Altruck launches wheel safety campaign

Avatar photo

BURLINGTON, Ont. — Altruck announced the launch of its new dedication to wheel safety today with its Wheel Check Safety and Awareness Campaign.

The campaign is set to run from March 21 – October 31 and Altruck says during that period it will:

  • Promote the use of Wheel-Check loose wheel-nut indicators.
  • Educate staff on wheel safety.
  • Donate $1.00 for each package sold to Trucks for Change Network and;
  • Invite customers to partner with them in supporting Trucks for Change Network.

“Truck wheels come off for several reasons but loose lug nuts, cracked wheels and worn or damaged bearings are the most common causes,” said Altruck in a release. “Improved wheel care and maintaining proper wheel-nut torque can help reduce the number of accidents. The new commercial vehicles are advanced and safer than ever before. It is our mission, at Altruck to work with our staff and our customers to continue to create safer roads for the public, our customers, the truck drivers and the environment.”

According to Altruck, Wheel-Check is a loose wheel nut indicator that helps identify a loose wheel-nut with just a visual inspection. The loose wheel-nut indicators are placed in a pattern on the wheel nuts after a thorough service. If the indicators come out of sequence then it means a wheel nut has become loose. Drivers can catch this when doing a circle check.

“We hope this campaign will draw attention to this issue and help prevent future accidents,” Altruck added.

Avatar photo

Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry.


Have your say


This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.

*

  • Every time a wheel leaves a truck while going down the road, the media goes nuts. Why, when a wheel leaves a passenger car or light truck while going down the road it hardly ever reaches the media. I have in my file “Flying wheels” the news paper article from the Toronto Sun, dated November 15, 2004 showing a badly damaged Pontiac Sunfire. The report states the wheel come off a Grand Cherokee which had just been serviced at a Chrysler dealership two weeks prior. The article also states “No charges are expected.” Had that been a heavy truck tire the driver, owner and anybody involved with that truck would be charged without question. Seems the Government does not think poor wheel maintenance on cars is not important. I wonder what the Jeep owner did with regards to his dealership?

    I wonder if the government is looking at the shop practices where wheels are involved. Recently I had a tire repaired on my F350 dual wheel pickup. When the tire man installed the wheel, he used the air impact gun with the so called torque stick. He then used a torque wrench which went click indicating to the tire man the bolt torque was correct. I wonder if it was? The tire man did not put two drops of oil on the wheel nut washer, as required and I wonder as to the accuracy of the torque stick. Perhaps the torque stick over tightened the wheel fastener and therefore the torque wrench would still go CLICK. I never use a air impact wrench when installing tires on any vehicle but use my speed handle to run the wheel nuts, which tells me if I have bad threads on the fastener system and then use the torque wrench to finish the job. I also always place two drops of oil on the washer/ wheel nut used these days in several applications.
    It has been my observation that many tire techs and vehicle mechanics do not do this simple operation of oiling the washer thus insuring proper wheel fastener torque and not over tightening the wheel studs to their plastic limit rather than their elastic zone. By the way, has anybody looked into where the wheel fasteners were manufactured? During the 80’s and early 90’s, bogus fasteners were found in many repair shops. These fasteners come from China.

  • Hi Tom,
    Anjay from Altruck, here.
    I agree that all parties including the shops have to do a better job and we are certainly committed to ensuring safety for all people on the roads. Our customers also seem to be aligned to this focus. We all know the costs associated with unsafe vehicles (any type of vehicle).

    As for the Wheel-Checks – they are made in North America. Please check out http://www.wheel-check.com/.

    I am also happy to chat if you like. My email, etc. below.

  • Tom,

    As a mechanical engineer, I must tell you, never use oil on studs unless you have stud piloted rims. It provides incorrect torque readings. Also, Check out StudKleen.com
    We’re helping the shops do the job properly so there are not wheel-offs.