Your Tyres

How important is your tyre pressure?

Avon Tyres

According to analysis by a leading tyre manufacturer, up to 90 percent of vehicles on Britain's roads do not have the correct pressure in their tyres leading to increased fuel consumption and accelerated tyre wear. Alarmingly, it also increases the likelihood of a serious road traffic accidents.

Some interesting data from Continental Tyres

A 3 PSI drop in pressure = 5%+ increase in fuel consumption and 10% - 15% increase in tyre wear.
This tyre pressure reduction is physically impossible to identify by sight alone.
A 6 PSI drop in pressure = 10% - 20% increase in fuel consumption and 30%+ increase in tyre wear.
This tyre pressure reduction is virtually impossible to identify by sight alone. Especially on low profile tyres.

In Perspective

DVLA data = 27 million registered cars in 2006
DVLA data = 6 million other vehicles – lorries buses vans etc registered
Assume 10% have low tyre pressure – 6 psi
Assume each car does 10,000 miles
Assume each car does 35 MPG

The Cost - Fuel

10,000 miles @ 35 MPG = 285 Gallons of fuel
10% of this fuel = 28.5 gallons or 129.39 Litres
Multiply this by 10% of 27,000,000 = 270,000 cars using 129 extra litres of fuel.
This equates to 34,830,000 Litres of fuel saved if the tyres pressures were correct
@ 1.09 / Litre = £37,964,700

The Cost - Tyres

10,000 miles and 270,000 cars = 2,700,000,000 miles
40,000 miles per set = 67500 x 4 = 270,000 Tyres
30% of 270,000 = 81,000 Tyres saved per year.
Average cost = £60.00 ( Avon tyres data )
£4,860,000

The Human Cost

USA Data states that 120 lives & 8400 injuries each year are attributable to tyre failure.

Department of Transport

Data from the UK Department of Transport2 also highlights tyre wear as a possible cause of 2,600 serious injuries or fatalities every year as a result of blowouts or tyre deflation. This represents around seven percent of all road traffic accidents per year.

*2 Source: Road Casualties Great Britain: 2003 (Annual Report)