The recently enacted rule that will require all tire dealers in California to check the tire pressure on every vehicle they service is expected to exceed $1 billion from 2010, when the rule goes into effect, through 2020.
That's an average of slighlty more than $1 million per year, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board, which pushed the rule through.
The rule applies not only to tire dealers, but to all auto service providers in the state. Some 40,000 businesses will be impacted.
The board says shops "are likely to pass... additional costs onto their customers in the form of increased service rates or imposed environmental fees on the invoice."
The rule also will require dealers to buy American National Standard Institute B40.1 Grade B tire pressure gauges, as well as a tire inflation reference manual.
The board believes the mandatory tire pressure check rule will eliminate 700,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, reduce California's overall fuel consumption by 75 million gallons, and extend "the average tire's useful life by 4,700 miles."
