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The evolution of TPMS has seen the technology move from bespoke systems fitted to trucks and racing cars in the 1980’s, to an ‘in a box’ aftermarket product for passenger vehicles in the 1990’s, until today where it is available in a limited number of high spec passenger vehicles utilising indirect measurement ABS and battery powered RF systems.
Previously considered as a ‘want’ rather than a ‘need’, TPMS has finally reached the ‘need’ phase in terms of integration as a standard safety feature at the OE assembly stage, due to the introduction of the TREAD Act in the United States, requiring a phased installation of TPMS to all passenger vehicles under 10,000 lb gross weight by 2007.
The Ruling by US DOT NHTSA was successfully challenged in court resulting in the exclusion of all TPMS which cannot monitor all four tyres simultaneously to detect under inflation of 25% or more of recommended placard pressure. A new ruling was subsequently introduced in July 2005, to ‘ramp up’ the phase in to meet the 100% requirement for all new passenger vehicles by 2007-08 and effectively ruled out "Indirect" Systems (ABS based) and mandated "Direct" sensor measurement systems
As the US market accounts for 40% of world passenger vehicle production, the TREAD Act has created a ‘market driver’ for the development of integrated TPMS solutions, to meet a minimum performance criteria established by the Department of Transport’s National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, ‘NHTSA’.
Prior to the TREAD Act passenger vehicle TPMSs were not regarded as an essential safety product and only fitted as an aftermarket product. As a result the performance and testing criteria for TPMS never reached the level required by auto industry regulatory authorities, as is the case for all other OEM integrated vehicle safety system components.
The VisiTyre Battery-Less system has been researched and developed specifically as a safety system, to be integrated into the vehicle during it’s production along the Tiered Supply Chain, to finally reach the OE Assembler completely integrated.
The impact of this approach has been the development of a purpose designed safety system, capable of low cost integration through the OE supply chain without the shortcomings of the aftermarket evolved systems, and surpassing the minimum NHTSA requirement of reporting pressure loss of 25% or greater in all four wheels in real time.
The current market for TPMS is being driven by legislation in
the US and in the EU by environmental pressures to reduce CO2. The impact of the
US TREAD Act has seen the market increase from a minimum of 50% of US passenger vehicles in 2004–05 approximately 2 million units – to 100% of passenger vehicles in 2007–08 approximately 25 million units.
The flow on effect to the global market will be significant, as most OEM assemblers and their suppliers adopt ‘world platforms’ that will see most high spec vehicles fitted with TPMS as standard by 2008, with the base models following soon after as buyer awareness for TPMS increases as a consequence of mandatory fitting in the US.
It has been estimated by Philips Electronics that the market for integrated TPMS will reach a minimum of 28 million units per year in 2007. This of course does not include the TPMS enabling of alloy rims in the aftermarket, a requirement once the TPMS is integrated into the vehicle during assembly. This aftermarket revenue opportunity, will increase the overall volume of VisiTyre TPMS system component sales significantly, representing an estimated equivalent of 7 million unit sales per year by 2008.
At an estimated integrated cost of around US$35 per system, the value of the overall global TPMS market should reach US$1.5 billion by the end of 2008. It is ETV’s objective to capture 20% of the global market by 2010.
19-12-2007 11:25:44 PM +1000