BY ELAINE HOPKINS
If you bought a new vehicle recently, here’s a word of advice: check to see whether it has a spare tire.
Many new car models now lack a spare tire, and some don’t even offer one as an accessory. Instead they place a so-called “inflater kit” in the back, where the spare should be. And the dealer is not likely to tell you about this unless you ask.
Imagine: a blowout on a country road or freeway at night, in the winter, perhaps with snow and ice on the road, and you’re supposed to repair the tire yourself with the kit. Which probably won’t work.
If you don’t have a cell phone handy, to call a tow truck — and let’s hope the cell phone will connect and a truck can reach you — you will be spending the night in your car.
My husband and I learned all this the hard way – with a blown out tire on the side of I-74. At least it was summer and daylight.
Trucks were passing us at 80 miles per hour only a few feet from us on the roadside. We were lucky that they were paying attention to our plight and didn’t hit us. At least we lived to tell the tale.
During the 90 minutes we were stranded, waiting for the tow truck after the inflater kit didn’t work, not one police car passed, nor did anyone else have a blowout.
The tire in question had only 4,500 miles on it, and the tire and car, a 2016 Prius IV, were under total warranty, which for this situation turned out to be worthless.
The friendly tow truck driver, who said he has seen everything in his job, even corpses, also told us the inflater kits never work.
So we were towed back to the Toyota dealer, and a new tire installed on the car. Which we had to pay for.
We wondered what had happened to the blown out tire so we got it, and examined it. There was no rip and no visible hole or nail. So why had it come off the rim? We took it to the Bridgestone/Firestone dealer.
Was it a defective tire? We’ll never know. The tire warranty is void if any chemical agent, including the inflater kit, is used on the tire. You have to read the fine print in the warranty, but there it is.
Road damage also voids the warranty. So the tire warranty is basically worthless. And the tire dealer, though friendly, wasn’t interested in what had happened to the tire since the warranty was void from use of the kit.
At a used parts dealer, we found a spare tire from a previous model of our car and bought it for $35. It now takes up a little space in the trunk, but not that much.
Then we read the owner’s manual that warned a non-standard tire used on the car might void its overall warranty. The language is vague. But that situation is better than being stranded overnight.
So what now? We filed complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (http://www.nhtsa.gov/) and Toyota. We believe every new car should be equipped with a spare tire, and the agency could order it to join the pages of regulations on vehicles.
Not having a spare tire is a serious traffic safety issue and could cause death.
The American Automobile Association has called on car companies to put spare tires back in cars.
Not having a spare tire is “stupid and dangerous,” says Road and Track magazine.
And we’re wondering about the tire that blew – whether it was defective, as was a similar tire number of this brand, now being recalled.
And oh yes, the final insult – the inflater kit can be used only once. So to be extra safe we bought a new one at $85. And it’s not covered by the warranty either.
Here’s more bad news: Car and Driver magazine reports research by the AAA that last year, one-third of the cars sold lacked a spare tire. Every automaker sells some models without a spare, they learned, though some offer spares as an option.
And most drivers find out the hard way, the story says, as we did.
Moreover the inflater kits don’t work on blowouts, only a nail between the treads, according to the report.
It’s not that serious, Car and Driver says, since “modern tire technology means flats are fairly uncommon these days. Tire manufacturer Michelin estimates that drivers average more than 70,000 miles between flat tires.” Tell that to the next driver killed on a roadside waiting for a tow truck.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/disappearing-donuts-one-third-of-new-cars-dont-come-with-a-spare-tire/
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a26194/not-having-a-spare-tire-is-stupid-and-dangerous/
Meanwhile, buyers beware.
1 comment for “First-hand account: Car buyers beware”