NHTSA complaint #11459727

Owner complaint summary

In September of 2020 I purchased a brand new 2020 Honda CR-V Touring with 235/55R19 CrossContact LX Sport M+S tires. On April 3, 2022 I was on a trip away (several hundred miles) from home when my 17 year old daughter (who drives the CR-V) contacted me about one tire that was low on air. She sent me a photo. I informed her to put air in the tire to see if it continued to leak and I would fix it when I got home. Taking initiative, she asked me if she could fix it while I was away. I gave her inspection instructions. She carefully inspected the tire and found no outside defects such as screw/nail/puncture foreign material. Since the leak was very slow, she filled the tire with air and safely drove the car to Firestone Tire at 395 Eisenhower Dr, Hanover, PA 17331. Once she got there the tire technician attempted to find the leak. He was unable to find any outside defect or leak and continued by removing the tire from the rim. I then got a phone call from my daughter who had the technician on speakerphone. He described the issue to me as a tire manufacturing defect that he has never seen before. My daughter then texted me photos of the issue. The defect is easily seen on the inside molded lines in the sidewall. It is where the bead rolls into the sidewall. In the molded lines there are areas where the lines are interrupted/missing and with what appears to be several small holes in the rubber. Firestone could not advise how to proceed. The tire was remounted. The technician put a little extra tire sealant on the bead. She then drove the vehicle home. I have since also read the these tires, of other sizes, have had a vulcanizing problem. My tire clearly has this issue and Continental needs to update their recall list to include these as well.