TPMS...

[supercowpowers]

Tire Pressure Monitoring System(s) have been made mandatory on all 2008 model year and later cars. The system in my car is proving to be a useless pain in the ass.

For all of the frustration, it doesn't even do what I'd want it to. The systems are only required to alert to a 25% loss of pressure within 20 minutes. My car's manual specifically says that this makes it incapable of detecting a sudden loss of pressure. As someone who actually checks my tire pressures regularly, detection of a loss of pressure from tire damage, before the handling gets sketchy or the tire gets ruined, is the one feature that would actually make the system useful to me.

The "benefits" it offers instead are numerous:

• Since I didn't pay for TPMS-sensor-compatible wheels and an extra $200 for sensors when I bought a winter tire and wheel package, I got to stare at a pretty orange light on the dashboard for the last month. That was actually acceptable, until...
• It recently started to entertain me by making intermittent chiming noises along with the light cutting out like it's broken. Diagnosing it would require the special Mazda diagnostic tool, and out of warranty with an intermittent problem, I didn't feel like bothering with the dealer.
• It provided me a whole morning of fun removing the entire center console just so I could get a grip on the connector to unplug the stupid thing. I could see it from the foot well, but couldn't get my hand in the right position to do anything with it.
• Becase, after that, the light was still blinking, now to complain that there was a fault in the system, I got to take apart my instrument cluster to slip a piece of tape between the light and the face.
• I'll get to duplicate most of this work if I ever go to sell the car so the next owner doesn't come back and sue me.

All this because the minivans and SUVs of the world weren't getting their pressures checked more often than when they saw a professional garage.

Sorry, I just had to let that out...

[nomore55]

I, too, wish TPMS would go away.

Ford Explorer owners and their rollover incidents? Meh...I see it as part of Darwin's grander plan

[The Chariot]

TPMS = good idea, bad implementation. Without instant notification its useless.

[gpracer1]

Well its the design of THAT system in YOUR car that sucks.....not the entire system.

In my vette (01) has direct TPMS and you will be notified almost instantly if the pressure falls below 25% of factory. When I start cornering hard, I can watch the pressures of the fronts or rears go up. I cant remember the refresh rate, but when I fill my tires, when I look at the dash, its already updated.

[The Chariot]

In my case, it doesn't suck. I don't have it. I was making a generalized statement based on what they said about the timing.

[gpracer1]

In my case, it doesn't suck. I don't have it. I was making a generalized statement based on what they said about the timing.

Yeah, I meant to the ops car.
Just depends on what the vehicle manufacturer decided to spend on the system.

[Eloi]

I experience the same thing + the Abs light .
I placed a small carboard to hide .
Fortunately there is no chime on both system.
Mitsubishi Suv.

I found that on slippy road my braking distance is longer ...
so I removed the Abs fuse , preferring a shorter distance
than a staight course . The law says it is unlawfull to
disconnect the Abs .... it is my life and I decide I will
do what is best for me . To be on the safe side I install
a burnt fuse for winter and use a good one for summer .



What do you think of Abs in winter ?
Forgive to hack your topic

[srtga]

I hav TPMS in 2 of my cars and one is REALLY wonky while the other is almost dead on with my craftsman digital gauge.

I'm a tire pressure nazi as well

Soooo, what's everyones favorite gauge?

[category4]

I have TMPS in the Vette and love it. It's accurate to one psi and alerts when tire pressure falls below 25 psi and it causes the active handling system to be more responsive if you get a catastrophic failure and it goes to 0 psi.

[supercowpowers]

My aggravation is mostly with the government for mandating it.

My girlfriend has the TPMS on her Cobalt and that's much more useful because it shows the exact pressures at each corner. It's aggravating that Mazda cheaped out on it, but I think that's because the government mandated that they install it on the last year of a model before a new generation, so why spend big bucks on anything more than the minimum?