美国原汁原味访谈录:"崭新"的轮胎:看不见的巨大危机
日期:2009-01-05 00:24

(单词翻译:单击)

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Aging Tires That Look New


Brain Ross with a troubling investigation about the American tire industry.

Summer time means millions more people on the road which makes it urgent that you see what Bryant Ross has discovered about tires. Are those new tires really new? Experts say finding out could protect you from deadly consequences.

The call came to the Moore house in Newtown, Pennsylvania just days after 18-year-old Andy Moore had left in the family van for a graduation trip to Canada.

"My ex-wife called me, Andy’s brother called me. And I'll never forget she said a policeman just came to the house, they told me Andy had a car accident, and then her voice started to crack, she said that and they told me that he died."

Police outside Toronto said the accident that killed Andy Moore and Andy’s best friend wasn’t caused by speed or alcohol, but by a tire failure. The tire didn’t just blow out. The tread actually peeled off the tire, leading Robert Moore to a troubling discovery about the American tire industry.

"I got my vehicle maintenance records together, and that's when I discovered that the, tires that I thought were new were actually 4 years old when I bought them.”

It turns out that tires sold in this country can be sitting on the shelves for years. And only later would Robert Moore learned about the researching tests which show that as tires get older, even if they look new, they begin to dry out, and after 6 years of age can become very dangerous. At the time of the accident, the tires on the Moore family van were actually 9 years old.

I was led to believe I had safe tires on the car, and so I sent these boys off to Canada, thinking they had a safe vehicle and they didn’t.

And decedent test done for lawsuits, when a car is traveling at highway speed and a tire tread comes off, the car violently swerves and weaves. Even a skilled driver, who knew he was about to lose the tire, could not keep control.

"I think I'm okay, I think I'm okay!"

"There is no scientific information that can point to when a tire should be removed because of age."

"It’s a hidden danger. You can look at a tire where the tire looks greatly fine, you don’t know what’s going on inside it, that's what makes it so dangerous,"

Shawn Cane who runs a private auto-safety research firm has been in the forefront of trying to draw attention to the issue of aged tires.

"Essentially it'sdrying out, yeah, it's becoming less elastic.”

Even when the tire has never been driven a mile and looks like it has plenty of tread depth, the usual test of a tire safety:

"You have plenty of tread depth on this tire, right, plenty of tread depth, it's brand-new,"

"Yet it's very dangerous in your view."

"Absolutely.”

文本参考中文翻译

Brain Ross对令人不安的美国轮胎行业进行了调查。

夏季,数百万人涌上街头,当你看到Brain Ross这项新发现时,会感觉到情况更加危急。那些新轮胎真的是全新的吗?专家表示,弄清这一点会让你避免致命的后果。

警察造访宾夕法尼亚Newtown的摩尔家,告知18岁的Andy Moore在驾驶家庭货车去往加拿大的毕业之旅中出事。

“我前妻打我电话,Andy的兄弟也打我电话。我永远不会忘记,她告诉我,一名警察来到家里,告诉我们Andy遭遇车祸,然后她的声音开始颤抖,他们说我儿子已经死了。”

多伦多郊区警察表示,导致Andy Moore和他最好的朋友死亡的车祸并非由于超速或酒后驾车,而是由于轮胎故障。并不是轮胎爆裂的问题,而是轮胎直接脱离了汽车,导致Robert Moore发现美国轮胎行业存在问题。

“我整理了我的汽车Moore了解到,研究测试表明,随着轮胎老化,即使表面看上去是新的,也已经开始干化,轮胎经过六年的老化之后会非常危险。事故发生时,Moore家的汽车轮胎的实际年龄已经是九年。

我被误导,认为我汽车上的轮胎是安全,所以我才会让孩维修记录,然后我发现,我当初认为是全新的轮胎居然已经有四年之久,然后被我买了回来。”

事实证明,美国销售的轮胎都会在货架上搁置数年之久。之后Robert 子们去加拿大,认为他们能够平安归来,结果却出事了。

为法律诉讼所作的公平测试表明,当汽车在高速公路上高速行驶时,如果轮胎剥落,汽车会剧烈摇摆。即使是知道轮胎即将剥落的技术娴熟的司机也没有办法控制。

“我觉得我还好,还好!”

“没有科学信息指出什么时间应该由于轮胎使用年限而更换。”

“这是隐藏的危险。当你看到一个表面状态很好的轮胎时,你不知道实际上内部发生了什么变化,这就是危险的地方。”

Shawn Cane经营一家私营汽车安全研究公司,他正试图引起人们对老化轮胎的注意。

“从本质上来说,轮胎老化的时候,弹性越来越差。”


即使是这个轮胎没有行驶过一公里,看上去有足够的花纹深度,通过了普通的安全测试:

“这个轮胎上面有足够的花纹深度,是全新的。”

“然而按照你的观点来说仍然是危险的。”

“绝对的。”

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重点单词
  • controln. 克制,控制,管制,操作装置 vt. 控制,掌管,支
  • elasticadj. 有弹性的,灵活的,可变的 n. 橡皮圈,有松紧
  • treadn. 踏,踏步板,踏面,胎面花纹,鞋底 v. 踏,行走,
  • essentiallyadv. 本质上,本来
  • alcoholn. 酒精,乙醇,酒
  • absolutelyadv. 绝对地,完全地;独立地
  • issuen. 发行物,期刊号,争论点 vi. & vt 发行,流
  • tiren. 轮胎,金属圈 v. 使疲倦,厌烦
  • vehiclen. 车辆,交通工具,手段,工具,传播媒介
  • violentlyadv. 猛烈地,激烈地,极端地