As automakers increasingly ditch the doughnut in favor of run-flat tires and emergency inflator kits, AAA is making a plea to spare the spare. The roadside-services provider says it has seen no decline the past five years in the more than 4 million flat-tire assistance calls it receives annually, and despite newfangled substitutions there's no substitute for a trusty ol' spare tire in the trunk.
Related: Getting the Right Tire
"Tire inflator kits, a high-cost alternative for consumers, have replaced the spare tire in millions of vehicles over the last 10 model years and, due to their limited functionality, cannot provide even a temporary fix for many common tire-related problems," AAA stated, estimating that 30 million drivers could be left stranded at the roadside as a result.
Despite what AAA calls "minimal savings in fuel consumption" due to weight reduction, spare-tire alternatives have expanded from being found in just 5 percent of vehicles to more than a third between 2006 and 2015 — and at a cost. Kits can cost as much as 10 times more than a tire patch and need replacement in as little as four years, AAA said. Moreover, AAA's testing of common inflator kits revealed that they were effective only when the tire was punctured in the tread surface with the object still stuck in the tire — and not useful in the case of sidewall damage or a blowout.
"Automakers are facing increasingly stringent fuel economy standards, and the spare tire has become a casualty in an effort to reduce weight and boost miles per gallon," said John Nielsen, AAA's managing director of automotive engineering and repair, in a statement. "Advances in automotive engineering allow for weight to be reduced in ways that don't leave motorists stranded at the roadside."
BMW is well known for its use of run-flat tires, which come on most of the automaker's vehicles, with some exceptions. All M-badged BMWs come with standard tires and an inflator kit except for the X5 M and X6 M, which come with a space-saver spare tire; M performance models such as the M235i and X4 M40i can get run-flats as a no-cost option. A space-saver spare is also available as an option on the X1, X5 and X6 SUVs, as well as on the 7 Series sedan. The lone BMW model that allows customers to get standard tires and a spare in place of run-flats as a no-cost option is the X1.
Hector Arellano-Belloc, a spokesman for BMW, said the automaker's customers "enjoy the advantages" of run-flat tires. One such perk, of course, is not having to get out of the car and change a flat at the roadside, and instead being able to drive to the nearest convenient repair shop.
"However, we give the choice to our customers that still prefer to get the standard tire," Arellano-Belloc told Cars.com.
An unintended consequence of the gradual disappearance of the conventional spare tire has been to make it the eight-track tape deck of emergency automotive equipment. According to AAA figures, compared with drivers ages 35 to 58 — 90 percent of whom know how to change a tire — less than 20 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds possess this once-basic skill.
These AAA statistics may be face-palm inducing for old-school tire changers who still value this skill. However, a quick test in the Cars.com office revealed that it took all of about 10 seconds to say, “Siri, how do you change a tire on a car?” into an Apple iPhone and get a step-by-step guide for doing so.
No comments:
Post a Comment