TIRE IRREGULAR WEAR DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

An irregular wear detection system (10) and method for a tire (12) supporting a vehicle (14) is disclosed. The system comprises a sensor unit (26) being mounted on the tire (12), the sensor unit including a footprint centerline length measurement sensor to measure a centerline length of a footprint (32) of the tire; a processor (36) in electronic communication with the sensor unit (26), the processor being configured for receiving a plurality of measured centerline lengths over time; and an analysis module (52) stored on the processor (36). The analysis module (52) is configured to receive the measured centerline lengths as inputs and to detect irregular wear of the tire (12) from the measured footprint centerline lengths, and the analysis module (52) is further configured to generate an irregular wear determination when the measured footprint centerline lengths remain the same or increase.