TPMS

Techstream (mini vci) does display tire pressures and temperature. It's apparently the only OBD2 (diagnostic port) device that can read the data. Torque/Carista don't handle the communications protocol used by the TPMS ECU.

Toyota could easily display the tire data at zero additional cost of construction. But then why would you upgrade to a Lexus...

 

Software costs would still be a factor too. These are companies looking to shave pennies off the manufacturing cost of a product that they will sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

 

My theory is TPMS is a USA thing, so Toyota is slow to embrace it.
Probably in Japan, consumers check tire pressure religiously, is my guess.
But if there is one vehicle where the owners want to see that info for MPG optimization, it is us.

 

Coincidentally, my TPMS on my 2009 Prius just stopped working - it is on all the time now. Can these things be replaced by any ordinary mechanic? I'm pretty far from the closest Toyota dealer.

 

There's two kind of pressure drops, though: the slow, over the months kind, and the "in about a minute" when you rolled over a bolt. TPMS shines with the latter. I just wish they would:

1. Standardize the sensors.
2. Make them EASILY user configurable.

 

If you have the means of removing and mounting a tire, swapping the TPMS is simple. The hassle is in 'learning' the sensor to the car; it might require a special tool.

I'd expect a tire shop chain to have that tool on hand. Perhaps even your local mechanic. If not, you can still have them replace the sensor, and stop at a dealer the next time you are near by. It should take less than 5 minutes to do the actual procedure, and they should do so for free.

Agreed. Checking replacement prices, I saw over a dozen AC Delco TPMS on Amazon.
GM TPMS use to be programmable by letting the air out of the tire. Other systems just needed a strong magnet held close to where the TPMS was. For my car, the special widget needed is $70 to $80.

 

The TPMS sensor is part of the valve stem. To replace one bead of the tire has to be pulled off the rim. Once one bead is off (the side that the valve stem is on is best) they just have to remove the nut on the outside and the valve stem with the plastic on the inside can be pushed "into" the rim/tire. A new "O" ring and a new sensor/valve stem unit is then inserted with some lubricant, after noting the ID number of the sensor. Once the tire is put back on and inflated properly the car can be programmed to accept the new sensor.

 

The Amazon price for a replacement TPMS sensor for Toyotas is about $35, dealer price more than double that. Tirerack installers list their price for TPMS service, ranging from $15 to $30 per tire as a separate service. Toyota TPMS requires Techstream or equivalent to register the new sensors. The magnet tool doesn't work with Toyotas.

Be sure to record the sensor id numbers before they are mounted. Standard Toyota scantools, such as Techstream/mini vci can't read the numbers once they're mounted. I think some tire shops do have tools that can read a mounted sensor id, but certainly not all.

Winter temperatures cause the tire pressure to go down. A warning light may just indicate winter has arrived and the tire pressures need to be readjusted. On the other hand, all of the sensors on my 2006 have been replaced due to either dead batteries or fear of same...

 

My mother's 2012 Camry SE shows the individual tire pressure for each wheel, and it's just a "display audio" not an entune system.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

The days TPMS was a luxury feature are long gone !
Even small low priced vehicles have it displayed ,as some kind of system is beeing demanded by law anyway.
There are two types of systems,one just measures the wheels rotation and sets an alarm off if a significant difference to the other wheels is detected and the direct system Toyota uses .
To use the direct system and not display data is kind of stupid and annoying for the customer as we are left to guess which tire may have a problem instead of just showing it !
Toyota sadly has a history concerning these kind of things,it took 4 generations of Pris to finally show which door has been left open...

 

The same thing happened to me about 4 months ago on my 2009. As I recall, there was an easy fix in the manual (not just resetting, that didn't work). Can't check because I am three weeks in on my new Prime Premium.

 

Well, for those wanting to know which tire is low, the cost to have that kind of system would be greater. How would the system know where the tire is mounted? I think you would have to tell it where they are every time the tires are rotated. The only other way would be to have an antenna at each wheel well, and associated electronics. Maybe that would be inexpensive, but I doubt it.
I don't know how they do it in the Camry. Do they rely on the dealer to keep the system up to date re position of the sensors?

It seems to me that the most important tire to monitor is the spare (if equipped). It's the one -everybody- ignores! It's kind of useless if it's flat! And the TPMS system ignores it!

 

...so far only one dead TPMS on our 2006...

Believe RobH actually re-programmed his TPMS to accept 5 tires to cover the spare. I fill the spare with STAYFILL which is an expensive gas for bike tires, but since the spare is small it is not too bad.

 

You are probably better off at a tire store. My mechanic wants a lot of money.
If its an 009 you can get Denso TPMS unit off Amazon $35 and expect $15-30 installation per tire. My TireRack tire guy wants $30 if I supply the Denso TPMS, and also I know which tire is bad (via Tecstream with miniVCI).

 

If I've got a warning a tire is low pressure, and this is an event that's happened twice in six years ownership, it takes me all of two minutes going around the car with a pressure gauge, to determine the culprit.

 

TPMS on the toyota prime is worthless. my tire was 5 lbs under and no warning but it was visibly low

 

I would assume the TPMS was intialized with the tires at spec pressure. Have you raised the pressures? Might be a factor. The warning will light (or should light) when the pressure fall approx 25% below pressure used when TPMS was intialized.

If you want more of a hair-trigger response: raise pressures above your norm, re-initialize, then lower pressures back to norm.

 

How low do you think pressure was? Normally the units are quite reliable with a reset button to set the alarm level. Somewhere around 26.5 psig may be preset warning but RESET normally can change that to your desire. Not sure about Prime though.

Toyota is a bit behind on TPMS in not giving drivers the read out of the pressures/temps on a screen. But the actual system seems to work as well as anything else.