Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification proposing that the tyres of cars, buses and trucks shall meet the requirements of rolling resistance, wet grip & rolling sound emissions, as specified in Stage-II of the Automotive Industry Standards (AIS) 142:2019, amended from time to time.
The Standard shall align the tyre performance with regard to their sound emissions, rolling resistance and adhesion performance on wet surfaces (wet adhesion) with the Stage-II limits of European regulations.
The rolling resistance of tyres has an influence on fuel efficiency, while the wet grip is related to the braking performance of the tyres under wet conditions. Rolling sound emission is related to the sound emitted from the contact between the tyres in motion and the road surface.
In the notification, MoRTH has proposed that regulations will be applicable for new models of tyres from October 1, 2021 and for the existing design of tyres it will be applicable from October 1, 2022.
Experts say that this will help tyre manufacturers to uniformly manufacture tyres for India and global markets.
The notification has come at a time when major tyre manufacturers like Apollo Tyres has recently got accredited with ISO/IEC 17025 for the wet grip and coast by noise tyre tests on the track.
This testing capability is linked to the Indian Government’s plan to implement ‘Star Rating’ of tyres, in line with the Tyre Labelling regulation in Europe.
This intends to ensure the safety, economic and environmental efficiency of road transport by promoting fuel-efficient and safe tyres with low noise levels.