Some 1,000 people took part in the recent Michelin Fill Up With Air 2014 campaign in Penang to discover the importance of maintaining correct tyre pressures and road safety. The two-day event, held at Tesco Tanjung Pinang, offered motorists free tyre pressure checks and fill ups. There were also interactive activities, contests and games for the young ones.
“Millions of drivers put themselves at risk everyday by failing to properly check the tyre pressure of their vehicles. In fact, an alarming rate of three out of four cars run on under-inflated tyres, compromising road safety, decreasing tyre service life and increasing fuel consumption. For the environment, this means tonnes of additional and unnecessary carbon emissions annually,” said Beltran Yturriaga, MD of Michelin Malaysia.
“In the case of insufficient air pressure, a tyre’s tread life is reduced through increased tread wear on the outer edges of the tyre. It also generates excessive heat which reduces tyre durability and decreases fuel economy due to higher rolling resistance, requiring the affected vehicle to burn more fuel to maintain the same level of desired speed. This forces your vehicle to work harder,” Yturriaga added.
Michelin Malaysia organised its first FUWA campaign in 2011 and since then, has performed free tyre pressure checks for more than 4,100 motorists and educated more than 5,100 members of the public on the importance of safety on the road.
When was the last time you checked your tyre pressure, and how often do you do so? If you don’t remember, it must have been awhile, so go on and fill those rubber donuts up!
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Whilst its commendable for Michelin to educate drivers to maintain correct tire pressure for their wheels, the major petroleum companies must do their part to equip their petrol stations with adequate and fully functional air pump facilities. In most instances, it is not more than 2 air pump units located side by side regardless how large the station are too. Also, consider yourself lucky if you are able find a fully functional pump. 80% of the time, you will find the air pumps are not functioning properly. Besides, most of these pumps are located at dimly lighted locations of the station.
On this note, Shell solicits feedback on their petrol stations from its customers via text messages. But complaints I have raised on the location and conditions of their air pumps are never acted upon as my I observed from my return visits to the station.
The pumps in the JB area seem better on average, though i did see quite a few not so good ones. The location is a problem, I agree.
One has to keep in mind that the tyre should be cold when checking. And that a too low pressure can lead to a tyre blowout.
I don’t know where you live but in my area & the general vicinity of where I work there is no issue in finding a gas station that has a working air pump. I can say around 90% of the stations I frequent have a working air pump.