NHTSA Complaint #11531180 — 2020 TIFFIN WAYFARER

During a cross country trip, failure of tire valve extender, resulted in loss of tire pressure. This sudden loss of pressure could have resulted in a vehicle highway accident. This problem occurred twice (each incident within 2 hours of each other). Our RV, has dual rear tires, and was not detected until we stopped for fuel. We did not receive an alert from the tire pressure sensor that pressure was lost. The first failure was detected when we stopped for gas and noticed the right rear, outside tire was severely damaged/flat. Fortunately, the inside tire was undamaged and prevented loss of control of the RV on the highway. We had a service repair company replace the tire. During the repair, the technician, noted that the tire tread looked good, but discovered that tire extender valve and valve stem were both damaged, concluding this damage caused the tire to deflate. Since we were unaware of the flat while traveling on the highway, we had apparently driven on the flat for some period of time causing the additional tire damage. Two hours of travel after the first damaged tire was replace, we discover the left outside tire flat when stopping for fuel. Again, no warning from the vehicle alerted us. The next service technician, inspected the tire and discovered the valve stem had failed as a result of stress from the valve extender. After this problem, we had all other extenders removed for the remaining of the trip. Note: A recall was issued a year ago as a result of safety concerns with wheel liners and the extenders (concern was exact scenario I experienced twice!). I had the recall work performed several months ago. Multiple attempts to get attention from the Manufacturer (Tiffin) has been unsuccessful.