Study on Some Safety-Related Aspects of Tyre T +31 88 866 57 29 F +31 88 866 88 62 Use
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Technical Sciences Automotive Campus 30 5708 JZ Helmond P.O. Box 756 TNO report 5700 AT Helmond The Netherlands TNO 2014 R11423-v2 | Final report www.tno.nl Study on some safety-related aspects of tyre T +31 88 866 57 29 F +31 88 866 88 62 use Date 22 December 2016 Author(s) TNO: Sven Jansen, Antoine Schmeitz, Sander Maas, Carmen Rodarius TML: Lars Akkermans Copy no No. of copies Number of pages 193 (incl. appendices) Number of 5 appendices Sponsor European Commission Directorate -general for Mobility and Transport, Unit C4, 4/110 B-1049 Brussels, Belgium Project name EU tender Tyre Road Safety Project number 060.03613 ISBN 978-92-79-43149-4 Catalogue number MI-05-14-009-EN-N doi 10.2832/67191 Disclaimer This report has been produced by the TNO and TML under a contract with the European Commission. The information and views set out in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Commission. The Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this study. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on the Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained therein. Executive summary Goal and scope of this study DG MOVE has set out to assess various aspects of the tyre use and quality related to road safety, by means of the study “Study on some safety -related aspects of tyre use”. This report is the result of a tender and was granted to TNO (Netherlands) with TML (Belgium) as partner. The overall aim of the study is to propose policy options concerning the use of tyres for improvement of traffic safety. Centrally to this, is the idea that end users need to make the correct assessment in relation to the tyre condition in order to achieve a level of safety as high as possible. Within this context, the tyre condition is considered in relation to technical elements (tyre inflation pressure, tyre tread depth, tyre damage, tyre age, and meteorological influences) and one information element (driver awareness). The study addresses the topics of tyre usage and the impact on road safety (which are the potential safety improvements related to tyre usage from a technical perspective) and how can road users be supported to use tyres that have a better safety performance by policy options. The policy options are subject to a cost- benefit analysis. Note that (apart from an accident analysis) the study does not perform new research or new tests, but instead reflects on existing studies from open data sources. By combining these insights and applying them on the study objectives, the relevant conclusions and recommendations are derived. Tyre safety aspects The main safety aspects that have been considered are the tyre grip level (maximum force that can be transmitted between tyre and road) and tyre failure in terms of sudden loss of inflation pressure (often referred to as blowout). The tyre grip level is mainly affected by meteorological influences in combination with the tyre condition (tread depth, ageing, inflation pressure), and tyre choice (Summer tyre or Winter tyre). A reduced grip level extends the stopping distance of vehicles and can result in vehicle instability (e.g. spin out). The risk of tyre blowout failure is related to inflation pressure being too low and tyre damage (including effects of ageing) which are strongly linked to tyre maintenance. When tyre blowout failure occurs it leaves debris on the road, the vehicle can become unstable, or may come to a halt at an unsafe location for changing tyres. Tyre usage (Task 2) Tyre usage concerns the condition of tyres as found on vehicles in Europe and their use in summer and winter conditions respectively. The tyre usage is assessed from several (statistical) data sources such as consumer awareness campaigns, periodic and roadside inspections and accident recordings that are either publically available, or have been provided by stakeholders. The tyre usage is assessed for passenger car tyres and for commercial vehicles (when available), and the following observations are made: · Winter tyre use The use of Winter tyres is affected by national legislation in EU member states and the occurrence of winter conditions. Member states with high occurrence of winter conditions typically mandate the use of Winter tyres for a fixed period. In these member states up to 90% (some report 100%) of the vehicles is equipped with Winter tyres during the mandated periods. For member states where the use of Winter tyres is recommended a large variation is found ranging from 30% to 80%. · Tread depth The share of vehicles that is equipped with tyres that have a tread depth close to or below the legal limits is estimated to between 10% and 20%. Tread