Tuesday, January 14, 2014. The Role of Tires in Automotive Safety
Automobile safety has improved dramatically over the past few decades, with major advancements including side airbags, collision avoidance systems and electronic stability control making driving safer for the masses. Many people associate these advances with the car itself; however, one of the most important safety devices may be right beneath you as you drive down the road.
Few parts are as critical to maintaining control as the tires connecting your car to the road. Brakes can stop your wheels, but only tires can stop your car.
The role of tires becomes even more crucial in wet conditions. As tires wear, they lose their gripping ability in wet conditions, increasing the stopping distance and likelihood to hydroplane. In fact, when roads are wet, you are more than two times as likely to have an accident as when they are dry1.
Creating a better tire is part chemistry and part design. Most people look at a tire and see a round, simple piece of rubber. The tire, though, is a complex combination of chemicals molded together and then wrapped in an intricate tread designed to propel your vehicle forward or bring it to a halt.
What consumers may not realize is that at any given point your tires are touching the road with a rubber contact patch about the size of your hand. With so much riding on such a small surface area, Michelin goes to great lengths to ensure the tire and its contact patch deliver maximum performance to the driver.
Our tire engineers are constantly testing new combinations of materials and tread designs to see what produces the best possible tire providing the driver with the best grip in all driving conditions.
It\'s safe to say that Michelin is obsessed with tires and tire safety. After more than a century of making tires, we continue to look for new ways to improve the tire. Michelin invented the radial tire, giving the automotive world a tire that\'s both flexible and strong. Now, Michelin is taking safety to a new level with a tire that evolves as it wears, keeping a firm grip on the road miles after it\'s bought.
Introducing the MICHELIN® Premier® A/S with EverGrip™
The standard automobile tire has improved greatly over time. However, one major issue has persisted. Tiremakers have been able to create tires with more traction when they are new, but what about when they are worn? On average, a family drives 19,850 miles a year2, making 2.08 stops per mile3. That\'s 41,288 stops a year! And with each mile and each stop, traction deteriorates on wet roads.
After countless hours of research in our labs and on our test tracks, Michelin engineers developed a revolutionary approach to meeting this challenge – the MICHELIN® Premier® A/S tire with EverGrip™.
The result is a tire that stands the test of time. EverGrip is a safety technology that combines a high-traction compound with an innovative tread groove design that evolves over time for enduring safety.
Even as miles are logged and the tread becomes worn, the MICHELIN Premier A/S with EverGrip continues to provide traction and stopping power, helping keep you in control and making your car safe to drive.
High-traction Compound Built for Grip
A proprietary chemical compound is at the heart of The MICHELIN Premier A/S\' stopping power. The rubber in tires may look the same to the naked eye, but at a microscopic level, the differences are vast and significant. The MICHELIN Premier A/S with EverGrip uses special chemicals combined through a proprietary formulation to create exceptional traction both when new and worn.
We take great care in the mixing process to make sure everything is evenly distributed. This creates a stronger, more consistent tire through every layer of the tire. Even as the tire wears, the material touching the road maintains its performance.
EverGrip also is created with the best ingredients possible – silica and sunflower oil. We use extreme amounts of silica to provide the bonding strength needed to keep the treads on the road, delivering high traction even in wet conditions. The MICHELIN Premier A/S is infused with sunflower oil, giving the tire greater flexibility at low temperatures to improve cold-weather grip. The exacting combination of ingredients makes The MICHELIN Premier A/S with EverGrip a tire that can deliver traction and control in a range of weather and road conditions.
Designed for Wear: Expanding and Emerging Grooves
The MICHELIN Premier A/S with EverGrip also has a revolutionary tread design that evolves to help maintain traction. Most tires simply wear down with time, losing layer after layer of its all- important treads and grooves. The loss of these layers is significant because the grooves of a tire are a defining factor in determining all-season traction.
The grooves funnel water out and away to keep the tire firmly planted on the road. As these grooves become more shallow, most tires lose their ability to funnel water away at a fast pace becomes diminished. This puts more water between your tires and the road, decreasing stopping power and increasing the chance of hydroplaning.
The MICHELIN Premier with EverGrip has a revolutionary design to address this problem. It has rain grooves that widen as they wear down. It also has a special set of grooves hidden beneath the surface that emerge as the outer layers wear. The result is a tire that can continue to channel water away at an incredible rate even as the grooves become more shallow.

MICHELIN® Premier® A/S Tire with EverGrip™
Background Briefing: Safe When New, Safe When Worn
Confidence on the Road
So what\'s this special compound and revolutionary tread mean for you? It means you\'ll have more traction and stopping power when new and when worn. The MICHELIN Premier A/S provides three major consumer benefits.
- Shorter Stopping: Stops shorter on wet roads – even worn – than a leading competitor\'s brand-new tires.
- Reduced Hydroplaning: Grooves widen and open up as it wears to maintain traction.
- Increased Grip: Extreme amounts of silica give incredible wet grip for everyday handling.
The MICHELIN Premier A/S with EverGrip is more than just another tire; it\'s a new safety technology. Even when worn, the MICHELIN Premier A/S tire still stops shorter on wet roads than a leading competitor\'s brand new tires4. When a few feet is all that stands between an accident and a near miss, the MICHELIN Premier A/S helps keep the driver in control and the car firmly planted on the road.
Media Contact:
Brian Remsberg, Michelin North America office: 864 458 5908
mobile: 864 561 7459 brian.remsberg@us.michelin.com
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12012 NHTSA Report: Tire-Related Factors in the Pre-Crash Phase
22009 National Household Travel Survey
32009 National Household Travel Survey; EPA test procedures for average stopping
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