Freeway Fleet Systems has tied up with Wheely-Safe to integrate wheel security and tyre pressure monitoring into its fleet maintenance platform. The development adds vital intelligence to help improve the safety of vehicles by helping to prevent catastrophic wheel failures and excessive tyre degradation.
Wheely-Safe offers standalone and fully connected systems and Freeway can receive wheel and tyre pressure data from the wheel-fitted device either directly via a vehicle’s telematics or CAN bus, or wirelessly on return to the depot. The tyre pressure data can also be transmitted to a driver’s mobile phone for recording as part of the Freeway driver walk-around check app.
Wheely-Safe has designed the world’s first in-motion driver alert system for detecting the onset of wheel loss before detachment from commercial vehicles. If a wheel nut starts to loosen, a signal is transmitted to a display unit in the cab, alerting the driver to pull over.
Wheely-Safe also incorporates a heat sensor to detect brake and hub issues involving low or high temperatures to protect against the risk of fire. There is also an option of an inbuilt intelligent tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) to help ensure fleets are running on tyres inflated to the optimum pressures – saving fuel and reducing tyre wear.
“Wheely-Safe adds crucial data to Freeway’s pool of vehicle maintenance data. It’s all the more important as Wheely-Safe picks up defects that are not that evident to the human eye and therefore are easily missed during driver first-use safety inspections,” says Patrick Tandy, Managing Director of Freeway. “Wheel loss is of course a particular worry but whether reducing this risk or identifying incorrect tyre pressures, Freeway is very much a system that helps operators improve safety whilst reducing unnecessary costs.”
Steve Jackson, Managing Director of Wheely-Safe, adds: “Our patented and multi award-winning technology offers a full suite of protection against major road safety issues that no single solution has ever tackled before.
“Many of the UK’s largest transport operators are already protecting their vehicles with Wheely-Safe and working with Freeway as one of the driving forces in the digitisation of fleet maintenance represents a perfect partnership for both of us.”
