In the mid 90’s another tactic called individual deployment introduced a major change in the way spikes were used. This tactic was teamed up with the “Anytime Anywhere” concept to bring a pursuit to a shorter end.

Deployment without the cord is called Individual deployment. Sometimes deployment was conducted from behind cover, Sometimes Individual deployment was conducted outside of cover, like from the window of a moving patrol car. While systems might be tethered to a cord, during this era the spikes would separate upon impact with a car.

Regardless the manner, the pursuit officers might try to circumvent the tire deflaters left on the roadway and the deployment officer(s) had to enter the traffic lanes to retrieve the spikes after the target vehicle passed. This was the formula for the worst case scenario, of an officer hitting a fellow officer or the scenario of a pursuit officer losing control avoiding the spikes.

Up to this time, tire deflation devices were tethered to a cord. Their designs were rugged to withstand the rigors of multiple high speed impacts. The spike system had a safe record and failure in traffic was not a problem for such designs.

Product integrity, can be effected by service and other factors which we describe later. Product Integrity is what I call high risk # 3