With all the talk about a 3% ? 4% improvement of gas mileage when tires are properly inflated why do we have to fiddle with these stupid hand-held pressure gauges where other?even so-called third world?countries have more sophisticated methods for inflating tires.
We?re living in the technologically sophisticated America of the 21st century and every gas station should be required to install tire inflation equipment where pressure can be set on a device that will automatically stop when the pressure reaches the correct pressure.
With such a device drivers would be more willing to inflate their tires regularly, save gas and be safer.
is the responsability of every driver to check the status of the car not from the gas station nobody is gonna do your job , dont be lazy get down from the car and inflate the tires, or buy a car with a electronic tire presure system
besides not everyone uses the recomended tire presure stated on the user manual or car sticker is about preferences
i agree it will be nice to have a tire inflation system on the gas station that you set the amounts of PSI that you desire ann then you just inflate the tire but that will take out all the fun from inflating a tire neeh i dont want be that lazy
Why should a gas station be “required” to install such equipment? I don’t want to live in China where the government mandates everything down to the type of shirt I should be wearing.
Last time I checked a calibrated hand gauge is the most accurate method to measure air pressure in a tire. Let’s however say for a moment you mandated these machine at gas stations- it would eventually do what all machines do-malfunction. Who bears the responsibility if this machine malfunctions and overinflates the tire and it bursts in your face, or if bursts on the highway and you crash into a tree? Who wants that kind of liability when people put their lives in the hands of a machine that sits outdoors year round in potentially harsh climates. Gas stations makes very little money as it is and you want to mandate that some mom and pop gas station install a sophisticated and expensive machine to inflate your tires because you’re too lazy to spend $5 on a tire gauge?!
Too many people feel that it’s “someone else’s responsibility” to do what they can do and should do for themselves. Sometimes government is there to help when things go beyond the scope of what a single man or even group of men can do, but it should not exist to contribute to the problem of laziness or ignorance.
Years ago, many service stations had tire inflators where you dialed in the pressure you wanted, then applied the chuck to your tire. After the bell rang three times you were supposed to have the requested pressure. Later, they changed to the chuck that had a built in pencil type gauge. Evidently, these weren’t that popular for some reason and I haven’t seen one in years. I just use a hand-held gauge and don’t find it to be that much trouble, especially since I inflate my tires at home. Around Atlanta, most stations are now charging 75 cents for what used to be “free” air. I think that keeps a lot of people from bothering with checking their air, along with laziness.
They work and they are cheap.
As a VP of software engineering…BS in Computer Science…MS in Applied Mathematics…I see no need what so ever for technology just for the sake of technology. This device doesn’t solve anything. It’ll help you save MAYBE 1 hour/year.
A simpleton unable to adequately monitor his tire pressure with a hand held gauge would be hopelessly lost with a technologically advanced device that would of necessity need to be properly calibrated for the required pressure of his specific tires.
In other words, this device of yours would have to be set for the pressure of each individual car’s tires since they aren’t all the same. A boob incapable of operating a hand held pressure gauge wouldn’t be able to do that.
Are you not able to use the hand held or do you need others to be responsible for your inactions? True, the pencil type are not real accurate but you could BUY A DIGITAL! Any gas station model would not be accurate since non thinking lazy people will abuse them. Plus, do you really want gas stations to be required to install them? If so you will pay more to inflate your tires than you do now and it goes without saying you will gripe about that. Be responsible for your own car and actions.
Because it’s too hard to hold them with your feet??
KLRTom is right. Such equipment was common decades ago. I worked in a gas station from 1973 to 1982, and we had one at each of the three stations I worked. When we inflated a customer’s tire, we had to check the pressure with a hand-held gauge- we couldn’t trust the air pump. Do you really think those third world countries are using some sort of space-age machine? No, they probably have those old unreliable gizmos we had way back when.
