Screwed-up TPMS: Tell me how this makes sense

We just finished getting the TPMS fixed on Prius #2 after having the tires replaced about a week ago. The symptom was the the light stayed on and could not be reset. The light did NOT flash when we started the car. The dealer says that they didn't break the sensors (as I had suspected) but instead the computer was screwed up. The service writer's explanation was that as soon as the tire lost pressure while they worked on it the TPMS became "confused" and could no longer be reset with the button. And they had to "re-download" something or another to the tune of $50 for diagnostics and $50 for reprogramming. (We are going after the tire shop for reimbursement.)

1) Does this make sense? It sounds like some programmer was asleep at the wheel when writing that code.

2) Does this mean that the tech left the car running while he was swapping out the tires?

3) Do I seriously have to take the car to a Toyota dealer to get new tires without something coming out screwed up?

 

In retrospect, I wish I had thought to try that. At the time I was more concerned about preserving any useful information that might have been stored in the systems.

 

Despite having it in writing from Toyota that the tire store could have been the only source of the fault, they have no interest in rectifying the issue. The owner's claim was "It's a new car, we are not responsible for knowing how it works. This would have happened no matter what. It's your responsibility for buying a car with new technology. You are in the minority so we don't care if you ever buy from us again." No matter that **every** new car has or will have TPMS in the very near future.

But of course that's not part of the technical discussion. I would love to hear from anyone with more knowledge of what might have actually happened. The information I have already posted is all that Toyota has to give me.

Oh, and anybody in the COLA area looking for new tires feel free to PM me so that I can steer you away from the same headache. Not only has this establishment been unhelpful, but rude on top of it.

 

Wohoo!! But I'll understand if he doesn't have time given the homework and all. I remember the days (and nights) of nightmarish homework.

 

Thanks for the input! The possibility that they covertly replaced a sensor makes sense except that I would have expected the TPMS light to flash upon system start, no? Instead it went solid immediately as if it were functioning and detected a flat.

The only convoluted explanation I can think of is that the tire shop did break a sensor, paid Toyota to install the part, and somehow convinced the dealer to feed us some bull about reprogramming to get us to pick up that part of the bill. That's a really weak story, though.

As for the merit of the system, I actually think it's quite valuable. Last year we were driving around in the middle of nowhere when the TPMS light came on due to a nail in the right rear. It gave us just enough time to find a safe place to pull off the road before the tire went completely flat. Another minute later it would have been flat, possibly on the way to blowing out since we were moving at nearly highway speeds. So if nothing else it saved us the cost of replacing that tire, which went another 15-20k. Not to mention the possible damage to the rim.

 

That's an interesting thought about the 2 Prius parked together. It hasn't been a problem for over a year and a half, though. And it seems an odd coincidence that it would decide to randomly throw a fit the same day we had new tires installed.

re: narf, yup. Before heading south I had snow tires and saw the same beavior. This was a problem for a couple of days so it should have found the missing sensor at some point before we got Toyota to do...whatever they did.

At one point I wondered if swapping all of the sensors around the car confused the system because they were no longer registering where the computer expected to see them. I also thought, maybe this has something to do with the reason we're only supposed to rotate tires on the same side, not across. Maybe? It seems like an awfully silly explanation...almost as silly as the grande conspiracy between the tire shop and the Toyota dealer.

 

I guess I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. I really should have pulled battery negative myself, but was blinded with a conviction that I **knew** (not so much) that it was a bad sensor. Ahh, well. The system remains functional and I no longer have to worry that my fiancee will put herself in a ditch because the tires are shot.

 

I spoke too soon!

She took off at 4AM on a ~900mi road trip to visit our family up north. At 4:30AM my cell goes off a few feet from my head on the night stand. She was worried because the TPMS light had started flashing, then went solid, which I told her was a detected system fault. So now I'm back to square one and won't have access to the car until I join her next week. (15 vacation days per year never seems to cut it.) At least now they might have a real solution since the car actually sees a problem.

Misslexi, could you please describe the issue with you husband's Lexus? Does the light flash to show a fault or does it just tell him he has a flat tire?