TPMS Experts chime in!

[wantin150]

Evening all!

My family and I took a trip today to see family. It was raining but nothing out of the ordinary. Approx 15 miles into the trip, the TPMS light started flashing and then burned solid. Nothing felt out of the ordinary. As I was finding an exit to check tire pressure, my wife was searching the owners manual. All pressures checked fine. The owners manual said that there was a fault in the system and that it needed to be checked. However, the light went out. It did this through a couple more cycles up and on the way back. The vehicle is an 08 Scion xD (obviously in warranty so I will have them check) with a direct TPMS system.

Any ideas as to what may have caused the fault and would the codes be stored in the OBDII cache? I have a reader but would not know the code if it was Toyota specific.

Thanks!

 

[JTK]

The manual for my Hyundai says certain stray electrical signals can wreak havoc on the system, but will clear up once you get thru/past it.

Joel

 

[Bill in Utah]

Everyone of our Toyotas at work that have TPMS have the light on. I'm talking dozens of trucks.

We just ignore it since the tires are filled correctly and Toyota could not find a single one with a "problem".

Excellent useless system to "protect" us....

 

[JTK]

Man that would drive me nuts! My Santa Fe has about a playing card sized vehicle icon on the dash that lights up, along with which corner it flags. Until it lit up on me because of a leak on the right rear, I thought it was an AWD indicator.

Joel

 

[EricF]

the sensors probably need a reset. varying car by car, sometimes it's as easy as putting a magnet next to the valve, sometimes, there's a reset button on dashboard to reset all the sensors to force tpms box to re-see all the sensors.

a lot of times you have to buy a tpms reset tool and that'll force each sensor to send signal to the tpms box.

 

[fsskier]

The Toyota book says if it just comes on you have a low tire.

If it flashes first, you have a system fault.

My 2008 would flash sometimes, then stay on. I took it in for warranty service - nothing had ever gone wrong before, guess what!!

They said a TPMS sensor was cracked, I must have hit something and cracked it, customer pays 150 bucks!! Now, it would be one hard hit to crack a sensor way up into the rim I would think??
I fixed it once.... never again, I own lots of good tire gauges.

Anybody else disappointed with this system??

 

[Carbon]

I like the TPMS. Mine went off, and I topped up the air. I then a week later I had the tire looked at. It had a nail in it. I got the tire repaired. Dealing with the problem on my schedule was good. I have ruined a tire and had to deal with a flats due to what probably started as a slow leak at a time not of my choosing.

That magnet-reset system sounds like a really good idea.

 

[dishdude]

The one on my Saturn Aura works perfectly, even gives a readout of each tire as to what the pressure is at that moment.

 

[dave123]

My light on my 06 Tacoma has been on for 1.5 years.

Thank you very much Big Government.

 

[gfcrane]

I have three vehicles with TPMS, an 08 Toyota, an 08 Subaru, and an 06 Nissan. The Toyota and Subaru come on and off on a random basis apparently loosely related to the fall drop in temperature at night. According to the dealers involved, nothing can be done. I just bought the Nissan (Frontier) and it had a steady light on the lot. The dealer agreed to fix it before the sale and I was told a re-programming was successful. Anyhow, it went off, for about a week, and came back on. I ignored it and it went off, and came back on etc. Dealer was baffled (lots seems to baffle them).

All of them merrily come and go without much logic, but since I check the tires weekly it no longer bothers me much. I have increased inflation 3 psi or so and this seems to extend the streaks of no lights. None of the dealers are any help at all.

I must say I will be ever grateful to the government for providing me with the increase in safety involved. Of course it was at my cost, both initially and continually with absolutely no choice. The Toyota even has one in the spare tire, which the dealer claims can set the alarm, although I don't see how.

 

[Rand]

my 2009 hyundai works fine. although the tpms light is on now because I switched to my non tpms winter wheels.

2008 honda accord works fine. came on with a nail in the tire twice.

have to take it to the dealer when switching from summer rims to factory rims(for the winter).. then those work fine too.
no false alerts in 20k miles.

I wasnt going to pay 320$ for 4 hyundai tpms sensors I only payed 500$ shipped for my winter rims and tires w/roadforce mount and balance.

