TPMS DIED at age 9 (almost)!

I think people have the wrong impression about what the sensors are suppose to do.
99% think its to warn you the tire is low while parked in the drive way...
Not a pressure loss at 80mph.....minutes before the blowout..

 

Yep! "I don't need no dang nanny light to tell me when my tires are low"

My coworker was driving back home over a mountain pass, cruising around 75 mph in traffic towing a boat. Light comes on, he starts slowing down immediately. 10 seconds later (around 25-30) his tire EXPLODES

 

No. Freaking. Way. Man.

 

I think 1 of mine just died. Just started blinking yesterday! ugh

 

I had a motorcycle brake handle go through my kevlar tires like 6 months ago. I had music blasting and had no clue until I saw the light and pulled over to a completely flat tire. Shitty roads here and full of loud trucks so it's not like I noticed it. I was grateful for it or I'd have to buy a new wheel.

 

The light came on one day about 4 weeks before it did again. That was my early warning. I checked all the tires then and the second time, so that is when I went to the tire shop where they diagnosed the bad unit. The second time it came on, my maintenance light blinked and then went solid. The TPMS light never blinked... just on or off.

 

Mine died at 12 years. I had a buddy at a tire shop install them. Just make sure you get the right OEM sensor for the spare. Here is what I found out about the steel spare--

 

This is exactly right. There may be anecdotal cases of a light warning people just before a blowout and saving them from catastrophe, but the original intent was to increase mpgs. Studies showed that most cars on the road were driving around with under inflated tires and were consuming more gas due to increased rolling resistance. The government powers that be said "No, no, no," and we all got dummy lights because we're too dumb/lazy to regularly check our tires. It's really as simple as that. If it were really about safety, they'd require motorcycles to have them since the chances of an accident if a tire blows at 75 on two wheels is way higher than on 4. (And yes I know some bikes have them, but not all and it isn't a requirement like it is on cars.)

 

You hit something that punctured your tire but your immediate reaction wasn’t “oh shit, let me slow down and move over to the side of the road and check myself”

Instead its to continue driving incredibly fast with an epic thudding in your tire until a light tells you to pull over.



If I’m driving down the road and my tire light comes on my first reaction is that its broken. Thats if I even notice it came on right away!
Unless it has an alarm on it I could be driving several miles before I see it.

 

Well, over 2 years later and I still have NOT had another sensor die on my Tacoma, with is over 11 years old now. One just before it's 9th birthday and that's it!
Watch, now that I said something the other three will crap out on me... LOL

 

Now you've done it.

 

Boy are you ever misinformed or perhaps too young to remember, we’ll go with too young. The TPMS system came as the result of Ford Explorer roll over fatal accidents. Yes it’s true most cars on the road are driving around with under inflated tires because people don’t check the pressures on a regular basis.

I know it’s hard to believe but as we are on an Toyota truck enthusiast forum theres probably a higher percentage of drivers that do keep up with maintenance, more so than the general public. So some have the attitude they sure as hell don’t need a tire pressure monitoring system. Back in the 60s people rejected seatbelts too, why not remove those too? Several years ago on New Year’s Day we were driving in a remote area when the light came on. That tire had a slow leak and was down on pressure but I couldn’t feel it. What do you think happens to a tire when it overheats? We had about 400 miles to go so yes it would have overheated. As it was we limped into a Goodyear store poor part of town which doubled as a stop and cop drug deal place. They fixed the flat eventually between drug transactions.

to those bypassing or putting tape over the light come resale time the dealer will discount in their favor the cost of fixing the cheapo hack. If I was buying a vehicle and saw this I’d wonder what else the owner hacked. Just a work truck staying close to home or not getting up to highway speeds I might understand the hack but to those that use their trucks the tape hack is no go item.

there’s a thread here somewhere that deals with cutting some wires or making a jumper to shut light off. This would fool somebody where tape just looks bad

 

We're both right. As I said, the original intent was to save gas. The NHTSA was looking for a tool in the 70s to help alleviate the gas crisis issues they were having, but the technology just wasn't there except in some luxury foreign cars. The Ford Exploder fiasco was the tipping point that got us the TREAD Act and where we are today. I still go back to the original intent though. The Firestone tire problem was the crisis they needed to finally seal the deal.

And, yes, I was around in the 70s. Young. But not too young.

 

For clarifications sake, our TPMS sensors operate at 315 MHz. What links the sensors to the vehicle are the ID numbers on the individual sensors.

 

Cheaper than what I got at 80 dollars a wheel X 5 Wheels installed OEM Sensors in the old ladies Highlander.

 

I had one go bad 3 or 4 years ago. Walmart replaced it for like $23. Doesn't match the OEM stems but it works and I don't clean and polish my wheels so an odd stem doesn't bother me.

 

Hmmmm.....

I'd think the ideal time to replace sensors is when the tires are replaced.

I'm not aware of many tires that will last as long as the TPMS battery, assuming the tires spend time rolling and not sitting still.