All these things go into the life of the tires.”
Chuck Hamad, president of Hamad Tire Co. in Akron, believes the vast majority of people probably don’t own a tire gauge. But Akron resident Faye Potter does, and she routinely inspects her tires.
The 75-year-old woman said that after her husband, Bernie, died several years ago, her son, Phil, told her to begin checking her tires.
“He said you should check your tires at least every four to six weeks, so I have been doing it,” she said. “He did what I told him and now it is time for me to do what he says.”
Yet for those with the best intentions, there are obstacles to keeping tires properly inflated. For starters, air hoses at some gas stations can be difficult to find.
While there are some gas stations and convenience stores that have air hoses, and offer the air free, there are others that have no air hose or charge 50 cents for three minutes of air.
Running a tire 20 percent underinflated can increase fuel consumption 10 percent, according to Bill Egan, Goodyear’s chief engineer of product design.
According to Goodyear, the Society of Automotive Engineers reported that 87 percent of all flat tires have a history of underinflation and the Energy Department has reported that underinflated tires waste 4 million gallons of gas daily in the U.S. And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the 1970s reported that half of America’s cars had underinflated tires.
Goodyear said it conducted a parking lot survey of 250 cars and found that more than 28 had one or more underinflated tires.
“If the public ever realized what is driving down the highway next to them,” West Hill Marathon’s Amer said, “they would be scared to death.”
