Automakers in the US will have to equip cars and light trucks with tire-pressure monitoring equipment under a new rule to help prevent accidents caused by underinflated tires.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule gives automakers compliance options for the first three years on models built after Nov. 1, 2003, after the companies opposed more stringent measures. Automakers may install equipment to warn drivers when pressure on one or more tires is 25 percent underinflated, or when one tire needs 30 percent more pressure.
Automakers have opposed some tire-monitoring rules for years, consumer advocates said. The new rule was passed after 271 highway deaths were linked to tread separations of Bridgestone/Firestone Inc tires, mostly on Ford Motor Co Explorer sport-utility vehicles.
"The new tire rule is a fraud on consumers," said Joan Claybrook, president of the advocacy group Public Citizen and a former NHTSA administrator. Claybrook said the group plans to sue to block the move, which she called "a political decision on the part of the White House on behalf of the auto industry."
The rule fails to meet statutory requirements such as including devices to measure pressure on all tires, she said.
Automakers said the move makes practical sense.
"We welcome the flexibility given in the final rule," said Rob Strassburger, vice president of vehicle safety for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, whose members build 90 percent of US-sold vehicles. "NHTSA was responsive to the underlying facts and science and took appropriate action."
About 27 percent of car tires and 33 percent of light-truck tires need more air, and 124 deaths and 8,722 injuries a year may be prevented with monitors on every tire, NHTSA estimates.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary