Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards: Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems; Controls and Displays

Résumé

The Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation Act of 2000 mandates a rulemaking proceeding to require motor vehicles to be equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system that warns the driver a tire is significantly under-inflated. In response, this document proposes to establish a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 138 that would require tire pressure monitoring systems to be installed in new passenger cars and in new light trucks and multipurpose passenger vehicles. This document seeks comment on two alternative versions of the new standard. One alternative would require that the driver be warned when the tire pressure in one or more tires, up to a total of 4 tires, has fallen to 20 percent or more below the vehicle manufacturer's recommended cold inflation pressure for the vehicle's tires, or a minimum level of pressure to be specified in the new standard, whichever is higher. The other alternative would require that the driver be warned when tire pressure in one or more tires, up to a total of 3 tires, has fallen to 25 percent or more below the vehicle manufacturer's recommended cold inflation pressure for the vehicle's tires, or a minimum