Number of organisations and firms involved in NHVR project on make variations
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has begun extensive testing on a range of tyres used on Performance Based Standards (PBS) combinations following recommendations by road safety expert Dr John de Pont in his Review of Tyre Management Practices in the Australian PBS System.
The NHVR is working with the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) to undertake tyre testing needed to progress Dr de Pont’s findings.
“In addition to the safety assessment projects being undertaken to investigate potential impacts of the generic tyre approach for PBS assessments, the NHVR has engaged ARRB to conduct tyre testing to consider the effects of varying test conditions on tyre performance,” NHVR chief engineer Les Bruzsa says .
“The testing will examine the effect of variations in tread depth, vertical loads, different inflation pressures, road surface characteristics and the performance characteristics of different tyres.
“The results will also be used to determine how the performance of heavy vehicle tyres in the Australian market differ from the Michelin XZA tyre used to develop the PBS Standards.
“With almost one in five new heavy vehicles approved under the PBS scheme, we want to take a best-practice approach to the management of tyres on the PBS fleet.
“The testing is another step towards a consistent approach among manufacturers and will give heavy vehicle manufacturers certainty about how we measure tyre performance.
“We’d like to thank the Australian Tyre Industry Council (ATIC) and the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) for their support in providing tyres and rims for this testing.”
Read about the HVIA’s views on the de Pont report, here
The testing is occurring at the DECA training facility at Shepparton in Victoria.
This week ARRB’s advanced technologies lab leader Anthony Germanchev shared on social media video from there of a rare tyre testing trailer measuring cornering performance of seven major tyre brands.
Germanchev notes only two such testing trailers exist, one owned by ARRB and the other by tyre firm Continental in Germany.
Dr de Pont’s discussion paper is available here.