The AA approached MPM to help them take a product idea from a mock-up to a real product. The idea would enable a patrol motorcycle to be sent instead of a truck and would mean damaged valves could be repaired at the roadside.
It was an important development for them as flat tyres at the roadside cause a particular problem for The AA – often tying up both a patrol vehicle and a transporter! The issue is that many modern vehicles don’t carry spare tyres – they instead rely on run-flat technology to temporarily inflate the tyre sufficiently to get it to a garage. In the first instance a patrol vehicle is dispatched to inflate the tyre – but, if the tyre valve is damaged, missing, leaking or broken, there’s nothing they can do. At that point, they have to call a transporter to recover the vehicle. That’s two vehicles just to fix a flat tyre – vehicles that could be better utilised elsewhere and incur additional costs that everyone would prefer to avoid.
Together with the team at The AA, we developed a unique flat valve extension. Everything fits into the panniers on a patrol motorcycle and enables the engineer to repair the valve and inflate the tyre at the roadside. The car can then drive to a tyre fitters.
The system works well for AA members who’ve suffered a flat tyre – motorcycle patrols can get to them rapidly and there’s rarely a need to wait for a recovery vehicle. For the AA it means they can send their patrol vans and recovery vehicles to where they’re most needed.
The AA approached MPM to help them take a product idea from a mock-up to a real product. The idea would enable a patrol motorcycle to be sent instead of a truck and would mean damaged valves could be repaired at the roadside.
It was an important development for them as flat tyres at the roadside cause a particular problem for The AA – often tying up both a patrol vehicle and a transporter! The issue is that many modern vehicles don’t carry spare tyres – they instead rely on run-flat technology to temporarily inflate the tyre sufficiently to get it to a garage. In the first instance a patrol vehicle is dispatched to inflate the tyre – but, if the tyre valve is damaged, missing, leaking or broken, there’s nothing they can do. At that point, they have to call a transporter to recover the vehicle. That’s two vehicles just to fix a flat tyre – vehicles that could be better utilised elsewhere and incur additional costs that everyone would prefer to avoid.
Together with the team at The AA, we developed a unique flat valve extension. Everything fits into the panniers on a patrol motorcycle and enables the engineer to repair the valve and inflate the tyre at the roadside. The car can then drive to a tyre fitters.
The system works well for AA members who’ve suffered a flat tyre – motorcycle patrols can get to them rapidly and there’s rarely a need to wait for a recovery vehicle. For the AA it means they can send their patrol vans and recovery vehicles to where they’re most needed.