A new federal regulation that will require tire pressure monitoring systems on new vehicles might be stopped by tire companies who say the regulations don't go far enough in protecting consumers.
Some of the nation's biggest tire companies have joined with safety group Public Citizen to sue to halt a new NHTSA regulation that requires monitoring systems to alert drivers if the pressure falls 25 percent below the recommended level, according to the Detroit News. The auto industry is siding with the government because the law is less stringent than what was originally proposed.
This big mess is, as always, about money. Auto companies want the least costly solution, while tire companies want to protect themselves from lawsuits from accidents caused by under-inflated tires.
While in theory making the regulations as tough as practicable would save lives, blocking them from taking effect will likely delay anything being done, putting more people at risk. Doing something is better than doing nothing, and once the public gets used to seeing alerts on their dashboards about low tire pressure, they will spend more time thinking about the issue. We can always improve the regulations in a few years.
Source: Detroit News
