ABS Pressure monitors - a better choice

Other problems that can plague such sensors include the:

•  Infamous flat tire on the side of the road;

• Catastrophic tire failure that occurred because the last guy who changed the tire broke the sensor and didn’t tell his boss. (It was the third such incident that month and it occurred because the owner was too cheap to replace his outdated pre-1980s tire changer.);

•  Ruining the sensor by installing flat-proof­ing foam;

•  Likelihood that tire rotation won’t be car­ried out unless the car owner is willing to pay an arm and a leg to rotate the sensors;

•  Inability of pressure sensors to be installed properly in some aftermarket wheels whose contours won’t permit their installation close enough to the drop-center; and

•  Limited battery life, lasting five years at most.

In the meantime, ask your tire tech if he knows how to get the computer in that Corvette he just changed the tires on to “relearn” the position of the sensors. Yes, there now are instructions on the Internet—three years too late. But a laptop computer and soft­ware are necessary to program some makes and models of sensors.

In my capacity as a firefighter and rescue worker as well as the owner of a one-man tire business, all the rollover accidents I have been called to involved vehicles that were three years old or older and in very poor mainte­nance.

If we, as an industry, are to look out for cus­tomer safety and provide good service, it should be for the owners of all cars—not just those five years old or less.

We had better think long and hard about the decision the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is going to make in regard to the air pressure monitoring systems mandated by Congress. Government agencies don’t easily admit their mistake and change once they have made a poor choice.

If NHTSA decides in favor of direct moni­toring systems, all newer cars, trucks and sport-utility vehicles will need to go back to the auto dealership for service—affecting busi­nesses ranging from car rental agencies to fleet-maintenance companies. No single device or computer system will be available for reprogramming these devices.

Think about it, talk about it—your business may depend on it.

The lowest-paid worker in your shop ulti­mately is going to have to do battle with those sensors. (Mechanics beware, you may find your­selves slinging tires. Those in the OEM shops already are doing so for liability reasons.)

Go to a better solution—the ABS system. Your customers will appreciate it and so will your employees.