Airy rule would be a tiresome expense

September 22, 2004|By Jim Mateja.

The typical motorist is lazy or dumb as a box of rocks--or both.

At least the U.S. government, which is funded by those lazy, dumb boxes of rocks, thinks so.

Latest evidence: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week proposed legislation to require automakers, starting in 2007, to install a system in all vehicles warning motorists when any of their tires is underinflated by 25 percent or more and which one has the problem.

Based on Firestone tire failures primarily on Ford Explorers, the agency had proposed that for 2004 vehicles be equipped with inflation monitors to warn motorists when any of their tires was low on air, not specifically which tire.

But safety advocates said that wasn't good enough because it's unreasonable to expect that motorists have the mental capacity to tell which tire is low on air unless it is pointed out to them on a dashboard schematic.

In other words, since motorists are judged incapable of putting down their cell phones or pushing back from their computers long enough to walk around their vehicles and notice that a tire requiring 27 pounds of air pressure is missing about seven pounds, the government says automakers must do it for them.

They may have a point. Consider that the owner's manual of a luxury sedan warns that after folding the outside mirrors before going through a car wash, motorists should then unfold the mirrors before re-entering the highway. But we digress.

The proposed regulation says each tire must have a pressure gauge that activates a dash-mounted warning light to identify the offending tire.

Of course, the regulation assumes that the motorist won't be distracted, say by programming the onboard navigation system to detail the route home, when the warning light flashes or won't simply disregard it.

The regulation also assumes that once the warning light flashes, consumers will point the car to the nearest filling station air hose, just like they stop and pull into the dealership when the "check engine" light goes on.

Of course, experience shows that when a warning light goes on, consumers keep driving in the hope the light will go off so they don't have to waste the time or money at a dealership learning what caused the light to go on anyway.

Do motorists need a warning light system?

Some would say that if a tire is missing seven pounds of air, the motorist should notice that the car is pulling to one side when the brakes are applied; wandering toward the shoulder in a sharp turn; or forcing his melon to kiss the headliner each time he passes over a bump.

But if those are the cases, the typical reaction is not to stop at a service station and fill the offending radial with air. It's to grab the cell and dial directory assistance for the name and number of a class-action lawyer. But we digress again.

Estimates are that the tire-warning system will cost consumers unwilling to spend $3 on a tire gauge--or use it--about $70.

What's $70?

If you obtain air for your tires at a station that charges 25 cents for that pleasure, you could fill your tires with air once a month for 23 years before spending $70.

Maybe Oprah should have given away tire-pressure gauges.

