A number of car companies in the UK have voiced criticism of the European Union's decision to make tyre pressure monitoring systems fully mandated by 2014. The criticism has focussed on a suggestion that they are an unnecessary piece of technology and one for which some motorists have suggested that they would rather not pay. The rationale advanced from some quarters is that a driver should take responsibility and check tyre pressures on a weekly basis; clearly this does not happen.
"Consumer research, says Schrader Electronics ?Europe's leading developer of direct tyre pressure monitoring systems ?has indicated very clearly that most drivers do not check tyre pressures or indeed tyre tread depth and that up to 80% of cars on UK roads are running on either over or under inflated tyres. These findings have been confirmed in a number of checks undertaken by tyre company Michelin.
"The increase in cost mentioned in a news report in the UK weekly motoring magazine Auto Express is frankly misleading; we anticipate that the cost to the motorist should be no more than ?3 per system and this will reduce with economies of scale," continued Alfonso Di Pasquale. "A suggestion in the same news item from the AA that a new sensor will have to be purchased if a tyre is replaced is equally incorrect and even if this were the case, experience from the United States ?where TPMS has been standard on all cars since 1997 ?has indicated that a replacement senor will cost around ?