Published on August 16th, 2011 | by Daniel Sherman Fernandez
0Goodyear To Produce Self-Inflating Tires
Goodyear is developing a new method that keeps tire air properly inflated. This would mean that there would be no need then to manually push air into under-inflated tires. Vehicle owners would no longer have to check the air pressure of a tire and they won’t ever have to do a drastic search for a working tire pump and gauge. Best of all, this translates to considerable fuel savings.
According to industry research, underinflated tires lead to a 2.5%-3.3% drop in fuel mileage. This is equivalent to about 12 cents per gallon when computed at the current prices. Inflated tires also mean that the car has a lower emissions rating, longer tire life, and improved safety and performance. With Goodyear’s Air Maintenance Technology (AMT), tires would stay properly inflated at the optimum pressure and there would no longer be any need for external pumps or electronics. All the parts of the AMT system, such as the miniaturized pump, will be accommodated within the tire. Jean-Claude Kihn, Goodyear senior vice president and chief technical officer, said that the AMT system technology may be complex but the idea behind it is “relatively simple.”