Goodyear To Start Testing Self-Pumping Tires

Man people are smart and a little lazy.  But after all they do say necessity is the mother of invention. And what Goodyear is hoping your thinking it is necessary and prudent to keep your tire properly inflated but you don’t want to do it.  Enter the self-inflating tire. As you know Inflating your tires too much can cause them to tear, while not having enough pressure can lead to punctures and damage to the suspension.

With this in mind, Goodyear has created tires that monitor pressure, and automatically inflate using just a regulator and a tube. They claim that when the regulator senses the pressure dropping it opens a valve to let air in, and this pumps up the tire to the correct pounds per square inch (PSI) automatically.

The tire pump a so-called peristaltic pump technology is completely self-contained in the tire so nothing extra to buy. The upside for your average joe of course is that properly inflated tires and give you better fuel economy, reduce emissions and give your tires a longer life.

Testing is now set to start on these tires over the next year and a half in the US and Canada on commercial trucks.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Vehicle Technology has given $1.5 million to help research, develop and test the AMT system for commercial vehicle tires.

According to Goodyear, tire-related costs are the single largest maintenance item for commercial vehicle fleets.