depth of Winter tyres generally is more due to specific Winter tyre requirements in member states. · Inflation pressure Deviations in tyre inflation pressures are generally below the recommended settings, and sources indicate that up to 20% of passenger cars have one or more tyres with a reduced inflation pressure that is considered dangerous. For heavy duty vehicles it is found that the inflation pressure of pulling vehicles is better maintained than trailers, probably due to the fact that the owner of the trailer is not always the user (i.e. rental trailers). · Tyre damage and ageing Reports from visual tyre inspections for damages indicate that about 30% of vehicles with Summer tyres have at least one tyre that shows signs of ageing or other irregularities that increases the risk of tyre failure. Remarkably the results indicate that less than 10% of the vehicle population with Winter tyres shows these types of damages, suggesting that Winter tyres are better maintained than Summer tyres, or that people using Winter tyres take better care of tyre maintenance in general. Note that tyre labels have not been considered as they have been introduced only recently. Role of tyres in road safety (Task 3) As mentioned above the main safety aspects of tyres are considered to be related to the grip performance of tyres and potential sudden loss of inflation pressure (e.g. tyre blowout failure). An overview of technical aspects of the tyre condition affecting these safety aspects is listed below: · Winter tyre Winter tyres are engineered for better grip in a lower temperature range than Summer tyres, and the tread design is optimized for traction on winter surface conditions. Generally the industry recommends the use of Winter tyres below 7 degrees Celsius however the precise temperature below which Winter tyres excel in grip performance depends on meteorological conditions and may be tyre specific. An increased tread depth of Winter tyres compared to the legal requirement of 1.6 mm improves grip on snow (however some Winter tyres also show good grip performance at 1.6 mm). · Tread depth Tyre grip performance on wet roads is better with increased tread depth as it increases the speed that can be driven without aquaplaning and shortens braking distance. A strong reduction in grip on wet roads is found for tread depths below the legal requirement. · Inflation pressure Both the grip performance and the risk of tyre blowout failure are affected by inflation pressure. A deviation in inflation pressure that is too large reduces the grip level and can lead to vehicle instability also on dry roads due to the reduced stiffness. Tyre blowout failure can occur due to heat generation from large tyre deformations that result from severe underinflation. · Tyre damage and ageing In general tyre damage poses a threat of tyre blowout failure. Secondly the mechanical properties of rubber change due to exposure to the environment (e.g. heat, UV, moisture), resulting in less strength, less flexibility, and in general less resistance to heat and mechanical damages. The major safety concern is the increase of the risk of tyre blowout failure, however ageing also reduces the tyre grip performance. Ageing is difficult to quantify as the extent of exposure is a mix of meteorological conditions, specific use of the vehicle (e.g. indoor parking) and tyre age. Road accidents and tyre usage (Task 4) The occurrence of road accidents is related to tyre usage from a causation study carried out in the scope of this project using accident records from the GIDAS 1 database, and a study presented by NHTSA 2. With the GIDAS database, only the causation for tyre grip accidents has been analysed due to the available population. The analyses have been done for different categories of temperature and road surface conditions that are relevant for tyre grip performance of summer and Winter tyres respectively. The population of specific tyre conditions in accidents is compared to a reference group that is assumed to be representative for vehicles on the road in general to assess the potential accident reduction. A similar approach has been used on the NHTSA study data; however the information presented contains fewer details about the accident conditions. That study relates the tyre tread depth, inflation pressure and existence of damages to accidents in general. The results of the studies are used to assess the safety potential using improved tyres for specific accident conditions. An overview of the safety potential is provided in Table E 1. 1 German In-Depth Accident Study, http://www.bast.de/EN/FB-F/Subjects/e-gidas/e-gidas.html 2 Tire-Related Factors in the Pre-Crash Phase (NHTSA Technical Report DOT HS 811 617), April 2012 Table E 1: Summary of identified safety potential by