 

[XCELERATIONRULES]

Just ignore the lights,or put a strip of electrical tape over the dash.

 

[Rand]

mine just has a tiny light in the corner of the gauge cluster.. its not very bright either.. extremely easy to ignore.. until april when the tpms rims go back on.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Mine doesn't appear to have a light. The Driver's Information Center displays a clear message, "Tire Pressure Low." So far it's only come on right after I have a tire replaced, since the shop will air the new tire up to the spec of 32 pounds and I run mine at 33 to 34. I air the tire up, then reset the TPMS so it "knows" that 34 psi is normal.

 

[UzLess]

Sorry to unearth this thread, but I just traded for an '10 with TPMS, and have snow tires / rims that will fit, but no TPMS on them.

I understand the light will come on after I install the snow tires (unless I go have the sensors put in them & the system reprogrammed, which I'm not interested in doing). Rather, I just want to make sure the system will go back to 'normal' without intervention in the spring when the factory rims / tires go back on.

Rand's reply seems to suggest that will be the case. Can anyone confirm?

I was of the understanding that the system would shut off after a period of time (leaving the light on), but I haven't been able to find out if it will reactivate once the TPMS rims are put back on (and I was thinking 'not').

 

[fsskier]

Before I replaced my faulty sensor, mine was on for days, then off for days, back and forth, always recovered.

I suspect that these systems are a work in progress.... as mentioned previously the dealer said I hit something and cracked it. Now, that seems to be impossible and the crack in it just looked like a fracture, the tire, rim, everything else is perfect.

Even though the vehicle (2008 Sienna) only had 15 k miles on it, it was deemed to have been "cracked by the customer" no warranty applies. 150 bucks out of pocket, my advice, buy a tire gauge, eyeball your tires anyway and skip the tpms.
Even if your TPMS never worked again, it would just put you back where you have been your whole life. And you would never have to worry about repairing and reprogramming an unreliable system that you do not need anyway!

Sure hope the pistons or the block do not crack, wow that would be an expensive "cracked by the customer"

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: fsskier

Anybody else disappointed with this system??


Had 2 replaced under warranty already, and it's a hassle to reset the system when the tires are rotated. Some shops don't have the computer to do it.

Disappointed? I think the system is more worthless then a broom without a stick. Knowing how people are, they will become jaded to the systems failing, turn a blind eye to the light on the dash, and STILL not regularly check their tire pressures with a gauge. Which in the end could cause more problems then if people would just check their tires, which they should anyway even with TPMSs.

 

[LS2JSTS]

I ran over something on the Hwy the other day, one of those uh-oh moments. Clicked my DIC over to the Tire Pressure menu and quickly noted that my right rear was losing air at the rate of 1lb about every minute. Exited the next exit and hit the first garage I came across. $6 plug and I was back on the road.

I didn't think I liked TPMS, but I'm coming around to the usefullness of the system. Manufacturers should all have seperate indicators for pressure in each tire, like GM. The blind idiot lights are aggravating and lead to more work than if the system tells you which tire is the problem.

Overall right now, I like the TPMS on my HHR, but that attitude may change when I have to buy new tires and deal with the added expense. The cost for replacements has to made lower by larger numbers of users, then if the cost were lower, my only complaint would be moot.

 

[Drew99GT]

The manager at my local Discount Tire indicated that with the current technology, most people will experience a few sensor failures every 50,000 miles on average from what he's seen.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: LS2JSTS
I ran over something on the Hwy the other day, one of those uh-oh moments. Clicked my DIC over to the Tire Pressure menu and quickly noted that my right rear was losing air at the rate of 1lb about every minute. Exited the next exit and hit the first garage I came across. $6 plug and I was back on the road.

I didn't think I liked TPMS, but I'm coming around to the usefullness of the system. Manufacturers should all have seperate indicators for pressure in each tire, like GM. The blind idiot lights are aggravating and lead to more work than if the system tells you which tire is the problem.

Overall right now, I like the TPMS on my HHR, but that attitude may change when I have to buy new tires and deal with the added expense. The cost for replacements has to made lower by larger numbers of users, then if the cost were lower, my only complaint would be moot.
I feel exactly the same .