NHTSA Complaint #11165154 — 2018 HONDA CR-V

THE TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM IN THIS CAR IS A "PASSIVE" SYSTEM. THAT MEANS THERE ARE NO SENSORS OR TRANSMITTERS IN THE TIRES BUT RATHER, THEY USE THE ABS SENSORS TO MEASURE RELATIVE WHEEL SPEED AND SINCE A LOW TIRE WILL HAVE A SMALLER DIAMETER, IT WILL ROTATE FASTER AND HONDA BELIEVES THEY CAN MEASURE RELATIVE TIRE PRESSURE WITH THIS SYSTEM. I BELIEVE THIS IDEA IS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED.: MY FIRST EXAMPLE: I HAD A TIRE GO FLAT WHILE DRIVING ON A FREEWAY. IT WASN'T A BLOW-OUT, JUST A TIRE THAT WENT FLAT WHILE DRIVING. THE "TPMS" SYSTEM NEVER WARNED OF THE LOW TIRE AND THE TIRE WAS ACTUALLY RUINED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED.. THAT LED TO MY SECOND REASON... THE TIRE STORE REPLACED THE TIRE WITH AN IDENTICAL SIZE BUT DIFFERENT MANUFACTURER'S TIRE. THAT RESULTED IN MULTIPLE PERIODIC WARNINGS OF "TIRE PRESSURE MONITOR SYSTEM PROBLEM". TAKING THE CAR TO THE DEALER RESULTED IN THEM TELLING ME THAT ANY REPLACEMENT TIRE HAD TO BE EXACTLY THE SAME AS ORIGINALLY CAME ON THE CAR AND I MIGHT NEED TO REPLACE TWO, AND POSSIBLY ALL FOUR TIRES.. THIS SEEMS COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE ON A CAR WITH LESS THAN 10,000 MILES ON THE TIRES! IT IS MY BELIEF THAT THE TPMS SHOULD MONITOR TIRE PRESSURE... NOT MAKE, MODEL AND TREAD PATTERN AS THE DEALER TOLD ME. LASTLY, I GOT IN THE CAR FOR A DRIVE A FEW DAY AGO AND AFTER DRIVING DOWN MY DRIVEWAY, HEARD A NOISE AND STOPPED TO INVESTIGATE.... ANOTHER FLAT TIRE AND NO WARNING WHATSOEVER. A SYSTEM OPERATING AS POORLY AS THIS ONE IS LESS THAN USELESS BECAUSE IF I HAD NO SYSTEM, I WOULDN'T EXPECT TO BE NOTIFIED OF A LOW TIRE AND WOULDN'T DEPEND ON THE SYSTEM. WHAT ABOUT A TIRE GOING FLAT OVER NIGHT? NO WARNING BEFORE DRIVING! I WOULD SUBMIT THE FAILURE OF THE SYSTEM TO NOTIFY THE DRIVER OF A LOW TIRE IN TWO, VERY OBVIOUS SCENARIOS IS A SIGNIFICANT SAFETY RISK AND SHOULD DEFINITELY BE ADDRESSED BY THE MANUFACTURER.