EU Tyre Label Reg. No. 1235/2011, a.i. Infl. on Road Traffic Safety d.t. Tyre Wet Grip Specification

More information

Main author

Micke, S; Palkovics, L.; Steffan, S; von Glasner, E.C.

Co-Authors

-

Type of media

PDF

Publication type

Lecture

Publication year

2015

Publisher

24. EVU Conference, Edinburgh

Citation

-

edinburg2015 25aThis paper deals with braking of Tyres for Passenger Cars, Light Trucks and Heavy Trucks and Buses in wet road conditions. It analyses past and current legislation issued by the EU in Brussels and UN ECE in Geneva, whereby the EU covers European Regulations and UN ECE the global Regulations, except for Europe. EG Reg. 1235/2011, 29. Nov 2011, application date 30 May 2012, the Tyre Label legislation, has been issued with a serious mistake in Wet Grip Class F for all Tyres C1, C2 and C3. That Regulation specifies in Wet Grip Class F: G≤ 1.09 for C1 Tyres, G≤ 0.94 for C2 Tyres and G≤ 0.64 for C3 Tyres, which legislates for all mentioned tyres a lower limit of 0 (Zero) Tyre-to-Road Adhesion, in the extreme. It is demonstrated, that this mistake in EG Regulation 1235/2011, 29. Nov 2011, cannot logically be explained as a “typing error” by the responsible EU Institution, since this would not make mathematically any sense at all in this context.

It is shown, that this very “mistake” was in fact already defined and legislated in the predecessor of above Regulation for C1 Tyres, which was (EC) Regulation No. 1222/2009, 25 Nov 2009, application date 1 Nov 2012. There, an identical definition for the minimum Wet Grip Index G≤ 1.09 in Wet Grip Class F for C1 Tyres is listed, with a legislated lower limit of 0 (zero) Tyre-to-Road Adhesion. This went apparently unnoticed by the public, but resulted legally, from the time of application, in potentially unsafe Passenger Cars with such C1 Tyres of Wet Grip Class F on Europe’s road system in wet condition.

This paper demonstrates furthermore, that the predecessor of above (EC) No. 1222/2009, 25 Nov 2009, which was European Regulation (EC) No. 661/2009, 13. July 2009, had included a correctly defined minimum value for C1 Tyres with (G)≥1.1. Application date was 1 Nov 2011. This law, with a safe definition of G, was replaced by above listed flawed Regulation 1222/2009 on 1 Nov 2012.

The paper analyses further the calculation of the Wet Grip Indices G(T) and G for all Tyres. Vehicle test results are included, which demonstrate the effect of the currently valid EU Regulations on wet roads with Tyres of various Wet Grip Classes. The paper concludes with some defined demands on how to improve the safety with all Tyres C1, C2 and C3 on Europe’s roads. EU Wet Grip Classes D, E, F and G in the Tyre Label should be eliminated, and the current Wet Grip Class C should become the minimum for C1, C2 and C3 Tyres.

edinburg2015 25b

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