Deflating tires are at best an inconvenience and at worst a real danger, but often a leak doesn't reveal itself until much of the pressure is gone. That's why we have recently seen a few tire pressure monitors that ping your smartphone when air begins to escape. But a new solution from car accessory maker Nonda promises to fill in yet more of these blanks, with what it says is the first tire monitor made specifically to monitor slow leaks.
Slow leaks are described as the type of punctures you might get from running over a screw or a nail. According to Nonda, these tiny holes often allow such a tiny amount of air to escape, around 0.1 percent PSI per hour, that they are very difficult to detect. And on top of that, temperature changes throughout the day can cause pressure fluctuations inside the tire, muddying the waters even further.
Its solution is the Zus Smart Tire Safety Monitor: a set of four Bluetooth-connected pressure and temperature sensors that attach to each tire, along with an app that tracks tire temperature and pressure history. It then uses an algorithm to normalize the temperature fluctuations, so that it can get a clearer read on potential leaks, even those of a negligible nature.
The company says the system can be installed in 10 minutes, with the sensors fastened to the tire valve and a wireless receiver that plugs in on the inside and pairs with the app to transmit the data. Through that app, users can check the pressure of individual tires and receive notifications whenever something goes awry.
The Zus Smart Tire Safety Monitor is currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign and has flown past its US$20,000, having raised a mammoth $317,000 at the time of writing. Early pledges of $99 are available, which will have one sent your way in August if everything goes to plan.
You can check out the promo video below.
Source: Zus
