I was unscrewing the plastic tire valve cap and the tire valve stem broke off in my hand. Air leaked out of the tire until the tire was flat. After changing the tire to the spare took the tire to the dealer and was told it needed a $100+ TPMS sensor replacement. This is the 2nd time this has happened on this vehicle. The first was handled under warranty. These valve stems break off easily, and make the car undrivable.
2009 Chrysler Town and Country tires complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 23 of 23, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Over the past 3 years 3 of my 4 valve stems have cracked and failed. These were aluminum stems original to the vehicle. They have all cracked in the threads. Total failure results in a sudden loss of all tire pressure. *tr fortunately, all have broken while the vehicle was at rest. Typically it is proceeded by a low tire pressure warning, then when the valve stem cap is removed (to add air) the top portion of the stem and the valve itself comes off (once violently, shooting the valve across the garage).
My tire valve broke... I got a flat tire while driving. The aaa person said he has seen this alot. Also I called the tire store to see how much this will cost and when I told him my valve broke, before I could tell him what car I have, "he said let me guess you have a town & country or a jeep." they need to issue a recall immediately, this car is a mini van, mini van mean children. We cant be driving our children around in unsafe vehicles. Hello!!! Can you say firestone. Make them fix this asap before god forbid something terrible happens.
November 9, 2011 had to replace rear brakes for the 2nd time in less than 2 years in ownership of vehicle. Tire sensor failed and tire deployed. April 4, 2013 additional tire sensors blow out or failed without any prior notification had to replace 3 tire sensors. Brakes also had to be replaced within a 15 month period. Less than 20,000 miles. There is clearly something wrong with the products/material used to construct this vehicle. 2013 heating unit appears to overheat my driver seat causing leather on seat to began to crack. Chrysler motors was place on written notice of these problems as early as january 18,2012 but failed to respond or do anything to address my concerns.
4/4/13 traveling on freeway tire suddenly blow out without any warning from tpm system. I had to call emergency road services to replace tire with spare and immediately went to a tire dealers where sensor on rear tire had to be replaced. I had to replace 2 more sensors within 2 week period 4/18/13 which had cracked. There was no warning notice from tpm that there was a problem and only notice additional sensor at time vehicle was getting oil change at dealership. Dealership had replaced a 4th tire sensor a year ago. Dealership failed to place me on notice of the problems with the sensors units and the cost of replacing units came out of my pocket.
This is the second tire pressure sensor that broke while inflating tires. This is a real safety issue and the sensors should be recalled. I am worried about the other two breaking while driving the vehicle resulting in an accident.
While checking the tire pressure the valve stem broke.
Tire valve stem broke off while at highway speed on an expressway causing the tire to immediately deflate! I was able to pull off on the shoulder and replaced the tire with a spare. Fortunately, the flat was on the right rear tire. If it was on the front I could have lost control and could have had a fatal accident. The tire had to be placed as well as the TPMS sensor. The mechanic informed me that this particular valve stem is made of aluminum and can fatigue do to road salt and corrosion. Surly this is a safety issue and the vehicle should be recalled. Due to the fear that this might happen again, I had the remaining sensors replaced at a significant cost to me. Please address this issue before people are killed.
2009 chrysler town & country. Manager from the alliance for consumer protection sent correspondence on behalf of consumer in regards to blown tire and valve stem *tgw while driving 65 MPH, the consumer experienced a tire blow out. The vehicle was taken to a tire shop, where the he was informed the valve stem had broke off and a rubber stem had to be installed. The sensor had to be replaced and an alignment was performed. In october 2011, while installing brakes on the vehicle, the consumer noticed another valve stem had broken off at the tip, which he also replaced. In feb 2012, the consumer was informed that there was a hole in the valve stem again. Upon inspection of the valve stems, it was apparent, the valve stems were deteriorating from corrosion from bad metal and road elements used to treat roads in bad weather, such as salt. The consumer was convinced the valve stems were made from aluminum and the road elements were causing the valves to fail, especially in the northern part of the country.
