FALLS CHURCH, Va. (April 25)—"Your brakes are only as good as your tires," Jeffrey W. Runge, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said at the official launch of National Tire Safety Week at Skyline Automotive, an auto repair facility in Falls Church.
Each year some 660 people die and another 33,000 suffer injuries because of tire-related auto accidents, Runge said, as well as countless tires and barrels of oil being wasted because of underinflated tires. "This can be changed if you know the answer to this question: 'What's your PSI?' " he said.
Among other things, Runge also said NHTSA would decide soon on the Rubber Manufacturers Association's petition on a minimum tire reserve load requirement apropos the final rule on tire pressure monitoring systems, but declined to elaborate.
National Tire Safety Week, an initiative of the RMA, also is supported by the American Automobile Association, the Governors Highway Safety Association and some 12,000 tire dealers across the U.S.