In addition to the valid comments made already, I want to add another issue. Unless tire pressure is checked when the tires are cold (before the car has been driven more than a mile or two at low speed), the tire pressure that registers on any device will be elevated from the tire’s “cold pressure”, meaning that it is not possible to accurately assess the tire pressure or to accurately inflate the tires.
Because of this fact, I use a high-quality, hand-held, dial-type pressure gauge at home. I also use a high-quality tire inflator that is powered by plugging into the car’s cigarette lighter socket. This way, I can accurately determine the tire pressure and accurately inflate my tires for optimum handling and fuel economy.
Even if I did not have my own tire inflator, I would still use my hand-held tire pressure gauge at home. If the tires were…let’s say…two pounds too low, then when I arrived at the local gas station, I could simply check the tire pressure again, and no matter how high the pressure had risen as a result of having driven on the tires, I would simply add two pounds of pressure–again using my hand-held tire pressure gauge for accuracy.
So–what the OP envisions–aside from being impractical from many points of view, would never allow him to accurately inflate his tires unless he lives very close to a gas station that has an accessible, accurate air pump. Over the years, I have found that all too many stations do not make the air pump accessible to customers by virtue of parking cars very close to the pump. And, I have found that all too many gas station pumps are inaccurate.
The only way to accurately inflate your tires is to consistently use an instrument that is accurate, and to consistently use the same instrument. That means using your own gauge, and of course, one of high quality in order to ensure accuracy. Unfortunately the OP’s suggestion is impractical from many standpoints, and would be superior to my approach only if one is both cheap and lazy. Fortunately, I am neither cheap nor lazy.
. . . I see no need what so ever for technology just for the sake of technology.
I’m in 100% agreement. I keep a tire pressure gauge in my glove compartment so I can check my tires every other week. In fact, I find tire pressure monitors a nuisance and here is why. I was driving a minivan that belongs to my University back from a convention. It was about 2:00 a.m in the morning and we encountered a stretch of interstate highway that was under construction. There was one lane in each direction and the highway had been milled. The low tire light went on, but there was nothing to do but keep going with all the traffic and no place to pull over. After we got through the construction, the minivan seemed to be steering o.k. so I drove until I found a place to take a break. The tires were fine–the vibration from the milled pavement set off the low tire monitor. A couple of my passengers were really upset.
I teach computer science courses. My education was in mathematics, but in the 1970’s, people with degrees in computer science didn’t want to work on teaching salaries. I often come into class the first day with my sledge hammer. I pound on the desk with my fists and ask the class how many class periods it would take me to destroy the desk. We usually guess that by the end of the semester I might make a small depression on the desk that could be measured by a micrometer. I then pick up the sledge hammer and ask them whether they think I could destroy the desk by the end of the period. Most of them believe I could (I don’t really destroy the desk). I then point out that the sledge hammer just multiplies the force of my arm. I suggest in the same way that the computer just amplifies what they can do to solve a problem. A problem where the calculations would take a couple of years or a lifetime can be done in minutes or even seconds. However, someone has to write the program to do the process. I think an understanding of how the computer functions is essential. In the same way, I think drivers should know how their automobile functions. I really don’t care for the technology in my Chevrolet minivan that gives me messages like “Headlights suggested”, “Change oil soon”, etc. I’m smart enough to know when I should turn on the headlights or to keep a record of when I changed the oil and the conditions under which I drove the car since the last oil change. I think people become too dependent on this technology where a little understanding of how the automobile functions would go a long way to helping a person maintain a car.
every gas station should be required to install tire inflation equipment
Years ago, most gas stations did have decent, pressure regulated air pumps as a courtesy for their customers. Following along with the gradual degradation of individual responsibility and lack of respect for people and material goods in our society, people began to have little regard for the financial investment made by these stations to provide this service. They didn’t roll up the line, ran over the line, destroyed the chucks and even stole the lines. So they gradually disappeared or a few replaced by pay stations to help recoup the expense of providing the service. If you want to understand why there aren’t more of them in service now, we need to look in the mirror for the answer. Saying station owners should be forced to provide a service regardless of the cost to them and frustration in constantly fixing things people have no regard for is misguided at best.
