OT tire pressure warning light

Some manufacturers’ are more sensitive
The tire sensors on my Subaru Outback were spot on over a number of years where everything else went wrong with that car, and would light up religiously if the pressure went more than 6 miles under a target of 34 and 32 pounds. I had one rim with a slight deformity that I was too cheap to replace, so as a set of tires wore in I got a weekly check on when the TPS went off. I accidentally found out that the tolerance for over pressure was a good bit higher, happily before the tire exploded.



But compared to the Subie, the sensors in my Rav4 are downright sloppy. They are working correctly, as I found out when I picked up a screw. But they won’t talk to me until I am down closer to ten pounds than the 6 the Subie reacted to. (Very similar tire pressures since I have the same size wheels.)



I happen to like the early warning you get from the TPS systems and have only had one sensor go in a lot of years of having a car with them. So I am a fan. But they do seem to be variable in terms of how they are set.