Consumer Knowledge of TireMaintenance and Aging Hazard

摘要

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 6,000 traffic crashes arecaused by improper vehicle maintenance and defective tires annually. A number of studies, including alarge-scale survey conducted by the American Automobile Association (AAA) Foundation, indicate thatmany consumers lack adequate knowledge and skills to carryout proper maintenance on their tires.One aspect of tire safety that has received relatively little attention is aging. Older tires,approximately six years old or more, can be unsafe despite having proper amounts of air pressure andtread. The reason is that tire components dry out with age and can separate. Anti-aging agents are addedto tire components at the time of manufacture, but apparently these compounds are mainly active onlywhen a tire is in use. Thus, spare tires, tires in storage or on a shelf, or tires that spend a long time on atrailer or a recreational vehicle may be at greater risk of failure due to premature aging than tires that areused at least some of the time. Older tires are more susceptible to failure as for example when operated athigh speeds or in hot weather. Several European manufacturers (and more recently Asian tiremanufacturers) have included warnings in owner's manuals. In 2001, the Tyre Industry Council (TIC) inthe U.K. issued a warning to consumers about the dangers of old tires. However, much less informationhas been made available by U.S. manufacturers.The present research concerns two studies conducted to assess U.S. consumers' knowledge of factorscritical to tire care, mostly focusing on aged tires. In Study One, 378 participants (230 males and 148females) completed a survey assessing their knowledge of basic tire maintenance and safety. 66% of thesample (n=251) were students (M = 21 years, SD=3.9), whereas the others (n=127) were non-students (M= 34 years, SD=14.1). Results showed that most of the participants indicated incomplete knowledge onhow to perform basic tire maintenance tasks. For example, many participants indicated they either did notknow how to check tire pressure or relied on someone else to check it (such as a relative or mechanic). Ofthose who indicated they were the main person who checked their vehicle's air pressure, many reporteddoing it infrequently and some indicated not at all. About a third (34%) of all participants reported thatthey did not know the proper procedures for changing a flat tire.In Study Two, 208 student and non-student participants (108 males and 100 females) completed asimilar survey, but the items requested greater detail regarding knowledge of tire maintenance and safetythan the first study. The mean age of the group was 29.7 (SD=14.7). The results confirmed the results ofStudy 1 and also showed that many participants either did not know their tires' safe life span ordramatically over-estimated it. For example, 26% of the respondents' estimates were considerably longer(i.e., 10 years or longer) than current recommendations for disposal. Similar results emerged forparticipants' estimates of the useful safe life of a vehicle's spare tire. On average, participants believedthat spare tires can be stored in the trunk for 7.7 years (SD=6.3). As indicated by the standard deviationfor this mean value, some participants' estimates went well beyond the actual safe limit (i.e., estimatesranged between 1 and 50 years). According to the Tyre Industry Council (TIC), the useful safe lifespan ofspare tires is about six years, although this es estimate depends on a number of factors (e.g., e timate exposure to heat,xposure light, and air).This research suggests that many consumers in the U.S. do not have the knowledge and skills requiredto carryout proper maintenance on their vehicles tires-including knowing when to replace them. Manyparticipants in this study did not know that tires have a limited useful safe lifespan with some participantssubstantially over-estimating it. Consumers need better and more accessible information about tire safetyand maintenance, including explicit warnings about the dangers associated with older tires and date ofmanufacture or expiration dates. Given the significant risk associated with driving with tires that are pasttheir recommended lifespan (e.g., loss-of-control, collisions, and rollovers), manufacturers s should develophould more effective ways of getting this important information to consumers.