Michelin Improving Road Safety with Primacy 3
Michelin believes the launch of Primacy 3 car tyres in February 2012 will begin a “whole new era in road safety”. This bold assertion is based on the fact that the research and behavioural analyses that they carried out when developing the successor to the Primacy HP have revealed some unexpected safety-related facts.
The study of accidents has caused Michelin to realise that while many tyre manufacturers focus on safety in the wet, 70% of accidents actually occur on dry roads, and a surprising 60% occur in cities and at low speeds. Worryingly, although only a quarter of accidents happen while cornering, that is when the more serious accidents occur.
They spent three years using this information to develop the Primacy 3, working their way through thousands of prototype car tyres and millions of kilometres of testing. The end result, according to Michelin, is an extremely safe tyre which beats its main competitors when braking on both dry and wet surfaces, and crucially, when cornering on wet roads.
And Michelin didn’t just stop at safety. The Primacy 3 helps reduce fuel consumption, without sacrificing the tyre’s longevity.