Radio Frequency Identification Systems (RFID)

NHTSA Tread Act Final Ruling

The US DOT has legislated under the TREAD (Transport Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation) Act of November 2001 that all passenger carrying vehicles should have tire pressure monitoring systems in place by the 2008 model year. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have published their ruling which can be seen on the following web link. See NHTSA's web site.

The main statement in the ruling is "all new light vehicles must be equipped with a TPMS that meets the requirements of the standard by September 1, 2007".

Later in the document the Lead Time and Phase in is given as follows:

• 20% manufactured fleet by 180 days from posting date (approx. September 25, 2005)
• 70% manufactured fleet by August 31, 2006
• 100% manufacturer fleet by August 31, 2007

A supplementary court ruling (US Court of Appeals Aug 6 2003) mandated that all systems should employ a 'direct pressure measurement technique', thereby supporting the adoption of TPMs from Schrader, Siemens, Lear, TRW, Beru, and Pacific.

The underlying requirement is that the TPM system should generate a warning to the driver when the pressure in any one tyre, or in any combination of as many as four tyres, drops to 20% or more below the manufacturers recommended cold inflation pressure threshold.