Cooper study: Moms paying little attention to tire safety concerns

Whether transporting children to the grocery store or piano lessons, the only part of a vehicle touching the road are the tires, and neglected tires can lead to serious consequences, the tire maker points out.

Improperly maintained tires contribute to an estimated 600 fatalities and 33,000 injuries per year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Cooper representatives advise all drivers to conduct do-it-yourself maintenance checks that take less than 10 minutes a month to perform to create a safer vehicle for precious cargo in-tow.

“Put your coat on. Brush your teeth. Be careful, your face will freeze that way. Finish your homework. From Wally Cleaver and the soccer coach's daughter, every child is familiar with these ‘mom-isms.’ In comparison, ‘Don’t forget to check the tires before we visit Grandma,’ seems trivial,” Cooper notes.

According to the Rubber Manufacturer’s Association (RMA), more than half of drivers do not know how to check tread depth, and only 17 percent of vehicles on the road have four properly inflated tires – dangerous statistics considering the potential consequences of improperly maintained tires, including blow outs, longer stopping distances and less handling control.

In order to bring the importance of tire safety and maintenance to the forefront, Cooper, cars.com and motherproof.com set out to uncover where exactly tire safety ranks among other parenting concerns such as education, health and nutrition.

Mothers were asked to rank areas they pay the most attention to regarding their children and what proactive steps they take to benefit their families. Buying nutritious groceries ranked the highest by more than 90 percent, with encouraging daily exercise, daily teeth brushing and non-required reading outside of school following behind.

Although safety ranked highest as the category moms pay the most attention to overall, beating out health, nutrition and education, less than 1 percent of the responses reported automotive maintenance as a tactic to ensure their child’s safety, with zero responses mentioning tire safety.

Cooper calls this “an alarming finding, especially as almost half of the mothers surveyed revealed spending more than four hours per week shuttling their kids around town.”

Mothers are also considerably unfamiliar with how to conduct proper tire maintenance techniques. Nine out of 10 mothers do not regularly maintain their vehicles, leaving the duties to a male household member or professional. A quarter of the mothers surveyed do not know how to find their vehicle’s correct tire pressure, properly check tire pressure and tread depth, or change a tire.

For more information, visit www.coopertire.com.