A brief look at the data published on the Ministry of Road Transport andHighways website. In the year 2020, the total number of road accidents reportedwas 3, 66,138, of which around 1, 31,714 people died. Road accidents can takeplace due to several reasons. The government is continuously working to bringdown such incidents. Earlier the government had made the installation ofairbags mandatory, and the advice to increase the number of airbags to six wasalso placed. Recently major changes were brought in the design of the tyres,through an amendment in the Motor Vehicle Act by the central government.
What are the newrules?
From the 1st of October, tyres of the new design will replacethe old ones in the market, Moreover, from April 1st, 2023 it willbe mandatory to place new tyres in the vehicles.
Ratings of tyresunder new rules:
As per the savings in Petrol and Diesel, the government is bringing thesystem of ratings for the tyres. At present, the quality of tyres sold in Indiaundergoes the rule of BIS, the Bureau of Indian Standards system. But, throughthis system, the customer doesn’t get this information while purchasing thetyres, through which they can avail of the benefit.
How tounderstand the rating system?
Whenever you are out to purchase any kind of electronic item you firstlook for the ratings, which give you a fair idea about the product. Theseratings are provided by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, besides the year ofrating is also mentioned. Likewise, ratings for tyres will also be given, whichcustomers can see before buying. However, how the ratings will be provided isyet to be disclosed.
Broadly thereare three categories of tyres:
C1- Forpassenger cars
C2- Smallcommercial vehicles
C3- Heavycommercial vehicles
Now for all these three categories of tyres, new rules and parameterswill be implemented based on Automotive Indian Standard, AIS.
What is AIS,Automotive Indian Standard?
The vehicles produced in India have to follow the guidelines and ruleslaid down under Indian Standards and Automotive Indian Standards. AIS looksafter the production, design, maintenance and recovery of vehicles.
Before buying tyres keep these things in mind
At the time of buying tyres what one must keep in mind is the size. Ifon the side of the tyres it is written (195/55 R 16 87 V) that means the width ofthe tyre is 199mm. the expert ratio that is the height of the tyre is 55%. ‘R’implies the tyre radial and the size of the tyre is 16 inches. Whereas, 87means load indexing and ‘V’ implies the ratings of tyre speed. If you are goingto change your tyres then look for the standard size tyres made by the company.This is designed based on the vehicle’s power, mileage and performance. Basedon the structure there are two categories of tyres in the market, tube andtubeless. One must always prefer tubeless because it provides great safety overtyres having tubes. Tubeless tyres can easily be repaired if punctured.