Lung-Wen Antony Chen (Environmental and Occupational Health) and colleagues published an article on "Contributions of non-tailpipe emissions to near-road PM2.5 and PM10: A chemical mass balance study" in the journal Environmental Pollution. This project was sponsored in part by the California Air Resources Board.

This study analyzed the contributions of non-tailpipe vehicle particles such as brake and tire wear to air pollution near highways. While air pollution regulations have been focused on tailpipe exhausts, the results found that for modern fleets non-tailpipe particles can be as important as tailpipe exhausts to population exposure and health effects. Strategies targeted on reducing brake and tire wear need to be formulated to attain ambient air quality standards.