A recent survey by the AA (in New Zealand) has determined that around 48% of cars could be wasting fuel and neglecting tyre safety due to under inflated tyres. That’s nearly half the cars on the road.

We know from James May that deflated tyres help whilst off-road driving as they increase the tyres surface area over bumpy terrain but there is a stark difference when driving on the road.

How does this help save fuel?

These statistics follow on from a recent test, conducted by the AA, found that driving with underinflated tyres – in this case by 7 psi – increased fuel consumption by roughly 8%¹. That’s how.

Why, what causes them to use more petrol?

I thought Mark Stockdale, the AA PetrolWatch spokesperson, put this quite well:

“Underinflated tyres use more fuel and wear out faster, so they unnecessarily cost you money on both fronts, and they’re less safe.

“It’s like riding a bicycle with flat tyres. The effort you need to get a bicycle with flat tyres moving is far greater than if the tyres are properly pumped up.”

As I am keen on tyre safety and so to put it more dramatically; underinflated tyres will wear much more quickly, affecting the handling and braking, water dispersion in the wet, and increase the rolling resistance (see tyre glossary & terms).

How to save fuel whilst driving?

• Find out the cars recommended tyre pressures (labelled on drivers door or in vehicle’s manual)
• Check the cars tyre pressures monthly
• If they are either over-inflated or under-inflated, make sure they are correctly inflated

Using correctly inflated tyres will help reduce fuel consumption and tyre degradation, resulting in a motorist saving money on both fuel and tyres.

A little bit of effort goes a long way.

Picture Credits: david.nikonvscanon at Flickr

1. Information Source: http://www.aa.co.nz/aadirections/driver/Pages/Tyre-pressure.aspx [↩]