The front tire on the van started losing air. I checked to see where the leak was and found two cracks in the wheel that were leaking. There is no sign of impact on the wheel and the cracks are not parallel to the bead. The cracks run 90 degrees from the wheel bead. These are the 17 inch chrome wheels. No damage caused but I will have to replace the wheel at a quoted cost of $625. I have not checked the other wheels yet.

- Oxford, MI, USA

I have had two flat tires on my mini van in the last two months. The van is 4.5 years old and I replaced the tires with the manufactures recommended tires a little over a year ago. In both of the cases my tires had rim leaks which I have now discovered occur on many Chrysler/Dodge vehicles. These leaks are a result of corrosion on the rim (and in this last case my rim was cracked) this defect in the rim design is serious as it leads to under inflated tires which the driver may be unaware of. Because the leakage is slow in nature and there is no warning in the handbook that rims need to be replaced/inspected regularly there may be little or no warning. Many of these vehicles are mini vans and carry many children to and from places. When I brought this to Chrysler attention they told me it was not a manufacturers defect. I believe that it is. They offered no assistance with the issue other than to sell me a new set of rims for over $2000. This vehicle is less than 5 years old and should not need new rims...and more importantly there are thousand/millions of these vehicles on the roads that may have corroding rims and under inflated tires. Can you help? given what we learned in the Ford Explorer investigation I believe it would be wise to take a look at this.

- Long Grove, IL, USA