Hmm - some issues above I guess I haven’t had. Had TPS on cars since 2007, only ever had one sensor go bad in all that time.
What I liked about it, and the reason I replaced that one sensor, was the TPS caught a bubble starting on the inside of a front tire that I would have never seen without it. The tire pressure was still within requirements when I pulled put the gauge, it was only because I looked under and inside to figure out why the TPS light was flashing that I saw the slight bulge.
I was several miles from home, still in civilization, to start a 30 mile drive over winding country roads on a warm day when it started flashing. I was very, very grateful that the TPS light started flashing. A blown tire on the roads I was heading to could have been a horrific wreck.
A quite good tire pressure gauge check was not catching this problem at the early stage. I always carry one (or two) gauges and periodically check even with TPS. But the TPS did better than me that day.
I fixed my TPMS system. Duct tape over the light. It flashes off and on constantly and I have been to the garage checking air pressure some half dozen times to find out there never was low pressure
Since we’ve wandered over to the topic of TPMS… I recently purchased my first vehicle with TPMS and I have high hopes for it. I’m not great at keeping watch on my own tires and in the past have let them get lower than they should. If the system works like it should, it will really help me out.
That said, I also recently purchased winter tires and opted to put sensors in them. The shop that put the tires on apparently didn’t program things right and my own attempts to do so haven’t been successful yet. I’m not done trying yet, and I haven’t yet been back to the Ford dealer. It’s an ongoing thing and I’m optimistic that I’ll get it resolved and not have a lot of problems thereafter. I have my fingers crossed.
@kayamedic said:
I fixed my TPMS system. Duct tape over the light. It flashes off and on constantly and I have been to the garage checking air pressure some half dozen times to find out there never was low pressure
Really cold weather sets off the TPMS light on my car (which is garaged at night). Still recall the fun of trying to check my tire pressure last year when the light came on. Was -20F . So cold the air compressor couldn’t provide air. Tire pressure was fine. My fingers were frozen.
Same thing happened earlier this month during a cold spell. Now I just do a visual check and if they look okay, keep on driving.
In the winter my TPMS light comes on and stays on. It stays off spring through fall.
Apparently I would need to pay Subaru to reset the codes when I change to the winter wheels. The wheels have the sensors and I have the codes but … I’m not going to drive up to the dealer twice a year to get the codes swapped.
The sensors do help. The light started blinking about a month after I bought the Forester new. I had picked up a nail in one tire & it had just started to go down. I ran it back to the dealer & they fixed it no charge, no problem.
Yeah, cold enough weather will cause a flashing TPMS light. Cold air has less pressure than more active warmer air.
But that is just because, at least in my experience, the systems will alert for a low pressure at about 10% loss of air pressure. If you drive it and the pressure stays low than check it, or maybe some rolling friction will bring it up. Most times you won’t be sure of a change in pressure from looking or driving until the drop is more like to 15 to 20%.
But after that bulge in the tire, I take a constantly flashing TPMS light very seriously.
Mine doesn’t flash. Just lights up. The cold events happened while I was heading further north, about a 1.5 hour trip. And not a gas station for miles (and most don’t have air). Makes me consider getting a portable tire inflator to carry in the car, but not sure how effective they are.
@Rookie said:
Mine doesn’t flash. Just lights up. The cold events happened while I was heading further north, about a 1.5 hour trip. And not a gas station for miles (and most don’t have air). Makes me consider getting a portable tire inflator to carry in the car, but not sure how effective they are.
I used an inflater JackL has to put 50lbs in my RV. He went through several before finding this one. It hooks directly to the battery and not the plug in the car. His was the best one I have seen, I will get the name for us soon.
@PaddleDog52 said:
ABS leaves you will the ability to continue to steer.
Not on really slippery surfaces it doesn’t. The demos you see where a driver stomps on the brakes on dry or wet pavement and steers around cones are certainly impressive, but that isn’t the case on snow and ice. If it’s too slippery to steer around something, ABS makes no difference at all and it can prevent you from stopping.
As for TPMS, there are multiple problems with it. First and foremost is that the systems are set to an arbitrary pressure range. I don’t run the recommended tire pressures. On front-drive cars, I typically run 4 PSI more in the front than in the rear (because the front tires carry more load), as it dramatically improves the handling of the vehicle and the tires wear more evenly. The TPMS system in my car cannot be set to specific pressures and can’t accommodate my preferences.
