£4 billion wasted due to underinflated tyres

Two in three European motorists are driving with underinflated tyres – which is costing them a total of £4 billion in unnecessary fuel spend.

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A Bridgestone survey of 46,000 cars across Europe has discovered that a staggering 63 per cent are running on tyres with low pressures.

The extra drag this causes is leading to needless extra expenditure on extra fuel, something that is also causing an extra 7.4 million tonnes of CO2 to be emitted across Europe.

This is the equivalent of an extra 4.3 grammes per mile for every single car on the road in Europe – and represents a massive 3.1 billion tonnes of fuel wasted each year.

Given current high fuel prices, this is something drivers will be very keen to avoid, which is why Bridgestone is announcing the results of its huge 11-country investigation.

The Bridgestone survey checked 180,000 tyres. It found that 17.5 per cent of motorists were found to be running on seriously underinflated tyres – that’s at least 0.5 bar below recommended pressure.

A worrying 4.3 per cent had tyres seriously underinflated by 0.75 bar or more: an average family hatchback tyre runs at around 2.2 bar, showing the eye-opening extent of underinflation.

67 per cent of cars across Europe had at least one underinflated tyre.

The Bridgestone survey also checked tyre tread wear rates – and found that almost 20 per cent of tyres on the road were also worn down below the EU legal minimum of 1.6 mm tread depth.

Drivers of these vehicles, explained Bridgestone, are likely to experience hydroplaning at speeds of up to 40 per cent lower than normal and face a high safety risk due to loss of road grip.

“There are several different, but equally worrying, conclusions from this research,” said Andy Dingley, Northern European Communications Manager, Bridgestone.

“Aside from motorists, who are already feeling the pinch through higher insurance, tax and petrol prices, wasting their money through unnecessary fuel consumption and replacing tyres more frequently, driving on low pressure tyres also increases the potential hazards – as pressure reduces, the driver experiences a loss of handling control and a sharp rise in tyre wear.

“We’d urge all motorists to check their tyre pressures at least once a month, it can save them not only a lot of money but also could avoid road accidents.”

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