LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Doran Manufacturing introduced a new tire pressure monitoring system at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

The system detects even slight changes in tire pressure and alerts the driver about his tire’s status, said company officials.

The PressurePro monitoring system records data for up to 34 tires and reads pressures of up to 150 psi. A valve cap sensor is placed on each wheel and a monitor is mounted in the cab. Drivers can determine the pressure of each of their tires at any time and will be alerted by visual and audible alarms if the tire pressure decreases to an unsafe level.

Low pressure levels cause up to 90 per cent of tire problems, Scott Comisar of Doran Manufacturing said, adding under-inflated tires deliver worse fuel economy, early and uneven tread wear and are prone to roadside failures which are costly to fix. Tire Industry Safety Council studies have shown that nearly half of all tires are under-inflated. Tires under-inflated by 10 per cent lose up to 12 per cent of their tread life.

At 20 per cent under-inflation the tread life loss is nearly 23 per cent, Comisar said, adding 17 per cent of small fleets with fewer than 50 tractors typically have at least one flat tire – a tire that’s under-inflated by 50 psi or more.

The system pays for itself in less than a year – ranging from 3.7 months to 9.4 months depending on how many wheels are monitored and how many miles are accumulated per year, Comisar said.

Typical payback schedules can be found at the company’s Web site: www.doranmfg.com