On 1-20-2012 the dash board indicated that the two rear tires needed air. I filled up the driver rear tire and then as soon as the nozzle was placed on the valve stem of the rear passenger tire, the stem broke and the tire went flat. The spare tire was placed on the rear passenger tire. As I walked around rear of the vehicle,I noticed that the other rear tire which I had just filled was flat. I placed air in the tire and headed out.. I needed to stop another four times to fill that tire before reaching my destination. I contacted golling chrysler on telegraph road in bloomfield hills, mi. I spoke with the service person, adam, the problem was fixed it in about an hour and a half. My daughter advised me that her father-in-law had a similar problem with the valve stems on his chysler vehicle. I asked adam about the valve stems on the two front tires. He indicated that those stems were checked and there were no problems with them. I asked him if there were others were having similar problems with the valve stems. He indicated that they were having problems with them. I then asked him if chrylser was having problems with the stems why the other two stems had not been replaced. He advised that chrysler has indicated that good stems should not be replaced. I asked if he would guarantee those two stems and he indicated he would not because of the problems they were having. I am not complaining about the service I received but think that the problem is known and chrysler does not want to fix the problems with the other stems. I can deal with one flat tire but not two at one time. I believe that chrysler, if it is having a problem with the valve stems should fix the problem to the satisfacion of the customer.
Sometime in the beginning of october 2011 while checking/ adjusting the air pressure in my tires the rh front valve stem snapped off just below where the valve core threads in causing a complete loss of pressure. This seemed like a fluke problem, so the stem was replaced at my own cost. Today, 12/1/2011, while checking/ adjusting the air pressure again the rh rear valve stem snapped off just like the previous one did approx. 2 months ago. Some fluke occurrence? Not twice. Once again the part was replaced at my own cost/ time so we weren't down a vehicle. In my opinion it appears that the metal valve stems for the TPMS are made of a faulty grade metal, and or the valve cores were over torqued, causing a fracture/ stress crack in the stem. After doing some research on the internet this seems to be quite a problem with at least several hundred dodge/ chrysler owners. In a way this makes me feel better being it's not just me that this is happening to, but it's definitely not an isolated incident. Now I still have two tires that have not had this problem yet, but when time allows I will be replacing all the valve stems with rubber ones and just dealing with the TPMS idiot light being on in the dash. So much for new/ easier to use technology! This wont cause an issue with me, living in michigan because we don't have vehicle inspections, but there are several states that will fail an inspection if the TPMS light is on. In closing, luckily these valve stems failed while servicing the vehicle, and not driving down the road at 55+ MPH, otherwise the results might not have been the same. I've worked in quality control for the automotive manufacturing industry for 20+ years producing and inspecting tight tolerance/ safety related parts, and feel that this really needs to be looked into further. It is a definite safety concern.
The last few times I had the oil changed in my wife's 2009 chrysler town and country the service person refused to check the tire pressure because of an inherent corrosion problem with the chrysler valve stems, which are part of the TPMS. The right rear valve stem subsequently failed and the dealer wanted to charge $120 to replace the valve stem. (the vehicle has 38,000 miles) only after extended complaining and noting it was a safety issue and a common problem with town & country's did the dealer agree to fix it for free. While the tire maintained air pressure after the valve stem failed, I was unable to check the tire pressure or add air to the tire. My concern is the other 3 value stems are heavily oxidized and it will cost me and other town & country owners $300 - $400 to check tire pressure or add air into our tires. The cheap solution is to replace the expensive chrysler valve stems with standard tire valve stems. However, this solution disables the TPMS which I thought was a required safety system. My other car with a TPMS has over 100,000 miles has no such issue with its valve stems or TPMS.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chrysler town and country. The contact stated the tire stem sensor failed on the rear drivers side causing the tire to deflate. Being put in the tire the stem popped out causing the tire to go flat. The tire stem manufacturer was siemens model#787ao/833707093. The tire stem sensor was replaced for $100 at the owners expense. The contact was expecting a follow up phone call from the manufacturer. The failure mileage was 27,851.
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