Tire pressure sensor, under warranty?

[scott78945]

Well, I woke up this morning to a flat tire. After AAA came and changed out the flat I went to my local tire store. Come to find out the tire pressure sensor failed. They asked if I had done anything. The only thing I did was check my tire pressure yesterday when I got home from work. They believe that the pin in the middle of the stem broke off inside and the air just leaked out all night. Is this something that should be covered under warranty? I would only assume that it is since I am still within my 36/36,000 warranty but unsure. Anyone else have experience with this?

 

[redskinboy]

Yes - had the same problem driving down a major interstate - called the Toyota dealer on my cell and heh had me pull over and check all tire pressure (plus underneath for the spare). Couldn't get to the valve stem si I had to go to another Toyota dealer so they could put on a lift to check the spare. No problems but the indicator is still blinking so I dropped off at the local dealer to do a diagnostic but I am close to contacting my lawyer about a lemon law deal because this 4 Runner sucks!! Fourth time in the shop in two months with no end in sight. Contacting lawyer about lemon law proceedings at his point. Good luck!!

 

[scott78945]

I did take it in today and they did replace it under warranty. They explained that due to the salt that is used in Upstate NY, it just eats away at them. They also said the same thing for my calipers as they are all rusted to crap. I'll be trading it in next year for a new one anyways so I don't care.

 

[croatiangirl74]

The same thing with my 2004. One sensor went kaputt and the local Toyota dealer went to replace that one. However when they checked the others they damaged 2 more I got a phone call saying we got good news , we got bad news. The bad news was that they were replacing all 5 sensors! In Germany each sensor is 80 euros which comes out to about 100$. So yikes! But then came the good news...since they damaged 2 of them they jsut simply reordered 5 new ones and put them on and everything was for free! Yeah I have a really nice dealer The worst part was that in entire Germany there is only one of those Computers that you need to re- set the codes so that they work properly. I was first on the "list" and it still took 3 weeks and a letter to Toyota Germany to finally get it done. But I am not complaining...like I said I did not pay a dime However the dealer said the reason they damaged it was when they went to check the tire pressure the steel caps were so eaten thru from the salt that they broke them taking them off. So now I do not have steel I have plastic ones because the next winter will come and so will the salt! Maybe something to think about if you live in a state where this would apply to you.

 

[sharp4runr]

Yup, the steel caps the use get fused to the valve stems. I thought that the US models, they switched to rubber valve stems but maybe they did not do them for the models over seas??? I ran into this problem myself with my spare tire. I could not get the cap off to pump up the tire pressure at first. It took a little bit of persuasion with some plyers and the first thing I did was replace the cap with rubber ones.

 

[croatiangirl74]

Well mine is a US model it just was bought overseas. All the people I know had steel ones, and thanks to my experience they switched to rubber really quick! However I would think that Toyota would take this little detail into account when using steel ones but I guess they forgot to count in the elements I was just lucky that my dealer was so cool about it, alone the sensors for all 5 would have come up to 500$ not talking about the work either. And it would have happened with all 5 since one went kaputt, then the dealer damaged two and in his own words they were very careful but the darn thing just broke! Oh did I mention the first one they broke, they were out on a test drive trying to figure something out and they stopped to check the tire pressure. That's how they broke the first one. They put on the spare to get back to the garage, and the boss himself was this, walked away from my truck for a second and an over zealous young mechanic started to work on my truck and before the boss could shout "STOP" he had broken the 2nd one Needless to say they took it with humor and played rock, paper , scissors to see which one got the task of calling me and confessing what they have done