Retrofit TPMS?

Is there an economic way of retrofitting a tire pressure monitoring system to a Gen 3 Tacoma? System has to be acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction over vehicle import to USA from Canada.

The particular Canadian model I have (2018 DCSB manual) did not come with TPMS from the factory.

I know how to procure sensors and get them installed, if it is just a matter of programming the vehicle (enabling TPMS) with an OBDII interface and software I can buy myself for a reasonable price, I have the technical skills.

Any advice welcome.

 

Bump in case someone has figured out how to do this. Border is opening up again soon and I want to sell my truck in the States.

 

You are selling a used vehicle, you do not need to comply with U.S. Federal laws aimed at the auto manufacturers at the time they manufacture the vehicle for retail sale.

Sell the truck like it sits, don't worry about the TPMS.

 

That's not correct. If the vehicle is newer than 25 years old it will have to meet many if not all the criteria the US model and year of that same car does. Otherwise you'd see people selling year-old 'used' models of cars and trucks here (such as a Diesel HiLux) which is sold brand-new in many other countries, but not here.

25 Years is the magic number for what are known as 'Grey Market' cars and trucks (models which were not sold here originally). As to how to retrofit a TPMS in order to meet US Regs, I'm sorry I can't help with that.

 

Yes and no but we are not talking about importing a non-emission compliant vehicle not sold here in the USA. Thats what most people define gray market cars as.

Bringing a U.S. complaint vehicle into Canada is a nightmare but going the other way you would think no one would care, perhaps I'm wrong on that but to answer the OP's question more directly I would go with an aftermarket TPMS set up as I do not believe you can just add sensors to your Tacoma for the TPMS system to work.

I recall purchasing an aftermarket TPMS system years ago from either Amazon or eBay and it worked ok, not as nice as a factory built in display unit but it did work. I want to say the manufacturer had the word Orange in their name.

Best of luck to the OP.

 

In this case it sounds like US Customs is requiring an OEM TPS System which is what the OP is asking about (see the beginning of the thread).

I exported a classic car to France five years ago and know of some of the hoops I had to jump through just to get the car through Customs, so I don't envy the OP's position but am anxious to see what he's able to do.

 

Unfortunately the truck will not have the equipment required to use/program the sensors if you install them.

From my (admittedly rudimentary) knowledge, you can comply with the regulation by using an aftermarket TPMS system. While retrofitting the factory TPMS setup is possible, it would not be economically viable unless you can source the components used and/or modify the wiring appropriately. (For instance, the TPMS antenna is tied in with the keyless entry system).

Jeff

 

I did some more research and it seems people have had success with buying one of the cheap Amazon-type TPMS systems with sensors that screw onto the Schraeder valves, and a receiver that plugs into the cigarette lighter. They go to a garage and pay them to "install" it and print an invoice that says "installed and tested customer supplied TPMS system." Going rate seems to be around $50.

As long as you give the border officer some kind of paperwork, they don't care too much. In the end, they are government workers and they'd rather stay inside their nice air conditioned office. The people outside might open the glove compartment to look for Kinder eggs, but they don't care either.

 

1st, check if your truck equipped with the tire pressure computer.

 

His truck wouldn't have the TPMS module, it wasn't used on that model.

Jeff

 

Sorry if it wasn't clear, to my knowledge there are NO Canadian-market 3rd gen Tacos with tire pressure monitoring systems. It is likely that the harness is the same in all trucks, but there is no chance Toyota would install the computer. It might be possible to buy the computer and install it, and enable it in Techstream - it would be very expensive to source and there is no guarantee I could enable it.

There seem to be only two countries in the world requiring tire pressure monitoring systems, it is very unusual and seems stupid.

 

Why not just sell in Canada???

 

With the right marketing in Northern US climes (where seasonal tire swapping is more common) you'll have a long line of buyers who would be thrilled not to have TPMS to mess with.

I do not live in a state with inspections, but for those of you who do, is TPMS something that is actually part of the inspection (as long as the light is off)

I'd find it hard to believe that it is, but the government is wonky sometimes.

 

There are Canadian models with TPMS, just not all of them like the US.

The wiring is not present for the system in trucks without it.

Jeff

 

I mean the ones with the good transmission.

Good to know.

 

I can get at least C$10000 (US$8000) more if I sell it in the States. Market for manual trucks is much stronger in the USA, in Canada it's very regional, with the strongest market on the west coast in British Columbia.