The Tire Industry Association and Michelin Americas Truck Tires have partnered to create a new training video for truck fleets. The 20-minute “Wheel End Safety” video is intended to provide maintenance personnel and drivers with installation and inspection guidelines to improve wheel-end performance and safety. It addresses a number of related topics, but the primary focus is to help fleets prevent wheel-off accidents and wheel-end fires. The video is available as a free download on TIA’s website, www.tireindustry.org, and on Michelin’s website, www.michelintruck.com.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to educate the tire and transportation industries, TIA is proud to partner with Michelin on this important fleet safety video,” says Roy Littlefield, TIA executive vice president. “In addition to wheel-off and wheel-end fire prevention, ‘Wheel End Safety’ also addresses the dangers of welding on rims and includes dramatic footage that clearly demonstrates the risks to this dangerous practice. Our hope is that fleets will use this video to educate drivers, maintenance personnel and tire service providers on the steps they can take to make the highways safer for themselves and all motorists.”
In order to illustrate the danger of a wheel-off incident, TIA worked with Michelin engineers to construct a controlled test at Michelin’s Laurens Proving Grounds in South Carolina, where the tire and wheel assemblies could be filmed after they separated from a trailer. After several successful attempts, a parked car was placed in the path so multiple cameras could record the footage. The resulting impact is certain to grab the attention of viewers and demonstrate the seriousness of wheel-off accidents.
“This video dramatically demonstrates the importance of operating trucks and other commercial vehicles as safely as possible,” says Doug Jones, customer engineering support manager for Michelin North America, based in Greenville, S.C. “By taking a few extra minutes to shore up wheel-end maintenance, fleet technicians can help minimize the number of dangerous wheel-off events.”