When I was a kid, the first lightweight bicycles came with a tire pump mounted on the frame. I haven’t seen this equipment on a bicycle for years. However, it was useful in maintaining one’s bicycle tires. It’s too bad this lesson didn’t spill over for many people into maintaining their car tires.
I agree with the others who have posted so far. Have we become so lazy that even checking tire pressure is too much to be expected from a car owner/driver? Have we decided that it is too inconvenient to check tire pressure every once-in-a-while even though it is a safety issue? And, what about the poor service station owner who has such equipment and gets sued because the customer had a blowout and claimed that the equipment didn’t actually fill to the correct pressure (try to prove after the fact that it did)?
Just use a pressure gauge and get a life.
I have the tire pressure monitoring system on my 4runner. It only lights up when the pressure is down about 10lbs. So it’s really quite useless.
My education was in mathematics, but in the 1970’s, people with degrees in computer science didn’t want to work on teaching salaries
Yup. Still that way today. The CS teacher at my sons high-school has a degree in English. Starting salary for teachers in our town is $28k. Starting salary in this area for CS graduates is about $60k. As a teacher in our town it’ll take you 20 years and a MS degree to make $60k. And many even smaller towns are much much worse.
Long ago, and far away, it seems, gasoline was sold at “service stations.” They were staffed with relatively courteous and seemingly capable people who dispensed the gasoline, and if a “fill-up” was in order they checked the oil, cleaned the windshield and checked the tires. In the early 60s minimum wage was $1.25/hour and gasoline was 19.9c/gallon and the station owners made a good living and paid high school kids like me to work afternoons and weekends. I don’t know what minimum wage is currently but I am somewhat sure one hour’s pay won’t buy 6 gallons of gas. And the store-front selling the gasoline today is likely owned by the local oil distributor who, along with the oil company make the profit from the fuel.
Have we really PROGRESSED in these past years?
Jay Leno was speaking about the old service station days and he said- they used to beg you to buy a tankful at $0.30/gal and then they gave you a set of steak knives as a thank you gift. Imagine that, they actually gave you something you could use to rob them… 
My speciality in mathematics was statistics. One pharmaceutical company was willing to pay me a salary three times what I was making as a university professor. I turned them down because I enjoy teaching and decided I could live on the salary I was paid. I think I would feel differently today if I was only offered $28K.
My family didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up. We repaired almost everything around the house–did our own wiring and plumbing. It turns out that this was an advantage for me and my brother. I developed reasoning skills tracing a signal through the radio or television set or analyzing what was wrong with an engine that I never learned in the classroom. It never ceases to amaze me how, after I assign a project, some students will run to their computers and immediately start entering code before they have thought through the problem. The students who follow my advice almost always complete the project more quickly and have fewer problems.
It seems to me that we could dispense with a lot of useless gadgets in our automobiles if we could get drivers to think and understand the machinery they are using.
And of course, there is the requirement that new cars have tire pressure monitoring systems. The one in my '05 Pacifica works great: The light has come on only once. The culprit? A tire that was low by 2 PSI.
The best and easiest way is to own your own compressor then you can buy whatever type of measuring device you want.
Gas stations are inappropriate places to check and air your tires because tire pressure needs to be checked cold, not hot. Pressure expands with temp and how do you get to the gas station-you drive, which builds up heat in the tire. You can’t get a good reading at a gas station.
Another problem in Minnesota at least is that gas station pumps tend to freeze up in the coldest weather, exactly when tire pressures drop the most from the temp. Just when you need it most it won’t be available. Not to mention the problem of getting ice in the valve stem on a cold January day and end up with no pressure in the tire.
Just better to take responsibility and buy your own.