ZilviaBot

04-02-2009 07:00 PM

Filed under: Maintenance, Government/Legal, Green, Safety



Keeping your tires properly inflated is a very good idea. An under-inflated radial can increase wear while also decreasing performance and fuel economy. But if the state of California can help it, under-inflated tires may soon be a thing of the past.

California has passed a new law requiring most auto servicing sites to check tire pressure at each visit and add air when necessary. The law will affect 40,000 businesses in the state, although the mandate does not effect body shops, car washes, glass repair shops, or parts stores. The state's government will let the service stations, smog-check stations, oil change places, and so on determine how much to charge for the check, and they must have a high-accuracy pressure gauge on hand. The tire pressure monitoring law will go into effect in July 1, 2010.

California's Air Resources Board says the state-wide law will save 75 million gallons of fuel per year, while also eliminating 700,000 metric tons of greenhouse gasses. That sounds mighty impressive, but if the Sacramento Bee is to believed, that's less than 0.5 percent of what California's greenhouse-gas reduction goals for 2020. Better is the CARB estimate that optimized tire pressure will save drivers about $12 per year (about six gallons of gas at today's prices), along with added safety and tire longevity benefits.

Those figures are based off statistics which show that vehicles lose 1% efficiency for every 3 psi a tire is low. Testing by Consumer Reports showed little or no impact on fuel economy when tire pressure is off by 10%, though most agree that low tire pressure will shorten the life of tires. Fewer tires in state landfills figures to be a good thing, too.

Check out CARB's official press release by clicking here, and find more information at the link below. Thanks for the tip, Mark!

[Source: Consumer Reports | Image: Einstein/Getty]California to require mandatory tire-pressure checks at automotive businesses originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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mrmephistopheles

Hooray for more excessive legislation! I especially love how it will end up costing consumers more money on top of whatever service they're having done. I'm sure it'll be like $5 per check, because spending 2 minutes checking pressure and inflating a tire is SO time- and labor-intensive.

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FaLKoN240

Forcing us to pay for it is stupid, but other than that its a good idea.

Has anyone heard anything about the no more washing your own personal car at your house legislation?

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NemeGuero

we may not have to be forced to do it.
Like they'd give us the option to do it ourselves (and provide the air for free as required by law)

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soreballz

Most places do this shit for free already anyway.

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drift freaq

I don't trust Zilviabot( yes I know who it is) Its been making an awful lot of mistakes lately and seems bent on posting anything anti California. Which suggests a blind bias that can lead towards posting inaccuracies.

In other words Zilviabot posts anything it sees on the internet without always checking the facts.

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ryguy

They should require it, but also allow the use of a regular old tire pressure gauge and make it so that there is no charge.

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mavericksniper

Why are they making so many stupid laws in california?

mrmephistopheles

We have a plenitude of moronic legislators in addition to moronic lobbyists.

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Enna

Thats why I'm happy I dont live out there kevin. I'd be so pissed off on a daily basis that I dont think I could handle it. Ugh all this stupid shit pisses me off. I know its only a matter of time before they start doing stupid shit like this to this wasteland called vegas.

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S14DB

Why can't this be a unfunded mandate like everything else? State/Fed environmental fees are stupid to begin with and they charge you sometimes for stuff you don't use. The computers add the fees blindly. A lot of tire shops give free air for free advertising. Better than gas stations that charge for everything. Now they have a reason to charge more fees for what they used to do for free.

I'm sure there will be stories of people paying for air then not getting it. Stores filling up every car to the same PSI. What about cars with larger wheels/tires that don't use factory PSI. Will they fill up to what you say or play the legal cop out game and default to the sticker. I had to make my own sticker to cover my factory PSI's cause they kept airing down my tires when I got an alignment.

I would like to see those coin fed air pumps banned. Used to be 25c now 50c and you can barely fill up the tires before it shuts off. Pure profit compressors not run by the gas station but a company pays a fee to set them up and the gas station to stop supplying free air. Those are what keep people from checking the air in their tires. They should mandate free air at service shops not this.

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bardabe

couldn't have said it better myseld.

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LongGrain

i didnt know there were any shops that DIDNT check tire pressure on every vehicle that comes in.

everywhere i have been, including the dealer i work at do this already.

VROOOM

all new cars come with Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems. so im gonna have to pay for something my car does already?

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S14DB

TPMS is very inaccurate. It was designed to tell you when you have a flat on run flat tires. The direct ones are to bad. But, most of the new systems are indirect. They use the rotation sensors on the ABS/VSC system to calculate if one tire is creating more drag then the others. If you have the same tires all around they are going to lose air at the same rate. The system will never be able to tell this situation.

Most units are 90% accurate. The TREAD act that requires the system report after 25% low. So on a 30psi tire you could be below 20psi before the system reports it to you. If all the tires are low on a indirect system you are screwed.

It is no replacement for checking yourself. TPMS will help you if you have a flat. Don't count on it for anything else.


The issue is that 40% of Americans don't check their tire pressure ever. I don't see how punishing the 60% that do is helpful. Sure mandate they check. But stop with these stupid fees.

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VROOOM

i believe i have direct TPMS. my wheels have bands and sensor that had to be transfered over to my new wheels.

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S14DB

Yeah, that's direct. Still worthless.

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DALAZ_68

pfft...doesnt affect me, i never wash my car...

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durdurka

ok...ive worked at 3 shops here in ga, private and chain, and the owners of each of them get pretty pissed at anyone that doesnt do this. thats how most shops are. i cant believe they have to make laws forcing places to do this. it should be a habit of any real technician.