PLAYING THE FUEL
Drivers wasting hundreds on fuel over maintenance error which costs nothing to fix
MILLIONS of motorists could save hundreds of pounds a year simply by checking this important part of their car.
Driving a car responsibly means not only following the road rules, but also making sure your vehicle is road-worthy to keep everyone safe.
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Tyres are a key part of this because they are the point where the rubber meets the road and anything that affects them will affect the driver.
One garage in Wales checked the tyre pressure of 100 random cars in a month and found over half of the cars had underinflated tyres.
Out of all the cars they tested, 72 of them had tyres not properly inflated and 22 had all four tyres inflated to the wrong pressure.
Underinflation can reduce a vehicle's fuel efficiency by 10 per cent, costing the average family about £140 a year.
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That means wrongly inflated tyres are costing Britons £1.2billion a year, according to .
And as temperatures drop as we head towards Christmas, so does the pressure of the air in the tyres.
If a driver's tyres are underinflated by more, the driver will be getting less efficiency from their vehicle and losing more money.
But one expert says it is not just money we should be worried about when it comes to badly inflated tyres.
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"Incorrectly inflated tyres can be bad for safety, but also have an impact on fuel efficiency," Philip Gomm, spokesman at road safety charity the RAC Foundation, said.
"If they are under-inflated fuel economy is cut by as much as ten per cent because of the extra resistance with the road."
For those tyres found to be underinflated, the PSI was below by an average of seven PSI. And for the tyres that were over inflated, the average was five PSI over the recommended pressure.
Incredibly, some car tyres that were tested were found to be 20 PSI under the number recommended by the vehicle manufacturer - and others measured up to 11 PSI above the recommended level.
Driving with underinflated tyres is dangerous and can result in the tyre rubbing wrongly on the road and it wearing through prematurely.
It can also lead to overheating and the sidewall of the tyre could blow making the driver lose control in the worst cases.
Tyres will gradually lose air over time and hitting curbs, potholes and tiny punctures can all see pressure loss faster.
Motorists should check their tyre pressure once a month and before making long journeys or carrying heavy loads.
They can find the correct level for each tyre's pressure in the manual and on a sticker on the driver's door frame (only visible when the door is opened).
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