Time to Re-Tire

Cars soon will be able to tell their drivers when to replace the tires, thanks to technology recently developed by tire maker Continental. Set to debut for the 2017 model year, the system is designed to track a tire’s gradually changing rolling characteristics over time based on data acquired by embedded sensors. Once the system determines the tread on one or more tires has worn past a specific depth, it will issue an alert to that effect and, if desired, can even go ahead and contact a motorist’s preferred service center or dealer service department to give them a heads-up that the car will be coming in for fresh rubber. Still, the system will allow a driver to check tire condition the old fashioned way, by either looking for the indicator bands that appear across the tire when the tread is low or by sticking a penny head-first into the tread; if the top of Lincoln’s head is visible it’s time to go tire shopping.