The designer of the 2016 Prius speaks out on his decision of the final design

Is a tyre pressure gauge still needed in gen. 4 ?
I mean we get 2 nice 4.2 inch,full colored TFT Displays now,so surly one of them,probably the right, should be able to show the direct tyre pressure readings as in a Camry,or ist the system just able of showing that somethings wrong with either of the tyres by flashing an indicator light on the dash panel ?
I hate having to guess,same thing with open doors in gen. 3 but thankfully they changed that in the new Prius now !

 

hey I just hope you don't have to go to dealer just because you replaced TPMS sensor or put winter tires on.

 

To be honest I have no experience with in built tyre pressure systems .
Prius never had one in Germany,but they will have one now because it's required by law .
Can't you just exchange the sensors from summer- to winter tyre ?

 

you can but this requires dismounting and rebalancing tires. Toyota TPMS is pita because it only supports one set of sensors and to change sensor IDs you need a special tool which cost $150 for cheapest, or visit to dealer. Other mfg have self-learning mode which detects change and updates ID table.

 

So in other words it would be cheaper having separate sensors on the winter tyres instead of swapping them !?

 

Or just forgo sensors in the winter tires. For me this was the simplest route. The only obstacle would be if your're in the 'States, where TPMS is a legislated necessity, tire shops may get sticky. Someone from the 'States said recently that you're ok if you bring in loose rims, ie: get your snow tires mounted off the car.

 

Can't be too crappy, I have had no rattles or any problem with mine!

If Toyota makes crappy cars, why do you have one? What do you consider a good car?

 

Substitute word "crappy" with "boring" in that post.

If you're asking why we have Toyotas (more than one btw) the answer is the same as yours: MPG and reliability.

 

before we bought our first toyota, (camry) we had 30 years of car ownership experience. we didn't buy it for mpg's or reliability in particular, and didn't find it crappy or boring.

however, i can see how someone who likes to drive like aj foyt from time to time might find it boring. but that would include a long list of popular cars over the years.

 

it is boring since it doesnt break down as much as GM or German cars... so you dont get to chat as much with your friendly dealership SA

 

so you can get GM cars in Eastern Europe? How refreshing! That aside if you really want a car which breaks down all the time you need British car. Or Fiat. Or Chrysler.

 

You can go nuts, get the equipment the dealership has, do the reintroduction of sensors yourself. I believe you can forgo one (of two) pieces of equipment, if you have the serial numbers of the extra sensors. But yeah, just forgoing the sensors is much simpler, that's the route I went too.

I believe "technically" in the States that's not legal any more, which is really frustrating, needs to be resolved.

One simple resolution might be: if Toyota adopted an alternate TPMS system, one that didn't rely on sensors in the wheel. I believe some manufacturers just detect a flat by a change in rotation speed. Not sure how accurate that it is, but it's a breath of fresh air for the sensor debacle.

 

i would rather not have sensors at all. just another thing to go wrong.

 

I had a 2015 Subaru, and the rear sensors went out... Then they scratched the bumper while replacing them.

 

Car owners are not very good at checking their tire pressures. If having sensors can save lives, especially mine and my family, I am glad they are required now. It's the driver that loses control of their car and hits me that I'm concerned about.

What do many owners do when their car is several years old and the sensors fail? They just leave it as is and ignore the light, the same as they do with the engine light, so long as the car gets them where they want to go.

 

In that case, tire shops might be legal to install a tire with a regular valve. Think it constitutes Scenario #1, per:

TPMS - one bad tire pressure monitor sensor - replace 1 or 4? | Page 2 | PriusChat

 

there are 2 options if you want 2 sets of TPMS. One is to get cheapo $30 generic sensors and ATEQ Quickset tool ($150 on Amazon), and do reprogram yourself, another to get Shredder programmable sensors and pay shop to copy IDs off primary set. Either way $300 investment. I hope Gen4 has learning mode or manual program mode, so this would be simplified.

 

Maybe you are picking the wrong models from Toyota....