Recently accredited tyre testing facility, the Product Testing Institute (PTI), based in Coega, Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape province, has, by means of a letter, urged Transport Minister Barbara Creecy to adopt further international standards for tyre safety. While South Africa has adopted international standards for new passenger vehicle and truck tyres, it has not done so for the retreading of tyres or for the rolling resistance of tyres.

“Implementing compulsory local standards for retreading and rolling resistance is urgently needed,” affirmed PTI laboratory manager Alex Erdman. The PTI highlighted that tyre failures caused two deaths a day, or more than 700 a year, in South Africa. The monetary value of these accidents and their consequences was some R19-billion a year.

Moreover, the lack of standards for retread safety testing means that tyres are discarded in South Africa very prematurely and on a great scale. The country sees slightly more than 250 000 t of tyres discarded annually, with serious environmental consequences.

The Institute noted that modern quality tyres were designed to be safely retreaded several times. A strong and well-regulated retread sector would give consumers access to high-quality and competitively priced retreaded tyres. This would also reduce the need to import lower-quality tyres. To these ends, the PTI was urging the Transport Ministry to adopt the UN ECE 108 and UN ECE 109 retread safety testing standards.

Rolling resistance refers to the amount of energy needed to get a tyre moving. Higher rolling resistance means that more energy is required to get a tyre rolling. Lower rolling resistance thus saves fuel and so cuts costs and reduces pollution, including carbon emissions. The PTI is also calling on the Transport Ministry to adopt the UN ECE R117 standard on rolling resistance.

“Until recently there has been no independent testing facility in South Africa, or indeed in Africa, capable of testing tyres to these needed retreading and rolling resistance standards,” highlighted Erdman. The country is dependent on tests carried out at overseas facilities, and sending tyre samples to such facilities is both expensive and consumes time. But, in December, the PTI received the necessary accreditation to undertake these tests, so they could now be done locally and efficiently.