“This new solution keeps fleets and trailer manufacturers ahead of pending legislation and demonstrates our commitment as a partner to the commercial vehicle industry,” says Paul Williams, Continental’s executive vice president of commercial vehicle tires in the Americas. “With this addition to our digital tire monitoring portfolio, we now offer solutions for long haul fleets and owner-operators, for fleets who return to the yard daily and for trailers.”
ContiPressureCheck Solo is made of three major components. Continental tire sensors form the basis of all of the company’s commercial tire monitoring solutions. Mounted on the inner liner of each tire, they are protected from weather, theft, curbing and damage during tire mounting. Sensors can be retrofitted into existing tires, or intelligent tires with preinstalled sensors can be ordered directly from the Continental factory.
The central control unit, mounted on the trailer, continuously receives data from the tire sensors and activates alerts if needed.
The notification light, mounted in an industry-standard position and visible in the driver’s side mirror, is activated if low pressure is identified in any of the trailer’s tires. Multiple levels of low pressure alerts ensure notifications reflect the severity of the issue.
Trailers equipped with telematics systems can also transmit tire data into the telematics dashboard, allowing back office support personnel to view trailer TPMS information remotely.
ContiPressureCheck Solo has an intuitive design that is simple to use and maintain. Battery-powered sensors last six years or 400,000 miles, keeping maintenance to a minimum. Continental’s solution is not connected to trailer air hoses, so it does not introduce additional leak points into the air system or require intensive upkeep to prevent air leaks. As a stand-alone trailer TPMS, it is ideal for drop-and-hook scenarios since there is no connection needed to a specific tractor. This low-maintenance approach can save fleets time and money, according to an announcement.
ContiPressureCheck Solo is designed to meet greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards from multiple regulatory bodies, which are currently pending implementation: GHG Phase 2 for Trailers set forth by the EPA and NHTSA, and CA Phase 2 GHG Trailer Rules set forth by CARB, which go into effect in 2020. Both sets of regulations currently contain provisions for certain trailers to install either a TPMS or an automatic tire inflation system (ATIS). Continental’s new trailer TPMS makes GHG 2 compliance as simple and affordable as possible for fleets.
Regulations also state that trailers will be required to use low-rolling-resistance tires. Continental offers SmartWay-verified and CARB-compliant tires, including the Conti EcoPlus HT3, which has one of the lowest rolling resistance coefficients on the market.
“If the legislation stays as currently written, fleets will be able to meet all GHG 2 regulations with just two simple items from Continental: the ContiPressureCheck Solo trailer TPMS and our extremely low rolling resistance tires,” explains Michelle Reinhart, head of Continental’s digital solutions for the Americas region. “That’s it, just two products and your trailer can be GHG 2 compliant. You won’t need an aerodynamic kit or any additional products.”
Continental offers a full portfolio of digital tire monitoring systems to meet different fleet needs. Components of all systems, including the new ContiPressureCheck Solo trailer TPMS, can be combined to take advantage of different functionalities. ContiPressureCheck monitors a single vehicle in real-time, alerting the driver to tire pressure and temperature issues via an in-cab display. It is ideal for fleets whose trucks or buses are away from the terminal for long periods of time, and for owner-operators. ContiPressureCheck also can be integrated with any of our telematics partners for remote data viewing, such as Zonar and PeopleNet. ContiConnect monitors the entire fleet when vehicles are in the terminal, alerting back office personnel to tire issues via a mobile-friendly web portal, plus text and email notifications for severe alerts. It is ideal for fleets whose trucks or buses return to the terminal daily.
