Groups Object to Tire Monitor Rule

Three consumer advocacy groups sued to overturn a U.S. rule that gives auto makers a choice in how they meet a requirement to install tire-pressure monitors in all vehicles, saying it allows “an inferior system.”

Public Citizen, the Center for Auto Safety and the New York Public Interest Research Group filed a petition against the Transportation Department in U.S. appeals court in New York. The rule issued in May is arbitrary because it lets companies such as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. choose effective direct monitors or inferior indirect systems, they said.

The new rule for cars and light trucks built after Nov. 1, 2003, was passed in response to 271 highway deaths linked to tread separations of Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. tires.