Time was when a car would only warn you that your seatbelt was undone, and only then if it was American. But with safety warnings for everything nowadays, it's no surprise that Continental is developing a tyre tread warning system to alert drivers.
The development will be part of Continental's next tyre pressure monitoring system, known as eTIS (electronic Tyre Information System) due out in 2017, which uses new software and pressure sensors in the tyre to monitor deformation and rolling characteristics. Engineers have tested many tyres to gather as much data as possible for reference, which will allow the system to determine whether the tread depth has become too low from the way the tyre is rolling. If it has, the driver is alerted and new tyres should be bought.
Anything else?
Though Continental expects eTIS to be rolled out on new vehicles in three years' time, it is still advocating drivers to check their tyres treads manually. But if everyone did that, then there'd be no need for the warning system...