Tire Valve problems of the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan

2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. Consumer writes in regards to broken tpms tower stems.

Dashboard light indicating low tire pressure came on. When I stopped at service station to check and fill tires, I had difficulty removing valve caps from all 4 stems due to poor quality of the stems/corrosion. When I went to inflate front, passenger side tire, it practically crumbled in my hands! I had to have the cheaply constructed aluminum valve stem replaced, costing me $130! I wanted to replace it with a quality, standard, metal valve, but was told this was not an option, legally. Another customer in the service station waiting room told me he'd had all four of his tires blow, on different occasions, while driving, due to these crappy valves! he recommended I have all 4 replaced as opposed to just the broken one, for my own safety and that of my family. I would, if the less expensive metal valve stems were an option! this should be a recall item!!.

Front driver side tire valve stem fractured when the plastic cap was removed, exposing needle valve.

The tire valve stem made of a single piece of aluminum corrodes at the base of the threads at the end of the plastic cap. This leads to the sudden release of air and can happen while driving orwhen handling the tire valve, e. G. When adding air to the tire. This has now happened to me twice, once while I was driving, and once soon after adding air to the tire. The tire was damaged in the first incident and had to be replaced. The second time I found the valve piece hanging inside the cap a week after I had added air to the tires. Upon continued inspection of these valve stems I have found another one that is cracked. I am an engineer and up till recently was in the automotive industry. The design of the valve and material selection or manufacturing is flawed. This vehicle is used by my wife to carry my kids and their friends. I will not replace this flawed design with another equally flawed replacement and have gone to using non-tpms valves that utilize a flexible rubber stem and threaded brass end. I am willing to go back to a tpms valve if the design is corrected. The best thing would be to have Chrysler recall and repair the vehicle but it seems they are either waiting for a solution to fall form the sky or for NHTSA to force this on them. I have an old part that is available.

The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that two valve stems have failed; the shaft of the valve stem broke off. The first time, he was alerted by a tire shop when he was having tires installed. In February 2010, when he checked the tire pressure, a valve stem popped off and the passenger front tire became flat within minutes. He was unsure of what tire the first stem came off of. The tire shop informed him that the valve stem failure may have been due to corrosion. After the latest failure, he took the vehicle to another tire shop and it was reiterated that the valve stems were corroded. The contact had the two valve stems replaced. He called the dealer and manufacturer who stated that since the repair was made that they could not assist help because they could not see the failure. He was also told that they could not repair the other two stems because they had not failed at that point. The current mileage was approximately 35,000. The failure mileage was approximately 32,000.