No TPMS, TPMS light on

[LandCruiser]

I've had SOME tire shops tell me that they can't rotate, balance, swap my tires if the TPMS light is on.

I've tried to tell them that the sensor is "broken" and they said that they won't touch the vehicle with the light on unless I had a badly leaking tire.

Is this a new law or CYA BS?

 

[GHARP57]

Sounds like bullshit. I mean just means low tire pressure. Take the bulb out the dash if you arent going to run TPMS at all

 

[tigger]

It's a liability issue. They actually gave me an issue about removing TPMS from tires that weren't mounted. They eventually did, but if the tires were on the vehicle they would not remove them.

Any reputable place won't mess with tires without TPMS on a vehicle that requires TPMS. You can thank Firestone and Ford for that.

 

[Midnight Anvil]

TPMS was federally mandated in 2007 and "Direct" TPMS was mandated in 2008 by NHTSA.

OP: It could definitely be a bit of CYA but simply refusing to do any work simply because the light is on is bullshit.

tigger: If the shop removes sensors from unmounted wheels, then you go and remount those wheels and have a tire blowout without the system in place they could potentially be held liable. Not likely but but I can understand where they are coming from.

EDIT for additional info: I'm not sure what Colorado law is but in CA, as of 2012, shops are required to check and document tire pressures even on services where the tires will not be touched. Essentially putting the responsibility of tire maintenance on the shop and not the vehicle operator.

 

[joeyz]

Discount Tire always fixes mine, which is usually a dead battery in the sensor. The government made this law, so businesses could probably get a hefty fine if they don't comply. Anyways...my light comes on dependent on the outside temp. It's supposed to come on when your tire pressure is 25% lower than the rest (including the Spare!) or even the programmed recommended tire pressure which for my 4runner is 32 PSI. This has turned into "Rocket Science" for us off roaders...My Hankooks say 44 PSI Max...OK, then what is the recommended tire PSI? Discount Tire says 32 PSI and I think that is what is programmed into the on-board computer. So, I check my tires and prefer to use 36 PSI and I check the Spare and it was 21 PSI...OK that is 34% below 32 PSI and the Light s/b ON...So I inflate the Spare to 32 PSI and the Light eventually goes OFF. Then it gets Antarctic out again and the F-ing light is on again. So I am going to check the Spare (which is a Royal Pain) the next time this happens to see if the PSI on the Spare dropped 25% (I seriously doubt it). The light doesn't come on if you over fill the tires, only if they are low.

 

[Midnight Anvil]

It's supposed to come on when your tire pressure is 25% lower than the rest (including the Spare!) or even the programmed recommended tire pressure which for my 4runner is 32 PSI.

I think you're partially correct in that if a tire drops 25% pressure relative to what it was set at it will turn the light on. But the systems monitor each wheel individually and the thresholds are set relative to the initialization pressure of each tire.

The recommended pressures are not hard-coded into the system. So you could set tires at 40psi and initialize the system, setting the 75% threshold at 30psi, only 2psi less than the recommended pressure.

EDIT: Recommended tire pressure is whatever gives you even wear across the tread blocks. This changes with tire type, size, wheel size, and vehicle load, so the door jamb numbers are only good if you're running factory wheels and tires and and average load.

 

[nevada]

Discount Tire always fixes mine, which is usually a dead battery in the sensor. The government made this law, so businesses could probably get a hefty fine if they don't comply. Anyways...my light comes on dependent on the outside temp. It's supposed to come on when your tire pressure is 25% lower than the rest (including the Spare!) or even the programmed recommended tire pressure which for my 4runner is 32 PSI. This has turned into "Rocket Science" for us off roaders...My Hankooks say 44 PSI Max...OK, then what is the recommended tire PSI? Discount Tire says 32 PSI and I think that is what is programmed into the on-board computer. So, I check my tires and prefer to use 36 PSI and I check the Spare and it was 21 PSI...OK that is 34% below 32 PSI and the Light s/b ON...So I inflate the Spare to 32 PSI and the Light eventually goes OFF. Then it gets Antarctic out again and the F-ing light is on again. So I am going to check the Spare (which is a Royal Pain) the next time this happens to see if the PSI on the Spare dropped 25% (I seriously doubt it). The light doesn't come on if you over fill the tires, only if they are low.

flip the spare over, so the valve is pointing down. it also keeps it from collecting road grime and trash on the face of the wheel.

 

[having fun]

Put a tpms off switch in, no light anymore.