Stupid TPMS Law

This TPMS Law must be one of those laws that were enacted with good intentions but end up being the PITA and costly law for the general public. Would this be the solution to this stupid law? Who has experience with this type of gadgets before?

http://www.cabelas.com/product/ACCU...&WT.mc_id=BingPLA&WT.z_mc_id1=03885898&rid=20

 

What are you trying to do

 

What Law?

 

X2???

The truck has to have a TPMS System when delivered from the mfg. After you receive it ( At least in states that do not have an inspection ) you can do whatever you want. Rip it out, or bypass it etc.

 

This has been a federal law on new vehicles since 2005.

Some states, very few, are just now having their DMV's require it for inspection.

Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia are some.

 

I agree the TMPS law is a PITA as implemented by the auto manufactures. It was passed as a "solution" to a number of grisly rollover mishaps on Ford Explorers due to a combination of two factors, a low tire pressure for suspension requirements (26 psi), and overloaded vehicles, the payload at 26 psi was around 800lbs. Folks would fill the Explorer up with large, extended families, run down the highway at 75 mph on a summer day, on a underinflated back tire, the tire would fail, Exploder would roll, and throw bodies out for hundreds of feet, once the initial roll would break all the windows.

The TPMS requirement was passed instead of Ford having to pay billions in settlement payments. Also, Ford blamed FIRESTONE for the mishaps and ended a 100 year old business relationship.

If the lawmakers had only included a requirement for universal replacement valve stems easily programmed to the vehicle Right now my TPMS is showing fault...my snowtires are on and sensors are on the OTHER wheels and tires.

 

You don't know how valuable the TPMS is until you actually have to use it.

It warned me in enough time to get off the highway and in a parking lot before my tire was completely flat.

 

It isn't too bad driving with rear tires at 10-15psi after going wheeling. on taller tires you should be able to feel the difference before its too low, lower profile tires not as much.
On my dads truck its always going off for being too low. I don't have it and it won't bother me. most people I know have already tripped it.


and its true, your vehicle is unsafe if that light is on. if the pmvi(safety inspectors) think its unsafe at an inspection, they can ground your car and not let it drive off…either make you fix it there or have you tow it off the premises. Now the paper work is all electronic and they take pictures of your vehicle from several different angles. if one station fails you, you're red flagged and another station knows why you failed at the other station.

 

It would be nice if all TPMS sensors were standardized so they could be interchanged from wheel to wheel. But no. Let's have a million different types like we do oil filters.

 

except the oil filter I use on my tacoma fits on my oder toyota trucks with 22r's, 3.0s and 3.4s. do valve stems interchange between factory aluminum rims?

 

My '13 is the first vehicle I've had with TPMS and I gotta say I love it. I had a nail in my tire I would have never noticed. Even when you lose a bunch of pressure on big, O/R tires it can be hard to see by eye. That TPMS could have been a life saver.

 

How sensitive are the sensors? The light has been on for a week, but every time I check the tires they are not low. Does it really light up if they only drop a couple psi, plus it doesnt tell me what tire.

 

Reset the system

 

Check your spare! Those have a sensor too which I'm glad about!, it's nice to know if your spare is low so when you really need it all is okay.

 

I wish the Tacos TPMS system was like the one in my 2011 GTI.... Those use wheel speed sensors in the wheel hubs rather than an actual sensor in the wheel. Didnt matter what wheel/tire combo you had on the car, you just had to reset it when you changed them and you were good to go.

 

How does that measure tire pressure?

 

The TPMS on my Tacoma seems to do the job. However, the light on SWMBO's Honda comes on when the tire pressures are ok. Resetting seems to work for a day or so, then we go through the same routine. I think it is unnecessary for those of us who maintain our vehicles properly.

 

yes part of our inspection here in VT.
Our tire centers no longer will install wheels/tires without sensors anymore.
Some smaller garages will though, small off the beaten path types.

My winter wheel/tire set doesn't have sensors so a friend helps me swap them out.
I waited for my inspection sticker to roll into Spring & the dealer actually inspected it without the sensors.
No light was on for the dealer is right down the street from my house.
As for the system, it did go off once for me on the highway.
It came on & within a few seconds my tire was completely flat.
The light helped

 

I can think of multiple accounts where a friend or I added air to a tire just because it was overly sensitive and came on because the front tire was 2psi lower than the other tires

 

The idea behind that system is that the lower pressure tire will technically have a smaller diameter as the tire begins to flatten out, then it will have to spin faster to maintain the same overall speed. It then sets off the light. That system won't tell you exact pressure tho obviously. It just knows when one is low.