As part of ongoing development activities Continental is widening the range of functions available with its tire pressure sensors. In the future drivers will be able to check permitted axle loads automatically on the basis of data from their tire pressure sensors.
“In the past, it was more or less up to drivers to ‘guesstimate’ to the best of their abilities whether or not the maximum permitted payload of a car had already been reached,” explained Andreas Wolf, head of the Body & Security Business Unit at Continental. “In the future, the vehicle will be able to tell the driver after just a few hundred meters whether the payload has already exceeded the maximum permitted limit, or whether the tire pressure would simply need to be adjusted accordingly. In this way, our tire pressure sensors will not only help to save fuel, but also offer active assistance in terms of vehicle safety.”
A new generation of sensors will be fitted directly underneath the tread of the tire so that the TPMS can accurately detect the size of the contact area between the road and the tire. With every movement of the tire, the sensor registers the rolling characteristics of the tire on the road. Based on this the system is able to inform the driver after just a few hundred meters, if a change in tire pressure is appropriate for the current payload.
