Consumer Complaint Detail
BRIDGESTONE / TURANZA EL42 / P235
0 Injured
0 Death
No Fire
| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 006080560 | Incident Date: Aug, 16 2006 |
| Consumer's City: BROOKLYN | Consumer's State: NY |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO | Manufacturers Name: Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations |
| Model Name: TURANZA EL42 | Model Year: P235 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Tires:pressure monitoring and regulating systems |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: 5TDBA22C05S | Date added to File: May, 23 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Sep, 28 2006 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Apr, 10 2005 |
| Was Original Owner: Yes | Anti-lock Brakes: No |
| Number of Cylinders: 6 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: Major safety problem with tire air pressure system. normal tire pressure is 35 psi. because of the tire design, you can run with very low air pressure and not feel it (on a normal car, it is very obvious). that is why toyota had to put in the tire pressure warning system/light. twice the tire pressure warning system did not come on until a tire had ~10 psi. that is a dangerous level. the first time i did nothing and the tire was replaced by the tire manufacturer (nail issue) and the tire was less then 7 months old. the second time, i brought it to the dealer. they tested two ways: 1) on the computer and it passed; 2) test drive where alert light came on below 18 psi. in my testing it came on between 10-15 psi and in real life closer to 10-11 psi (based on my 2 problems). checking tire pressure daily does not help because in real life, if you take a trip you can drive for 3-6 hours which if something happens to the tire during the trip, you will not know until it fails (again this is because unlike normal tires, you can not tell the tire has lost significant air pressure. you can read here and other places about the catastrophic failures others have had in just this situation. i spent many many hours on the phone with toyota to get the specification on when the system should alert you. i was once told it is a difference of more then 5 psi. however, it seems that toyota has no published spec for how the system should work in real life. this is defective and toyota is not telling us the truth. all systems have to be designed to a spec. this system was and there is somewhere at toyota a spec. they are not sharing with consumers because of the implication it would have (they will have to recall/fix them). i do hope someone at the nhtsa will pursue this since it is a safety issue for families. *nm |