2004 Low Tire Pressure Warning Light

[RL Lemke]

I am about to purchase a new 4Runner. The dealers are anxious to sell me a 2003 for dealer invoice. The new for 2004 low tire pressure warning light makes me want to order a 2004. There have been so many times I have punctured a tire while off-roading that if I had such a warning I could have plugged the tire before it separated from the rim.

I would like to hear from someone that has knowledge about this new Toyota feature. Is it worth getting a 2004 to get? Maybe I should get a 2003 and an aftermarket pressure monitor.

Assuming I could get a 2004 for dealer invoice also, maybe this added feature makes the wait worthwhile.

 

[jharris2]

RL -

If it's important, I'd look seriously at it.

However, I had a rental vehicle recently (not Toyota, but can't remember the brand), but the indicator was useless. You had to manually push a button and then a light would flash, but I never figured out what the flashing really meant.

May be worth seeing if the Toyota one is better than the one on that rental.

 

[Good Times]

Not sure if my answer will be of any help but...

If you're offroading, don't you deflate your tires anyway so wouldn't the low tire pressure warning light be useless? I mean I figure as soon as you drop our pressure to like 15 (or so), the light will be on telling you u have low pressure...

Some food for thought...

If the tire separates from the rim, there are fixes that you can do on the trail or throw on the spare

 

[Thai]

Tire Pressure Warning System:

1. You can turn it OFF.

2. It COMPARES the different pressures from all tires. That is, if over 3 months, all your tires drop 5 psi, then the system will NOT light up...because all pressures are equal. HOWEVER, if one tire pressure goes down, then it will warn you.

3. In off-roading, if you EQUALLY lower all your tire pressures, then the system should still work perfectly. And it could be quite helpful, especially when you do a lot of rock crawling. Or you could simply turn it off.

4. You can set the tire pressure warning system to ANY pressure you want.

So, basically, all the concerns above are insignificant. TPWS works great in my BMW. It is a nice system to have...BUT is it worth thousands of $$$??? Probably not...but that's YOUR choice to make. A simple tire pressure gauge will do the same thing, but requires more work from you.

If you get the NAVI system, then the '04 has the back-up camera. Or if you want the 3rd row seats, then get the '04.

Hope this helps.

 

[CopperX]

The tire pressure light went on the day (actually the night, I got my truck around 10:30pm) I took delivery. I went back to the dealer the next morning and let the service department check on it. They told me the light went on because they had all 4 tires at 30 but the 2004 4Runners require all 4 tires to be at 32. The light has never come on since. Not sure if this make any sense. Just for your info.

 

[Thai]

I bet you that one of the tires had a different pressure. The TPWS does not know what the proper pressure is...it just tells you if there is a DIFFERENCE.

Disclaimer...this is how most tire warning system works. Maybe Toyota uses a more advanced system?

If this is the case, then it would suck because when you put on all-terrain or mud-terrain tires, they will require more air pressure...and then, this would really be annoying!

 

[Thai]

This is from info on Lexus GX470:

A new Tire Pressure Monitoring system (TPM) can detect a loss in pressure in one or more tires, a condition that could potentially lead to loss of control. The system uses coded sensors to monitor the tire air pressure directly and transmits this information to a receiver via radio frequency communication. The receiver calculates the information and, if a significant drop in pressure has occurred, an indicator light illuminates to warn the driver of the condition.



So, i think that it only can detect a loss in pressure RELATIVE to the other tires. I don't think it KNOWS the correct pressure.

 

[RL Lemke]

The Owners Manual Says:

The 2004 low tire pressure monitor is very similar to the one I can get for my tubeless motorcycles. The valve stem is replaced with a RF sender, each coded to the receiver inside the 4Runner somewhere. That way each of the 5 tires are monitored for a relative drop in pressure. (I guess that ends the ability to drop the pressure in the spare to accomodate the hitch and larger tires.)

The owners manual says that accumulated snow in wheel wells, tire chains, etc.. will block the signal. It also says that only Toyota dealers should change tires. There were 3 + pages in the manual devoted to the pressure monitor.

I still want it and ordered a 2004 to get it.

 

[ResumeSpeed]

I wish that Toyota would have come up with a more advanced Tire Pressure system rather than a cheap warning light system. The government is going to require tire pressure systems starting in a year or so I believe. Looks like Toyota just wanted to meet the minimum requirements. A friend of mine has a real nice system in his Chrysler vehicle. It displays the actual PSI pressure for all 4 tires on the overhead console display and is dead accurate. It's a wireless system, with sensors built-in to the valve stems which means it can be added to older Chrysler vehicles. If any of the tires drop below a given pressure the overhead display will emit a warning. The spare tire is also monitored. Very slick indeed, this is a feature I would not buy my next car without. The option cost only $150 or so when he bought the vehicle.

 

[Thai]

That's a neat system from Chrysler. BMW should learn from them too...because BMW system is similar to Toyota's.

 

[Zulu95]

For around $300 you can add a good after market unit that displays pressure and temperatures of all tires.

 

[waskillywabbit]

I am about to purchase a new 4Runner. The dealers are anxious to sell me a 2003 for dealer invoice. The new for 2004 low tire pressure warning light makes me want to order a 2004. There have been so many times I have punctured a tire while off-roading that if I had such a warning I could have plugged the tire before it separated from the rim.

I would like to hear from someone that has knowledge about this new Toyota feature. Is it worth getting a 2004 to get? Maybe I should get a 2003 and an aftermarket pressure monitor.

Assuming I could get a 2004 for dealer invoice also, maybe this added feature makes the wait worthwhile.

RL,

We have this feature on our 2001 Toyota Sienna. You air up the tires to proper pressure, push the button on the left side of the bottom dash and hold it a few seconds and this sets the tire pressure you want your tires consistently to be. If the pressure in a tire drops below, from what I've observed, 10 psi below this mark, a warning light comes on in the front dash. This has helped us several times fix punctured tires before they left us stranded somewhere on the highway on a long trip. A simple feature that is convenient, but I don't know that I would buy a new car just to get it when in reality, a $5 pressure gage and a little consistency of checking tire pressure will do the same thing.

:guitar2:

Brian