Boston, MA - January 14, 2008 - The Strategy Analytics Automotive Electronics Service Insight, "Indirect Tire Pressure Monitoring Gatecrashes TREAD Party," highlights the introduction of a new indirect tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) from NIRA that is set to challenge the current market.

This indirect TPMS uses wheel vibration resonance measurement to estimate tire pressure from an anti-lock brake or traction control system. It can detect deflation on each wheel separately and is active after just 5 minutes of calibration. Enhanced indirect TPMS has the potential to satisfy Standard 138 of the FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) and the TREAD (Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) requirements. In addition to NIRA, other vendors, including Continental and Dunlop Tech, are each developing enhanced, next- generation indirect TPMS.

With the new indirect system, OEMs can install the same, low-cost TPMS system on all models, whether or not they will be sold in the US market, without installing the complicated and costly pressure sensors on each tire and RF (radio frequency) modules, as used in direct measuring systems.

According to the author of this Insight, Kevin Mak, "Additional concerns over fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions could lead to further TPMS. This new indirect system can provide OEMs with a low-cost option for achieving such mandates in the US and elsewhere. Improved affordability and usability should encourage worldwide adoption, especially for high volume models in Europe and Asia."

Chris Webber, VP, Global Automotive Practice, added, "Successful deployment of indirect systems meeting TREAD requirements would certainly be bad news for suppliers of higher cost direct pressure systems, and also have a negative impact on semiconductor vendors supplying the core pressure sensor, RF and processor components."