Meritor Inc. and Pressure Systems International announced that Maverick Transportation has spec’d the Meritor Tire Inflation System by PSI to be standard on all new trailers purchased in 2012. Maverick says it chose MTIS by PSI as standard equipment after realizing the safety benefits and cost advantages associated with better tire wear and fuel economy. Tire inflation systems help keep tires inflated properly, which improves tire maintenance management, trailer uptime and bottom-line return-on-investment.
“When tires are properly inflated at all times, there are less ‘tire gators’ on the road and fewer roadside breakdowns,” says Craig Frohock, general manager, North American Trailer, Meritor. “It’s always rewarding when companies such as Maverick realize these benefits and safety aspects that MTIS brings to their fleets, drivers and the general public sharing the roads.”
Dean Newell, certified director of safety and vice president of safety for Maverick, sys that with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new Compliance Safety Accountability initiative, MTIS is even more important as an additional specification to their trailers. “We’re serious about safety at Maverick, and always have been,” Newell says. “With the CSA scoring and enforcement criteria, points assessed for underinflated and flat tires can easily impact the safety score of any fleet operating in the U.S. If you can avoid those instances by having your tires properly inflated all the time, it eliminates that worry.”
Maverick now operates more than 1,500 flatbed, glass and temperature-controlled semi-trailers with the Meritor Tire Inflation System by PSI, a simple design that can be installed on virtually any type of trailer. The system automatically provides constant air pressure available when needed, and the patented ThermAlert option alerts drivers of excessive wheel end heat, which helps avoid trailer fires or wheel end damage. Meritor says that as fleets have increasingly seen the benefits of the ThermAlert technology, MTIS with this option now accounts for 43 percent of PSI’s production.