Second, TPMS systems are not universal; specifically, Hyundai’s system cannot be reset with anything other than a special Hyundai tool that costs a small fortune. When I replaced my summer tires this, the tire shop that did the work could not reset the system with their “universal” tool. There are probably other vehicle brands that do something similar.
Third, TPMS is apparently sensitive to radio frequency interference (RFI) and/or electromagnetic interference (EMI). My TPMS system was working fine, then suddenly malfunctioned. At the same time, the Bluetooth connection between my phone and the car malfunctioned, which likely indicates an RFI/EMI event triggered the problems. There are some TPMS systems that can be reset without special tools, but mine isn’t one of them. I absolutely refuse to drag myself to the dealership and pay them $75 to reset the system every time the TPMS system loses it’s mind.
@Rookie My TPMS light works same as everyone else’s. I suspect you have never experienced a bubble in the sidewall. I have only had that separation occur twice in 40 plus years of driving - as long as you are not getting retreads it should be a rare event, and most people don’t get retreads for passenger vehicles.
But should it occur, at least when it is starting your TPMS light will also flash rather just stay on. Because as the tire is rolling air is moving in and out of that bubble. The pressure will change in a way that the system can’t get a steady read on - hence the flashing.
It was an unusual event, thankfully enough so that it got my attention and I found the bubble starting. The only other time I ever had that problem was years ago, in my old Subaru GL wagon. Way before TPMS - the only reason I saw the bubble was that the car was on just the right angle in a parking lot for me to see under it as I was coming out of a store. Again, probably would have blown and been a hell of an accident because the tire pressure had been fine on my weekly check a couple of days before. These things get dangerous fast…
@Bnystrom
Yeah, if you are running any of your tires about 10% over the recommended limit it will also kick off then TPMS sensor. Granted the system is not well tuned for that. But that is not an issue for me, I appreciate the information.
On a different topic, had my car in for tire rotation and got a chance to see a 2019 Toyota Rav4. Looks like the car may be set up to access spots to screw in third party towers, similar to our Sable and Taurus wagons. Roof is flatter. I saw a few other changes which will probably play well for a lot of people. Overall design isn’t ringing my bells, but in fairness the one I was looking at didn’t have a great color and it is a yucky cold rainy day. It’d probably look much better in a black or metallic dark blue.
But one huge diff for paddlers, the liftgate is now raked out more on and less vertical. So the 2019’s will have a problem I did not have in the 2014 or now the 2018, that it’d impede getting gear out of the back with a boat on the roof.
But should it occur, at least when it is starting your TPMS light will also flash rather just stay on.
Am guessing what it does on each vehicle depends upon the manufacturer. Only time it flashes (blinks) on my Honda Fit is when I’m resetting it after I’ve added air to my tires.
Now, if I could only figure out how to stop my car from turning on my phone’s bluetooth when I get in…
@Rookie said:
Mine doesn’t flash. Just lights up. The cold events happened while I was heading further north, about a 1.5 hour trip. And not a gas station for miles (and most don’t have air). Makes me consider getting a portable tire inflator to carry in the car, but not sure how effective they are.
I used an inflater JackL has to put 50lbs in my RV. He went through several before finding this one. It hooks directly to the battery and not the plug in the car. His was the best one I have seen, I will get the name for us soon.
This is the inflater I found to work super, more $ than some but it works.
Wow. Says it’s for “Trucks, SUVs, RVs & Tractors,” Inflates a 37 inch tire in under 2 minutes. That seems faster than the air hose at my local gas station.
Wondering if it might be overkill for my itty-bitty Honda Fit with 15" tires.
If a battery is disconnected on the newer passenger vehicles, do you have to reprogram the car?
@Rookie The incident I described will cause ANY TPMS system to flash. I wouldn’t be beating a dead horse except that it can be extraordinarily dangerous to ignore.
When a bubble develops, there is air seeping from the inner part of the tire to under the outer layers of the tire. It is a separation of layers in a tire that is happily not common. But when it happens, you have a weak spot in the tire that could fail similarly to having a nail in the sidewall. A sudden loss of air and control, forget being able to gracefully pull the car like when you feel a tire gradually feeling heavy.
I have been lucky, in a lot of miles of driving I have only had a tire truly and suddenly blow out on me twice, both times within a block of home and going slowly. But I have been on the highway when it happened around me, and at 60 plus miles an hour it can very bad.
That said, my car is unable to turn on the phone’s bluetooth. Probably a good thing.
