About 21% of Vehicles Have Incorrect Tire Pressure... "Manage Them at T Station"

Survey Results on Free Inspection Status of Hankook Tire

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Hankook Tire & Technology (Hankook Tire) announced on the 31st that, according to the tire safety management status survey conducted during the free highway safety inspection service period, 29% of the inspected tires were found to require management.

Hankook Tire inspected the air pressure, wear level, and external condition of a total of 1,240 tires on 310 vehicles that visited four highway rest areas nationwide over three days from the 4th to the 6th of this month.

Among them, 29% of the tires were judged to be unsuitable for management. In particular, tires with excessive or insufficient air pressure, which are difficult to visually check, accounted for the largest portion at 21%. Tires with visible damage or other external problems accounted for 9%, and tires with severe wear that had passed their replacement period accounted for 6%.

Most drivers tend to overlook tire maintenance amid their busy daily lives. Therefore, it is recommended to receive thorough maintenance through professional service centers. T’Station, Hankook Tire’s tire-centered total automotive service specialist, operates nationwide with over 450 stores staffed by skilled professionals equipped with advanced equipment for inspections.

T’Station’s ‘All My T Service’ provides total care services that allow customers to enjoy a pleasant driving experience by managing everything at once?from reasonable tire purchase with a single vehicle registration, tire installation, free vehicle inspection services, to aftercare. Additionally, through the online service platform ‘TStation.com,’ which offers easy and convenient tire shopping, customers can also receive differentiated O2O (Online to Offline) services.

If tire air pressure is lower than the appropriate level, rolling resistance increases and the contact area widens, causing excessive heat generation. Also, at high speeds, phenomena such as ‘standing waves’?where the tire surface appears to ripple?can occur, increasing the risk of tire rupture. Conversely, if tire air pressure is excessively high, the likelihood of tire damage from external shocks and uneven wear increases.

Furthermore, when the tire tread depth wears down to 1.6mm or less, which is the wear limit, braking performance on wet roads drops sharply. According to Hankook Tire’s wet road braking test, tires with a tread depth of 1.6mm had a braking distance approximately twice as long as new tires when making an emergency stop at 100 km/h on wet roads. For safe driving, it is advisable to replace tires when the tread depth reaches 3.0mm.

Along with tire safety inspections, Hankook Tire conducted a mobile survey using QR codes (targeting 321 people, 10 questions) to gather various customer opinions on tire management. While 54% of drivers were aware of the proper tire air pressure and wear limit, only 26% adhered to checking tire air pressure at least once a month. The proportion of drivers who do not check air pressure at all was as high as 31%.

Accordingly, Hankook Tire plans to promote tire management tips and safety inspection campaign schedules via SMS messages to customers who participated in this safety inspection campaign.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.