| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 007110692 | Incident Date: Jun, 30 2007 |
| Consumer's City: MANHATTAN BEACH | Consumer's State: CA |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: | Manufacturers Name: PEP BOYS, INC. |
| Model Name: PEP BOYS | Model Year: 9999 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Tires |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: | Date added to File: May, 23 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Jul, 02 2007 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: - |
| Was Original Owner: No | Anti-lock Brakes: No |
| Number of Cylinders: 0 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: I bought tirepressure indicating caps for the tires of the honda odyssey minivan. these were marketed under the brand name "ire minders, and came in a set of four with a small digital air-pressure gauge. i bought mine at pep boys, artesia blvd, redondo beach, ca. they were designed to visually indicate when a tire lost pressure, and they came in different tire pressures depending on the recommended pressure for the tires. on july 1, 2007 we drove 40 miles to party. there was no indication that a tire was low from the the vehicle's electronic tiremonitoring system. but when we came out to go home the left rear tire was flat. *ak at my local tire dealer, the wheel and tire held air perfectly. but when we put the indicator cap back on, it was obvious that the leak was in the cap--air was streaming out freely, even though the cap showed no signs of damage. it was the "safety cap" that caused our tire to go flat. and quite suddenly, considering the prodigious stream of air that coming from the cap under testing. we were lucky: the cap failed when the van was parked. but if we had been driving, the rapid failure could have easily resulted in a life-threatening crash. the failure of the cap is exacerbated, of course, by the fact that the product is marketed as a safety device, which will presumably prevent the very accident which it may well--and probably has--already caused. the manager of the tire store (4-day tires, rosecrans blvd., hawthorne, ca) said that defective pressure-indicating caps are a common cause of flat tires and tire failure. so it must be happening at a significant rate. i also bought the caps for a friend and neighbor who is generally lax about tire pressure and vehicle maintenance. i will remove the caps from their vehicle tonight. i haven't bothered to go to pep boys for satisfaction yet. we'll see how they respond. |
