A tyre-pressure monitoring system is a car’s most important safety feature

I have found myself mentioning tyre-pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) in a few road tests of late, and how good it is to see them being standard equipment in more new vehicles.

In fact, I think a TPMS is the most important safety feature you can fit to any car and they should be mandatory in new vehicles.

Think about it for a minute. The tyres on your car are your contact with the road. They determine how well your car turns, stops, accelerates, avoids pedestrians, negotiates a bend, and every aspect of how the car drives. As a plus, they also play a big part in how comfortable the ride is as well.

New-car companies and the authorities that test and rate the safety systems on the cars, are big on fitting the latest autonomous emergency braking (AEB), electronic stability control (ESC), ABS brakes and so on, but none of these electronic/hydraulic systems will work how they are supposed to if the car’s tyres don’t have the proper grip on the road surface. And proper grip starts with the right tyre pressure.

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I’ve been a big fan of the TPMS on the SsangYong Musso we had for a year, which not only allows you to check what the pressure is in each individual tyre and warns you if the pressure gets too low or high, it randomly brings this information up on the dash screen to remind you. It keeps tyre pressures on your mind, whereas most drivers never give them a second thought.

I used the Musso’s TPMS to manage a slow leak in one of the tyres for as long as I could before I had to change it. When that time came, it let me know in an instant, reducing the risk of lessened performance which could have resulted in a loss of control and an accident, and saved the tyre so that it wasn’t further damaged by driving on it when flat.

I also recently spent some time in a LandCruiser Sahara as a last hurrah to the big 200. While standing at the side of the Cruiser as the camera guy reset his gear, I noticed the slightest hiss coming from the offside rear tyre and closer inspection revealed a screw had found its way into the tread and was letting air out.

The top-of-the-line LandCruiser is a $125,000 car, but it doesn’t have this essential safety equipment standard as our $43K Musso did. Let’s hope Toyota sees fit to rectify this in the LC300.

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Being a slow leak that I picked up early, we were able to drive out of the forest to a service station where I was able to top up the air and get home. I really didn’t want to change that tyre on a wet and muddy track and I topped up the air again on the way home. It was easy to change the tyre in my driveway the next morning using a trolley jack.

If I hadn’t heard that tyre hissing, and with no TPMS to warn me of it losing pressure, the tyre could have dropped low enough to destroy itself or, worse, result in a loss of control.

If you drive an older car or any other that doesn’t have a TPMS as factory fit, there are aftermarket systems available and they can be some of the best insurance you can buy. It could save you the cost of a tyre, or it could save your life.