Tires serve as the foundation for truck and trailer stability, and without reliable tires, the entire trucking industry ceases to exist. Tires are the unsung heroes of the road as they churn away, day after day, night after night, working in all conditions to keep freight moving and drivers safe. While monitoring air pressure and the surface condition is an essential aspect of tire maintenance, traditional inspection means require you to be out of your vehicle to complete your checks. This can be time-consuming, and in some cases, dangerous.

To make life easier for drivers and tire maintenance techs, sensors allow real-time data to be transmitted via technologies like radio-frequency identification (RFID) and tire pressure management systems (TPMS). RFID and TPMS sensors can alert drivers to changes in air pressure during a truck’s operation. They can also log data and even transmit it back to HQ via connected vehicle technology.

After receiving this data, logistics professionals can work with maintenance techs to create more efficient routing plans if problematic patterns emerge. For example, notice that your fleet continues to experience issues with tires losing pressure in a specific area. There may be altitude considerations that are leading to an imbalance of pressure in that location. Routing trucks around the problem area could lead to better performance from your fleet’s tires and less downtime for drivers.

Whether you choose to take advantage of tire maintenance technologies like RFID and TPMS or you choose to utilize manual digital tire inspection tools like handheld pressure sensors, the fact is that regular inspection is the key to extending tire life and protecting drivers. While connected vehicle technology is undoubtedly a benefit, if you don’t have a reporting system to take advantage of the data you receive, you will not be able to utilize these systems fully.

Ideally, you will want to incorporate a mix of traditional and modern inspection protocols to get the most protection. Not only does this approach provide additional peace of mind, but it can also save you in the event that a sensor becomes faulty. As advanced as RFID and TPMS reporting systems are these days, one malfunctioning sensor could mean that you have a growing tire problem that may not be caught until it leads to an accident or severe damage to your truck or trailer.