Continental
introduces
intelligent
tires to the
motorcoach
industry
Tires will be identified with an “Active Sensor” mark indicating the presence of the embedded sensor, so the tires can easily be identified while mounted on a vehicle.
Continental is launching the motorcoach industry’s first complete
tire line factory-assembled with an embedded tire pressure
monitoring system (TPMS) sensor. The company chose the Conti
Coach HA3 as the first of its tire lines to feature this technology
because of the motorcoach industry’s unique need for safety.
“Continental is committed to Vision Zero, which means zero
fatalities, zero injuries, and zero accidents,” says Paul Williams,
Continental’s executive vice president of Commercial Vehicle
Tires in the Americas. “The most critical safety component in a
people-moving vehicle is where it touches the road, the tire, and
maintaining correct tire pressure is equally critical.”
Continental introduced the Conti Coach HA3 in 2014, with each
tire featuring: extra load-carrying capacity due to a specially-
reinforced Stable bead; interlocking 3D sipes for all-weather
traction; and a noise-reducing tread design.
The siping’s 3D structure keeps the tread stiffness for better wet
grip performance over the tire’s full lifetime. Its sipes are placed
in a way to reduce noise intensity and to shift the noise frequency
for quieter running and an enhanced ride comfort. The tire’s
wet-optimized compound makeup allows for adverse weather
performance without sacrificing fuel efficiency.
Under Continental’s new initiative, every Conti Coach HA3 tire
will be factory-equipped with an active sensor, ready to deliver
tire pressure and temperature data to drivers, dispatchers, fleet
managers, or maintenance providers.
Tires will be identified with an “Active Sensor” mark indicating
the presence of the embedded sensor, so the tires can easily be
identified while mounted on a vehicle.
“Tire sensors are necessary because there is no accurate way to
visually measure a tire’s air pressure, and manual tire pressure
checks are time-consuming and often inaccurate,” Williams says.
“Of course, safety is critical, but having a correctly-inflated tire
also increases fuel economy, tread life and tire casing life.”
Williams says the Conti Coach HA3 tires, when paired with
any of Continental’s digital tire monitoring solutions, will result
in improved safety, maximum load carrying capacity, reduced
breakdowns, up to $800 in related cost savings, up to 25 percent
longer tread life, and increased fuel efficiency.
26 | BUSRIDE.COM | OCTOBER 2018
Continental offers three solutions for digital tire monitoring:
ContiPressureCheck monitors a single vehicle, sending real-time
tire data to the driver via a mounted in-cab display.
ContiConnect Yard is an affordable option to monitor multiple
vehicles. The platform sends real-time tire data to a web portal
whenever sensors are within 65-feet of a yard reader station.
“The system’s reporting platform is impressive, allowing for reports
on anything from creeping air loss to uptime,” Williams says. “It’s
offered at such a reasonable cost, because operators only need to install
the yard reader, pay a monthly fee and th en use our tires.”
Finally, ContiPressureCheck + Telematics monitors
multiple vehicles and sends real-time tire data to a connected
telematics system. Continental currently
offers compatibility with Zonar,
Geotab, PeopleNet and Road Ready
telematics systems.
Per Continental’s research,
on average 34 percent of fleet
tires are underinflated.
A properly inflated tire
results in an average 1
percent increase in fuel
efficiency, 15 percent
longer tread life and 20
percent longer casing life
compared to a tire which is
10 percent underinflated.
“Our research shows how
important this investment
is,” Williams says. “In the
case of our motorcoach tire, it
made all the sense in the world.”
Every Conti Coach HA3 tire will now be factory-equipped with an active sensor.