This would be a wise thing to do. I took my Prius in for her 10,000 mile service. When service rep was going over my inspection results, she told me that to much air in the tires will make the TPM light turn on. I always run 38 in all 4 tires. Of course they always take it down to 35 psi. As for tire wear. It looks like even wear so far. At 5,000 miles I had 10/32 tread on all 4 and at 10,000 I had 9/32 all the way around. 90 % is highway driving.
Run 40 psi front and 38 psi rear, yes 2 pounds less in rear helps the car to track better more stable. I have done this for 8+ years in both of mine, 2005 and now 2012 and both have worn evenly across the tire, no problems at all! Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/tire-psi.134849/#ixzz2lywMdaEx Follow us: @PriusChat on Twitter | PriusChat on Facebook
I got scolded too. Said there was 50psi in the tires and that would cause premature tire wear... I thought my gauge was faulty as I run 44/42 psi f/r and had just checked them a few days earlier. Anyway I looked at the service report and it said 44/42 matching my gauge. Brought it back up to my spec.
that is bull crap ... this is my 3rd prius and always run higher PSI then the "recommended", mine is 42/40 I actually insist that the service writer put it on the write up sheet that after rotating pls re-adjust pressure to the above some asked why some just did it. Then, I very very visible check with my gauge right when they bring the car back. Maybe they think I am an nice person but also know that I check. I do this because I caught them not to rotate. I made a big deal .. the tech came out and said this was not on the sheet ... sure enough it was not. Only the courtesy inspection Toyoate Care and some code ... the guy did not know it included the tire rotation. I was not happy that they wasted my time. Since then I carefully check before I sign that sheet and insist that service guy writes it on the the worksheet not only the tire pressure but oil sample requested etc...
I use the same pressure, front and rear, just to avoid having to adjust when rotating them front and rear. The difference is pretty minor. With our low miles, rotation get's accomplished in the process of switching between snows to all seasons. High pressure will not trigger the TPMS. If you've adjusted the TPMS threshold to the higher pressure you have set, then when they dropped your pressures they're just setting them closer to that threshold, more likely to go off. Maybe we should start a collection of (off the wall) statements from service writers?
i'm at 42/40 and have never had the sensor go off in 3 pri over 9 years. typical toyota service: fail