Posts Tagged ‘poor consumer opinion’
Having its first design in 1935, the run-flat tire has gone through around eighty years of evolution and improvement, but so far has yet to achieve extensive use in customer applications. The tire has its share of implicit advantages over normal vehicle tires, but one or two vital problems have left it falling flat with average drivers.
The run-flat tire is a pneumatic car tire designed with a fabric or sponge rubber inner tube, giving the chance to persist in operating at low speeds and distances even after a puncture. The tires were first designed in the 1930s as bullet-proof tires for military and police automobiles and armored cars. The very first civilian application of the technology was not utilized until the 1950s, when Chrysler and US Royal began offering them as options on some of their models.
Michelin, Bridgestone and General Motors have spent substantial sums in the last decades to develop run-flat tire technology, and are quick to plug the benefits. A standard run-flat tire design permits continued operation of a vehicle for a hundred to two hundred miles at a speed of approximately fifty-five miles per hour, even after air pressure has been lost to the tire. BMW has promoted this as a safety feature, even claiming that there is no need to carry a spare tire in a vehicle featuring run-flat tires.
Even with its positive selling points run-flat tires have failed to earn popular acclamation from drivers. Most particularly, this is from the high sticker price. Run-flat tires an astounding $200 to $500 per tire dependent on design and size, typically relegating their use to luxury car companies like BMW. With the thicker sidewall on the run-flat tires, their increased weight over conventional tires hurts fuel efficiency by nearly 2.0 percent, negating the efforts to fuel efficiency of not having the need to carry a spare tire.
In the seventeen years that run-flat tires have been generally available in the United States, there’s been no discernible increase in market share among consumers. According to a Michelin study released in 2008, only 3 percent of drivers world-wide voiced any desire for run-flat tires, and U.S. market share is still less than 1 %. Unless the production cost of these tires can be seriously reduced, the technology is not likely to gain wider appeal.
Harold Smith writes about investments and car brands. He is saving to purchase a Bugatti Veyron, one of the most expensive cars in the world.
No matter what credit score you have, auto refinance is a specialty at Roadloans. Visit us to see how much money we can save you.