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Bridgestone Survey: 63% of vehicles inspected are not yet ready to set off on holiday
01 July 2010
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Just before many families are about to set off on holiday, Bridgestone once again draws attention to a few elementary rules to follow for improved safety and greener driving:
• Make sure you check your tyre pressure before setting off on holiday – You’ll find the recommended levels inside your fuel filler flap. Or in the driver’s door, or in the vehicle owner’s manual. You must do the pressure check when the tyres are ‘cold’.
Remember that your tyre pressure needs to be higher when the car is loaded with people and luggage.
• Check the tyre pressure after your trip too – Heat and distance travel can affect the pressure. Generally in the course of the year you should check your tyre pressure and tread depth once a month.
• Don’t over inflate your tyres – The pressure will rise by 0.3 bar when they are warm. An overinflated tyre is less able to withstand shocks. A simple comparison: lightly push a needle into a moderately inflated plastic ball, it sinks in. Do the same with a hard inflated ball, and the ball bursts straight away.
Bridgestone Belux and Bridgestone Europe joined forces on 9 to 12 June at Interparking and the Woluwe Shopping Center to conduct the biggest tyre survey ever organised in Belgium, and today they announce the results of these inspections, made before drivers set off on holiday, of around 1,160 vehicles and offer advice for totally safe departures.
The inspection, involving over 140 Bridgestone volunteers at the Woluwe Shopping Center, took place two months after Bridgestone extended, for a further 3 years, the agreement it made to support the European Road Safety Charter. The company thereby reiterates its commitment in terms of educating drivers for improved road safety, accident prevention and publishing the results of its inspections.
Pressure problems: enemy no. 1 for safety and ecology
The inspection of 1,160 vehicles produced some worrying figures:
• 63% of vehicles checked had either tyre wear or tyre pressure problems
• More than 1 vehicle in 2 (58%) was being driven with one or more tyres underinflated or overinflated (12%)
• Close on 15% of the cars had ‘serious’ tyre wear problems and some of these were below the legal limit for tread depth
Tyre safety checks: a Bridgestone commitment at European level
Gert Meylemans, spokesperson for Bridgestone Europe, compares these figures with those obtained at European level: “Over 5 years we inspected over 160,000 vehicles across Europe. And according to our figures, 8 vehicles out of 10 inspected had similar tyre pressure or wear problems.”
Video availble on Youtube:
Media information: G.Meylemans/D. Collins: +32 2 714 68 40
Bridgestone Europe NV/SA - with European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium - is a key division of the Bridgestone Corporation. It develops and manufactures top-quality tyres in Europe which, through its 20 subsidiary sales companies and other channels, are distributed all over Europe including the Eastern European markets. Products are also exported outside Europe, including to Japan.