Smart phone makers are experts at getting double duty out of a sensor (an accelerometer for sensing orientation and whether the phone is in use to save energy) but they are not the only ones. Tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) could provide additional functionality beyond what they are required to do today. A company that makes tires and TPMS products, such as Continental, has even more expertise and incentive to investigate these possibilities.
Continental engineers plan to take advantage of the physical properties of vehicle tires for an automatic load detection system. As the result of the weight bearing down on the tire, the tire pressure monitoring system will accurately detect the size of the contact area and provide the driver information regarding the payload in the vehicle and warn if it exceeds the manufacturer’s recommendations.
For more information about Continental’s tire pressure monitoring systems, click here (see 1/25/13, “Intelligent
Tire Sensors from Continental will Detect Vehicle Weight”).
Older vehicles that do not have the monitoring systems incorporated in the vehicle can be a hazard risk also. I am so glad that we put the tire monitoring system on our older car we got at http://www.tirepressuremonitor.com/ in helping to keep a good eye on the tire pressures thus avoiding any blowout.