BAD TYRES RISK

An analysis of tyres replaced at a number of branches of nationwide tyre retailer and car maintenance provider, Advance Pitstop, has shown that a high number of vehicles on our roads are driving on seriously dangerous or defective tyres.

The analysis was carried out as part of leading German tyre manufacturer, Continental Tyre Group’s commitment to its Vision Zero strategy, a long term plan to reduce accidents through tyre technologies and innovative automotive systems. Advance Pitstop and its chain of 30 outlets are a wholly owned part of Continental Tyre Group.

According to Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres Ireland: “It is really scary to think that these tyres were taken off vehicles that were driving on the roads of Ireland – the badly worn and damaged tyres included the full range of faults that you would expect to find on tyres that have been neglected for some period of time including: tread depth worn down to below the legal minimum of 1.6mm and in some cases, worn right down so that the wire carcass of the tyre can be seen; lumps, bulges and holes in tyres again showing the wire ‘carcass’ of the tyre; uneven wear with one side of the tyre worn down to dangerous levels due to incorrect balancing and tyre tracking”.

“I would describe tyres like these as ticking bombs – nobody knows ‘the when’ or ‘the where’ that one of these tyres could lead to a catastrophic failure.  For sure, it would not only be a disaster for the driver and occupants of the vehicle in question, but also for any other unsuspecting road user who just happened to be on the same road at the same time”.

Justin Glynn Branch Manager of the Advance Pitstop outlet in Dundrum, Co. Dublin, who provided tyres for analysis as part of this campaign said: “I regularly see tyres like this on vehicles coming in to our depot and in many cases the owner is totally oblivious either to the condition of the tyres or to the potential impact they could have on the safety of their family who may even be in the vehicle with them in the depot.

“It really brings home to me how important it is that drivers take responsibility for checking their tyres on a regular basis. Indeed, as some of our photos of the bad tyres show, some of the problems were on the ‘inside’ rim of a wheel, so not immediately visible on a casual inspection. The truth is that a tyre can only be fully examined by gaining access to the full wheel through use of a ramp or by hoisting the vehicle. Any reputable tyre dealer will provide a free tyre check to motorists and we would certainly encourage drivers to avail of this so as to have a trained tyre fitter check out your tyres on a regular basis”.

Under the terms of the recently introduced tyre safety penalty point regime, if stopped by a Garda, the owners of any of these tyres would have been facing a fixed charge notice of €80 and up to four penalty points if the matter goes to court.