“Bridgestone India is a subsidiary of the world’s largest tyre and rubber company, Bridgestone Corporation, Japan. We manufacture products in accordance with not only international standards but also Indian standards like BIS, AIS which are sometimes stricter than international standards (like Plunger Energy test, Bead unseating test, etc.). India is moving forward to align our safety standards similar to global standards not only for safety but also for environmental regulations. Bridgestone always strives to tender the best in class products to our customers,” states Mr. Kazutoshi Oyama, Executive Director, Sales and Marketing, Bridgestone India Pvt. Ltd. His views on the topic follow.
Excerpts
Safety features and highlights in applications
Tyre is a mandatory safety item that must meet the critical requirement of vehicle designing like load carrying capacity, manoeuvrability, braking, transferring forces effectively, etc. We always make sure to meet the varying needs of our OEMs as well as replacement customers through strict internal quality standards with very stringent quality margin. This is one of the reasons why Bridgestone has become one of the preferred leading tyre company for our OE partners in India.
If the above vehicle requirement of the tyre is not met during tyre design, it may lead to critical accidents.
Safety apprehensions at higher road speeds
Development in the road and vehicle standard are improving day by day. Being one of the leading tyre manufacturers in India as well as globally, Bridgestone also welcomes such improvements.
These introductions in road or vehicle movement, accelerates radialization in trucks and buses and promotes introducing new technologies especially those tyres with higher speed rating as well as low aspect ratio to cater to such needs.
On the other hand, such improvement in speed limits also brings in the bottoms-up in the infrastructure, traffic awareness etc.
Technology impact on safety in the times ahead
For such segments, the minimum requirement is low Rolling Resistance without compromising safety. Bridgestone is the front runner in such technology with our eco-friendly and fuel efficient tyre range ECOPIA. ECOPIA EP 150 are available for the passenger car segment and EP 850 for the SUV car segment. ECOPIA R156 and R159 are also available for TBR tyre segment.
Light-weighting necessity and trend
Tyre being a critical part between the vehicle and the road, consideration in weight reduction in tyres seems challenging beyond a certain limit similar to vehicle design. The objective of light-weighting is to increase fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emission. Bridgestone’s “ECOPIA” range of products in Truck Bus Radials offers the best in class fuel efficiency and low CO2 emission.