SIAM puts spotlight on tyres care and road safety

New Delhi, August 21, 2021: Spreading awareness on tyre 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 “Road Safety Advocacy’’ — an important initiative by MoRTH — under which SIAM-ATMA will be organizing three sessions on various aspects of tyre care, road safety, and sustainability.
 
Under the Tri Series on “Road Safety Advocacy’’, SIAM-ATMA organized the first edition on Tyre Care & Road Safety, 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 tyre care in ensuring the overall road safety.
 
In his welcome address, Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, said, “Road safety and tyre are very closely related. Under the tri-series jointly organized with ATMA, the first series focuses on tyre 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 have been a lot of discussions within the automobile industry on how can we localize the various components that we import. Tyres and natural rubber are amongst the major components. We are in the process of finalizing our localization roadmap for 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 effort to ensure that tyres are central to all discussion about road safety, behavioural fuel efficiency, rider handling, etc. Tyres are unfortunately one of the most neglected parts of vehicle, but awareness is now growing. Road safety revolves around 3Es – education, engineering and enforcement and I would urge the industry to organise more such programs to educate the wider audience.”
 
Guest of honour, Dr S S Gupta, Sr. Development Officer, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, said, “This program on awareness about tyre care and road safety is very timely and relevant. The issues related to the tyre industry are being taken care continuously by the DPIIT under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Various interventions have been initiated by the Department, including the one on Import Policy which brought tyres from free import category to restricted category, giving a boost to the domestic industry. The efforts are on towards finalising inverted duty structure and antidumping duty. We have contributed in recommending the industry for attaining circular economy around tyre and rubber to finalize the roadmap for end of life tyres. These initiatives will lead to Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, while promoting local manufacturing of tyres.”
 
Extending his vote of thanks, Mr Rajiv Budhraja, Director General, ATMA, said, “Tyre has been the most regulated yet neglected auto component, and data substantiates that tyre 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 tyre 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 tyres. While he called for greater industry efforts to changing perception on tyre care through awareness, he encouraged all motorists to maintain their vehicle's tyres by playing their PART- Pressure, Alignment, Rotation and Tread.”
 
Mr Ravin Kurian, Sr. General Manager, MRF Ltd, spoke about safety, durability and failure analysis of tyres. He pointed out that rash driving, low inflation and potholes are considered to be the major reasons for quick wearing out of tyres, and highlighted that road hazards, inflation pressure, tyre section height and structure are important parameters for understanding quality of tyres.  
 
Shri B V Shamsundara, Deputy Director (SHL) ARAI, elaborated upon the importance of tyre testing for safety and reliability. Speaking on the genesis of tyre approval in India, he discussed the status of tyre notifications and various regulatory requirements. He deep-dived into nuances of tyre testing, including testing condition, load speed test, tyre strength and rolling resistance strength, benchmarking, and highlighted the importance of data generation and interpretation on tyres. 
 
Mr Harjeet Singh, Chairman, SIAM 2 Wheeler Group Ex Advisor, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, focused on the two-wheeler tyres and pros and cons of various types of tyres, role of design, tread pattern, including contribution of tyre in safety, performance, comfort, fuel efficiency, and durability. Mr. Singh discussed the dos and don’ts for two-wheeler tyre maintenance and also shared the emerging trends in the domain.   
 
Focusing on the role of tyre in vehicle design, Mr Deepak Sawkar, Senior Advisor, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd said that there’s no single component in the car than the tyre on which so many performance parameters have an impact. Focusing on the design process of the tyre, he elaborated upon the key parameters, including rolling and abrasion resistance, riding comfort, noise, stabiity, braking, and wet performance, which has an influence on the overall performance requirement from the tyre.
 
The interactive session held amongst speakers focused on the pivotal role of tyres in road safety being the only point of contact between the vehicle and the road. The discussions on emerging trends in tyre care and its contribution in road safety demonstrated interest from the panel.
 
SIAM-ATMA will continue its endeavours and organize the two remaining sessions due under the Road Safety Advocacy Tri Series on the topics “Technology and Environmental Challenges”, on 24th September 2021 and “Regulation and Sustainability” in October 2021, which will deliberate upon various aspects of tyre manufacturing, raw material sourcing, recycling, environmental, regulatory framework and sustainability.