Usually you can't tell that there's a problem with one of your tires until you've already swerved off the road and crashed into something stationary, but thanks to a group of scientists from Purdue University, the next generation of wheel wraps may be able to detect problems before you're face-to-face with the base of a telephone pole. Led by Gary Krutz of the school's Electrohydraulic Center, the team was able to produce a multi-layer design that can sense damage or defects anywhere on the tire, and which immediately alerts the driver to danger via an embedded chip. First up to adopt the new tech will likely be race car sponsors, who have a high incentive to protect their expensive investments against flats; unfortunately, this safety improvement for drivers will come at the expense of the nation's rabid NASCAR fans, as the likely decline in crashes will only serve to direct their blood-lust at fellow spectators.

[Image courtesy of Purdue University]

File under "zomg finally!" -- KUMHO Tires is releasing its ECSTA DX Aroma line of car tires featuring "Lavender Scent Technology," which, to translate for the non-marketers in the house, means they smell. Don't fret if lavender isn't your bag, baby -- the company plans to later introduce models with orange and jasmine aromas (what, no new car scent?). To eradicate that embarassing "plain old tire" smell from your ride, you'll have to part with $119, $125, or $138 per tire depending on your choice of size.

[Via I4U]

Alright, everybody panic: they can track us through our tires! Just like how all those nefarious nasties have been stalking our women and children via Nike+iPod, it turns out the new RFID-based pressure gauges in our tires can be turned against us for tracking purposes by the evil hax0rs. Of course, with the kind of range available to RFID, if you're close enough to a car to track it via RFID, you can probably see it with your eyeballs, and data collected by stationary RFID sensors to track the comings and goings of such compromised vehicles seems to be of minimal use, but that doesn't mean we can't get our panties all in a wad and start screaming bloody murder about privacy and stuff. But in all seriousness, would it really hurt to put a bit more encryption on these things?

[Via Techdirt]