Run flat tires trouble for RI woman

NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI) - A major tire company puts the boot on one of its brands of  run flat tires. But what about the thousands of drivers who still have these on their cars? 

Regina Williford's 2006 Honda Odyssey Minivan has everything she wants.

"It had all the luxury features that I wanted, it had the anti-lock brakes."

She paid more for the luxury by upgrading to the Odyssey Touring Edition.

"As far as I knew it had regular tires on this car."

Regina she says it wasn't until she brought the van in for service at 9,000 miles, that she learned she actually had Michelin's Pax Run Flat Tires.

In fact, according to Honda, Pax Run Flats were standard on certain models, including the 2005 thru 2007 Odyssey Touring Edition and the 2006-07 Acura RL models.

According to Michelin if the tire went flat, the van would still be safe to drive for 125 miles.

The thought of never having to pull over on the side of the road to change a tire, is a big deal. But complaints started pouring in from drivers.

According to court documents from a class action lawsuit, customers complained of excessive wear, high replacement costs and problems getting the tires replaced.

Regina is one of those customers who says she's had nothing but problems with her Pax Run Flats.

According to Regina's service records, at 27,700 miles she had 3 Pax Run Flat tires replaced because of wear. Honda covered 50% of the bill.

And now, 27,000 miles later, her Pax Run Flat Tires didn't pass inspection.
Now, she's looking at a bill of more than $1,000 dollars to replace all 4 tires.

"For the amount of money I paid on this car and the amount of money that it's costing me to replace these tires is ridiculous.

Just recently Honda and Michelin settled a class action lawsuit. The suit claims the two companies weren't upfront about the cost of durability of the tires and that they last half as long as standard radials.

By the way, Michelin no longer makes the Pax Run Flats.

Click here for more information on the run flat tires.