Good Advice Anyway
by CP Staff
More than a million Ford vehicle owners will be receiving a letter from the company over the next few weeks advising them to check their tires and ensure they are correctly inflated.
This action results from an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into 37 complaints of tire valves leaking, resulting in flat tires.
NHTSA has closed the investigation into tire valve stems manufactured by Shanghai Baolong Automotive Corp., based on this advisory and future surveillance of 2007 and 2008 vehicle data.
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The tire valves in question may have been missing an antioxidant additive. Without this, the valves can crack and eventually leak air from the tire.
A subsidiary of Topseal Auto Parts, Shanghai Baolong Automotive provides valve stems for Ford as standard equipment on most new vehicles. More than 6 million valves made by Topseal have been the subject of two safety recalls on aftermarket tires.
According to Ford spokesperson, Wesley Sherwood, the company believes "that Ford tire valve stems do not pose a safety risk." Indeed, of 320 complaints investigated by NHTSA, there were no deaths or injuries.
Owners of Mustangs built between November 2006 and May 2007 will receive letters from Ford on the issue. Other affected models include F-150, Escape, Expedition, Focus, Ranger, Edge, Explorer Taurus, Freestyle, Lincoln MKZ and MKX, and Mercury variant of most of these.
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