Under the Tri Series on Road Safety Advocacy for Tyres, SIAM spotlight on Tyres Care and Road Safety
Mumbai: Spreading awareness on tire maintenance and its role in road safety, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex automotive industry body, and Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) have jointly initiated a Tri-Series on “RoadSafetyAdvocacy’’ – an important initiative by MoRTH – under which SIAM- ATMA will be organizing three sessions on various aspects of tire care, road safety, and sustainability.
Under the Tri-Series on “Road Safety Advocacy’’, SIAM-ATMA organized the first edition on TyreCare&RoadSafety, on a virtual platform. The lecture was divided into two sessions and witnessed thematic presentations by industry leaders on Tyre Care & Safety to impart knowledge and create awareness amongst motorists on the importance of tire care in ensuring overall road safety.
In his welcome address, Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, said, “Road safety and tire are very closely related. Under the tri-series jointly organized with ATMA, the first series focuses on tire and road safety, second on technology and environmental issues, and third on standards, regulations, and sustainability.”
Mr Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM, said, “Tyres are the most critical safety component for a vehicle and road safety and are one of the highly regulated automotive components. There has been a lot of discussions within the automobile industry on how can we localize the various components that we import. Tires and natural rubber are amongst the major components. We are in the process of living our localization the roadmap for the Indian automobile industry and look forward to sustained engagement pertaining to the same.”
Mr Anshuman Singhania, Chairman, ATMA & CMD, JK Tyres and Industries Ltd said, “Tyre industry in India has all along understood the need for safety and has been constantly upgrading for promoting sustainable mobility. It has been our consistent for sure that tires are central to all discussions about road safety, behavioral fuel efficiency, ride handling, etc. Tyre sare, unfortunately, one of the most neglected parts of a vehicle, but awareness is now growing. Road safety revolves around 3Es – education, engineering, and enforcement and I would urge the industry to organize more such programs to educate the wider audience.”
Guest of honor, Dr S S Gupta, Sr. Development Officer, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, said, “This program on awareness about tire care and road safety is very timely and relevant. The issues related to the tire industry are being taken care of continuously by the DPIIT under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Various interventions have been initiated by the Department, including the one on Import Policy which brought tires from free import category to restricted category, giving a boost to the domestic industry. The efforts are on finalizing inverted duty structure and antidumping duty. We have contributed to recommending the industry for attaining a circular economy around tires and rubber to finalize the road map for end-of-life tires. This initiative is will lead to Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, while promoting local manufacturing of tires.”
Extending his vote of thanks, Mr Rajiv Budhraja, Director General, ATMA, said, “Tyrehasbeen the most regulated yet neglected auto component, and data substantiates that tire care is lacking globally. I firmly believe these awareness and education initiatives will herald a new era of raising awareness and imparting education on the aspect of tire safety through this tri lecture series, especially in this digital world.
Mr Sudershan Gusain, Sr. Dy. GM, Bridgestone India Pvt Ltd, said that 410 deaths per day happen due to road traffic accidents in India and many of these are attributed to neglected tires. While he called forget after industry efforts to changing perception on tire care through awareness.”
Mr Ravin Kurian, Sr. General Manager, MRF Ltd, spoke about the safety, durability, and failure analysis of tires. He pointed out that rash driving, low inflation, and potholes are considered to be the major reasons for quick wearing out of tires, and highlighted that road hazards, inflation pressure, tire section height, and structure are important parameters for understanding the quality of tires.
Shri B V Shamsundara, Deputy Director (SHL) ARAI, elaborated upon the importance of tire testing for safety and reliability. SpeakingonthegenesisoftyreapprovalinIndia, he discussed the status of tire notifications and various regulatory requirements. He deep-dived into nuances of tire testing, including testing condition, load speed test, tire strength, and rolling resistance strength, benchmarking, and highlighted the importance of data generation and interpretation on tires.
Mr Harjeet Singh, Chairman, SIAM 2Wheeler Group ExAdvisor, Hero Moto CorpLtd, focused on the two-wheeler tires and pros and cons of various types of tires, the role of design, tread pattern, including a contribution of the tire in safety, performance, comfort, fuel efficiency, and durability. Mr. Singh discussed the dos and don’ts for two-wheeler tire maintenance and also shared the emerging trends in the domain.
Focusing on the role of tires in vehicle design, Mr. Deepak Sawkar, Senior Advisor, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd said that there’s no single component in the car other than the tire on which so many performance parameters have an impact. Focusing on the design process of the tire, he elaborated upon the key parameters, including rolling and abrasion resistance, riding
comfort, noise, stability, braking, and wet performance, which has an influence on the overall performance requirement from the tire.
The interactive session held amongst speakers focused on the pivotal role of tires in road safety being the only point of contact between the vehicle and the road. The discussions on emerging trends in tire care and their contribution to road safety demonstrated interest from the panel.
