Problems with 2009 Suzuki SX4 TIRES

Just back from 15 mile trip to walmart, turned into long driveway and drove about 200 feet when heard noise like we were dragging a large weed ; stopped and saw the tire had failed . looked like the sidewall of the tire close to the outside of the rim had split all around the tire. purchased these 4 new tires on 6/30/2012 from discount tire company in tyler, texas so this tire only had 3,557 miles on it when this happened. the tire was a bfg gforce sport comp2, size 205/50zr17 89w. will return to the store for warranty but might have been bad if it had happened on the highway at 70mph rather than the driveway at 10 mph. did not find any recalls on this tire in the recall search website. *tr

Two tpms sensors failed. the first sensor failed at about 31000 miles and was replaced under warranty. then at around 50,000 miles the second tpms sensor failed after warranty had expired. the failure is mechanical in nature. the threaded valve stem of the tpms sensor develops hairline cracks refaulting in slow air leaks, which develop into larger leaks within weeks, which leads to the tpms warning light going off in the instrument panel, and eventually, in the need to replace to tpms sensor due to the air leak. failure to check the tire's air pressure within a day or two can result in a flat tire. there is a great deal of evidence in internet forums that this is a widespread suzuki sx4 issue, hinting at an underlying fault with the tpms sensors. *tr