NHTSA Complaint #10244253 — 2007 FORD EXPLORER

2007 FORD EXPLORER WITH ORIGINAL FACTORY TIRES. APPROXIMATELY MAY OR EARLY JUNE 2008 MY VEHICLE LOW TIRE PRESSURE LIGHT CAME ON. I DISCOVERED A CRACKED VALVE STEM CAUSING LEAK. DEALER REPAIRED AND ATTEMPTED TO FILE ROAD HAZARD CLAIM. NO PAPERWORK, EXACT DATE OR MILEAGE AVAILABLE. APPROXIMATELY AUG 08, 2008 LOW PRESSURE INDICATOR AGAIN CAME ON. DISCOVERED ANOTHER CRACKED STEM LEAKING AIR ON A DIFFERENT TIRE. VEHICLE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 34,700. REPAIRED AT DEALER ON AUG 09 2008 FOR A FEE. INVOICE AVAILABLE. ON SEPT 30, 2008 I READ NEWS REPORT ABOUT DILL VALVE STEM ISSUE (NHTSA ACTION NUMBER : PE08036). INSPECTED TIRES - AND DISCOVERED SAME SPLITTING OF VALVE STEMS AS DEPICTED IN NEWS ARTICLE AND DILL AIR CONTROLS WEB SITE ON THE OTHER TWO REMAINING ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT TIRES. DEALER REPLACED BOTH VALVE STEMS AND REPLACED FOR A FEE. REMOVED VALVE STEMS WITH NO ADDITIONAL DAMAGE AND RETURNED TO ME. INVOICE AVAILABLE AS WELL AS DEFECTIVE VALVE STEMS. SPARE TIRE VISUALLY INSPECTED AND FOUND NO VISIBLE DEFECTS ON STEM. SPARE IS MOUNTED UNDER VEHICLE WITH VALVE FACING UP AGAINST UNDERBODY PROTECTING STEM FROM ELEMENTS. FORD STATEMENT TO NEWS MEDIA INDICATES THAT FORD'S POSITION IS THAT THEIR ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SAME ISSUE. I BELIEVE THEY HAVE THE SAME ISSUE. I FIND THAT ALL 4 ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT VALVE STEMS EXHIBITED SAME CRACKING DEFECT AS DILL RECALL. STEMS REPLACED ON OCT 01,2008 SHOW 07 TR414 030 AND 08 TR414 018 AND BOTH HAVE A TRIANGULAR LOGO. AS ALL 4 STEMS WERE REPLACED, THE ONLY ORIGINAL VALVE CAP I HAVE CAME FROM THE SPARE TIRE AND DISPLAYS "TOPSEAL" ,THE NUMBERS 317 AND 630 AND WHAT APPEARS TO BE THE SAME TRIANGULAR LOGO AS IS ON THE VALVE STEMS. I HAVE THE TWO MOST RECENT REPLACED VALVE STEMS AND THE CAP FROM THE FACTORY SPARE IN MY POSSESSION AS WELL AS PHOTOS OF BOTH (NUMBERS AND DAMAGE) THAT CAN BE FORWARDED ELECTRONICALLY IF NEEDED. *TR