Court’s Decision Regarding NHTSA Regulation Broadens Market for SmarTire
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SmarTire Systems Inc. (OTCBB: SMTR) confirmed today that it strongly supports a recent decision by the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York directing the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to rewrite a regulation issued in July 2002 that defines standards for tire pressure monitoring systems
(TPMS).
This regulation, part of the Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, currently give automakers the option of installing two types of TPMS, direct or indirect, for three years
from 2003 to 2006, pending a final decision on system type after that. The Court said the NHTSA rule was “contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious” and “clearly wrong” in giving automakers the option to use the indirect TPMS.
“We strongly support the Court’s decision and believe that direct TPMS technology is the superior approach and should be adopted by industry,” said Robert Rudman, President and Chief Executive Officer of SmarTire Systems, Inc. “SmarTire’s direct TPMS products meet or exceed NHTSA requirements and are available for OEM, aftermarket, and dealer or port of entry installation. The Company is well positioned to service additional demand from automakers that may reconsider their indirect TPMS strategy as a result of this ruling.”
The direct TPMS includes a sensor located inside the tire that directly measures the temperature and pressure of each individual tire. It functions as soon as the vehicle begins to move, accurately measuring temperature and pressure, and issues timely warnings when deviations occur. It works on all road surfaces and full range of travel speeds.
Indirect systems, or ABS-based systems, measure the rotational speed differences between the left and right wheels to sense tire under-inflation. In general these systems have difficulty detecting more than one low tire and have performance constraints at high speeds and over varying road surfaces. Also, the time required to recognize a low tire pressure condition varies from
one to ten minutes.
SmarTire Systems Inc. develops and markets proprietary tire monitoring systems for the transportation industry worldwide. Incorporated in 1987,SmarTire is a public company with offices in North America and Europe.
Additional information can be found at www.smartire.com.
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