Did anyone else get a letter from Ford that says to check your tire pressure regularly, even tho we have TPMS. It's been noted that the valve stems may crack and slowly leak air, and if it does you should have it checked and replaced via the standard warrenty.

Guess when NHTSA gets invloved they can make Ford send out letters, but it's still not a recall, could it be a TSB??

But yet the failure rate (at least on here it seems) for the battery AC Blend door is fairly high, and that cools our $4k battery, lifeblood of the FEH, as in it fries we can't even start! no letters...

 

I received the letter as well, but mine didn't mention anything about it being covered "under warranty", just that the dealer was the best place to get it repaired. I think I'll have my local tire place replace all the stems instead.

 

Why would you do anything if they are not leaking? Any rubber valve stem that has been bent from contact with road debris, tire pressure testing, inflation valve bending, etc. can develop cracks which might result in an air pressure leak.
I wouldn't even bend them over to see if there were any cracks in the rubber, since the bending is what causes them.

Someone at NHTSA must have thought this was necessary - too bad. Alarming people and causing them to run out and bend their valve stems to see if there are any cracks will likely exacerbate the problem, if there really was one to start with. If you find frequent TPMS alerts, then you check the valve stems as a possible source of leakage.

 

Sorry, I didn't mention that I have had slow leaks for about the last 6 months. I have been closely monitoring it, using soapy water to try to find it, etc. I have suspected the stems for a while and this just finally pushed me to action on it.

 

Several months ago stories hit the news about DEFECTIVE valve tire stems that cracked too easily from age. Lets remember you flex them a bit every time you conntect to them... checking the pressure, adding more air all will flex that thing a bit. A bulletin was put out to get people to replace the stems.

I imagine this letter is related to that incident. I'd get the valve stems replaced *IF* they are the ones in question--even if they don't have any cracks. The tire dealer or car dealer will know how to identify (I think you have to dismount the tire to see however). After all they are defective and prone to cracking over time... last thing you want to have happen is for a tire to go down when you are in the middle of nowhere!

 

hmm I had to replace one of my tires a few months back. Figured it was just road hazard leak.

 

The valve stem issue concerns replacement aftermarket valve stems. If you have had your valve stem replaced, then you should be concerned. The defective ones came from China. The Ford OE valve stems are ok. It is possible that someone could have replaced their OE valve stems with the Chinese units when buying new tires or fixing wheels/tires etc. Most 2007 Ford vehicles are on the original tires and valve stems and therefore not affected.

This is from the Ford messages to service managers:


"An importer of different valve stems has announced a safety recall, but this does not affect the valve stems installed as original equipment on Ford Motor Company vehicles.
Ford valve stems are manufactured with a different material formulation, to different performance specifications, and on different equipment than these other valve stems."

Your service department can inspect the wheels and determine if the valve stems are questionable. Replacement, if needed, should be at the owner's expense - not Ford's.
Or if you have had tires replaced, go back to the installer and have them check it out. If they used the bad tire valves, they should replace them at no charge.

Again, if you have not had any tire repairs, don't go out and bend your tire valves to see if they are cracked.