10/14/2008 Cheap winter tyres are a hazard to all road users

Hanover/ Jeversen, October 13, 2008. Winter tyres sold at virtually matchless prices, so-called cheap imports, constitute a massive danger to the safety of all road users.

This is the conclusion reached by DEKRA following recent tests on winter tyres. The German technical inspection agency examined the consequences of car crashes at different impact speeds using good and poor quality tyres. Its findings prove that, in the event of a collision, cheap tyres can result in extremely severe injuries to the occupants of the vehicle, and especially to the driver. The consequences are even worse if unprotected road users, like cyclists, are involved in such accidents: measurements showed that a car fitted with cheap winter tyres braking from a speed of 55 km/h would hit a cyclist at a remaining speed of about 30 km/h, whereas a car driving on premium tyres manufactured in Europe – like ContiWinterContact TS 830 for instance – would already have come to a standstill. As a result,  a cyclist knocked down at that speed would definitely sustain exceedingly severe injuries, and could even be killed. Experts are therefore urgently advising buyers of winter tyres to steer clear of cheap tyres from East Asia.

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The latest results of winter tyre tests performed by leading auto magazines confirm these safety deficiencies.

Driven by overcapacity situations in the countries of production, cheap tyres made in East Asia are also imported into Europe. The development status of these tyres is equivalent to European standards of more than 20 years ago – and so, when things come to the crunch - their braking distances are unreasonably long, especially on wet roads. The possible consequences have been analysed by experts of the DEKRA inspection agency in a crash test.

Crash test: European premium tyre versus cheap Asian tyres

In an analysis of accident causes, DEKRA ascertained that some 30 per cent of all accidents occur on wet roads.

For crash testing under these conditions, DEKRA chose a collision situation between two identical Audi A 4s, model B6, built in 2000, with different sets of tyres under the usual standard conditions. One of the vehicles was steered into a rigid obstacle at a speed of 58 km/h, and the other at a speed of 68.8 km/h. “That was equivalent to the consequences of a 24 per cent loss of braking power due to poor quality imported tyres as a mean value that was calculated from internal tests and the test results of leading trade magazines”, reports Dr. Andreas Topp, one of Continental’s tyre engineers. “The speed difference comes to 10.8 km/h, which is already a gross difference in terms of accident consequences.” The crash test was performed exactly in accordance with the ECE-P 94 standard with a 40 per cent overlap, as well as with one driver and passenger dummy.

Result: Serious injuries for car occupants likely with cheap tyres

As was to be expected, both vehicles were substantially deformed, although the consequences for the occupants differed greatly in each case. Whereas the A-pillar, roof edge, door edge and sill, as well as the B-pillar of the vehicle fitted with European premium tyres remained intact and the passenger compartment was scarcely crushed, the comparison car with cheap tyres showed far-reaching consequences of the collision. “Both the A-pillar and roof edge, as well as the door sill, were deformed to a substantial degree", reports Dr. Topp. “The vehicle occupants would hardly have been able to open the door, even emergency helpers at the scene of the accident would have needed over 60 kg of pulling force to get it open. Even more serious for the occupants would have been the consequences of the higher speed of impact.”

It is these consequences for the occupants that become clearly visible in the test: Based on the comparative load exerted on the dummies in the car that was more effectively decelerated, there would have been only a slight risk of injury, and the belt and air bag would have safely intercepted the force of motion. The occupants in the second car, however, would have suffered more seriously. They would have been exposed to a high risk of injury due to strain in the pelvis and thigh regions. The driver, especially, would probably have suffered irreparable damage, said Dr. Rainer Zinser, a specialist for accident injuries from Ravensburg. Possible injuries would include hip joint damage requiring an artificial joint, and a ruptured spleen. Since two high quality cars were used in the test with exceptionally good crash test values for their year of construction (2000), the consequences for owners of less expensive cars with lower safety standards would most certainly have turned out to be much worse.

Serious injuries feared for cyclists

Cyclists are likewise exposed to serious injuries if a car with poor quality tyres fails to stop in time. Such accidents can be based on an average collision speed of about 35 km/h. “If a car equipped with very cheap tyres imported from East Asia slams on the brakes in a hazardous situation, that car already needs about eight metres more braking distance at a speed of around 55 km/h than a car with modern European tyres”, explains Dr. Topp. Although the vehicle with the better tyres has come to a halt, the one with the substandard tyres is still travelling at a remaining speed of 30 km/h.” The consequences of hitting a cyclist would be tragic: serious injuries are the result in about 70 per cent of all cases, and what's even more dramatic, over ten per cent of the cyclists colliding with a car still travelling at 30 km/h do not survive.

Against this background, experts strongly advise against mounting so-called cheap tyres from the Far East. On no account do the financial savings you may gain at first glance justify the high risks involved in fitting cheap imports.

With targeted annual sales of more than €26.4 billion in 2008, the Continental Corporation is one of the top automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of tyres, brake systems, powertrain and chassis systems and components, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate. Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. Today, the corporation employs approximately 150,000 at nearly 200 locations in 36 countries. Further information on the corporation is available at www.conti-online.com.

A quarter of all tyres in Europe are manufactured by Continental, the market leader. When they are first manufactured, more than 30 per cent of all new European cars come out of factories fitted with Continental tyres. The tyre divisions are an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2010™ in South Africa. For further details, please go to www.ContiSoccerWorld.de.