Low tire pressure sensor

Who can explain how the tire presure sensors work on a 2010 Double cab Tacoma 4x4? My understanding is:
a. Each tire has a pressure sensor that sends a signal to the system each time the car is started and periodically after that.
b. The benchmark pressure for each tire is that pressure which is in the tire whenever the reset button is pressed - allowing for different pressures front and back (as suggested by the mannual)
c. When any of the tires' pressure falls sufficiently below the benchmark pressure the warning light comes on.

Is this accurate?

 

That's pretty much it. What kinda issues you having that you are asking??

 

My moms 4 door jeep has those. They suck.

 

They suck until they come in handy. I woulda overheated/shredded a tire on my Taco after driving over a drywall knife on the highway. I was on a nearly full tank and wouldn't have had to stop for anything. Luckily that light clued me in.

 

Actually, they ain't half bad. Helpful when you first get a nail.

Just have to reset to the new levels after you let out air for wheeling.

 

Sure thats true, but what did everyone do before electronics?

 

Drove it until they overheated the tires...

And "They used to do it without electronics" isn't really a good argument. They also used to walk everywhere until the Model A.

 

Well everyone has a right to their own view. Pretty soon some sensor will tell you when to crap. I think its just a MPG deal. Im sure they dont care if you shread a tire. I will agree that if it saved a tire or two then thats a good thing other than that I still think its just another idiot light.

 

actually the reason for the tpms to be standard on all 08 and on cars, is because a tire mfg. that will remain nameless had a mfg defect and on trucks and SUV's that had the tires on them would loose pressure roll off the bead and crash. Thus even causing a few death's so it became standard equipment.

i dont see what the fuss is about them, when the light goes off either inflat the tires or hit the reset button. it doesnt seem that hard.

and for all you wondering where i get my info from, i work for a offroad accessories company that we also make wheels so we had to start manufacturing them to be TPMS compatable.

 

No fuss about them. Just everyone having a good time.

 

On two different occasions a Toyota dealership has told me it was unnecessary to reset the sensors after rotating the tires - even if I was mantaining different pressure front to back. Nethier time did the service rep even understand how they work. They told me all kinds of stuff contrary to the owner's manual. Both told me I didn't even have a reset button until I showed it to them. Very frustrating.

 

Mine stays on all the time for some reason. Even after I inflated them to the same pressure and pushed the reset button. Just got outta warranty now so......

 

Problem with TPMS is that now if you switch tires to lets say winter ones idiot light will bug you for a few months of the year. And there is no way to turn that off since somebody in Toyota came up with brilliant idea of connecting TPMS to ECU to provide input for traction control stuff and throttle

 

After having new tires put on my OEM wheels a few months back my TPMS light stayed on and the tire dealer couldn't/wouldn't help. I searched this forum up and down and tried all the reset suggestions with no luck. Yesterday I changed the oil, filter, air filter & cabin filter then did the ol' Maintenance Required reset steps and presto... no more TPMS light!? Go figure... I'm temped to lower the pressure in one tire just to see if it'll come back on or if the light burned out. May do that in a week or two... just enjoying not having the idiot light on right now.

 

Rep added.

not to up an old post, but it saved me today. Same thing happened and this worked instantly. Reset as per the Maint light. The TMPS light will flash ~4x then shut off.

 

Mite sound stupid, but did you check your spare?

 

Just purchased a 2007 Tacoma and didn't like the "16" steel wheels, so bought a set of four "17" alloy wheels. Ordered four Bridgestone tires and asked the tire shop if there was a problem using the old TPMS sensors. I was told no problem until the tech looked up steel vs alloy wheels. The issue was steel wheels have 20 degree sensors and alloy have 40 degree sensors. They quoted me $110.00 each for new sensors. I had them install rubber tire valves. When I got home I took the four TPMS sensors out of the steel wheels put them inside a Lawn Tractor tire that I had in my garage. I inflated it to approximately 30 PSI and bolted it into the opening on the spare tire. I hit the reset button and the light on dash flashed once and went off.
Time will tell, but working just fine now.