TPMS sensor observation

When I bought my 2007 in September, the seller gave me a brand new set of Michelin X-Ice snow tires on regular steel rims to use in the wintertime, in addition to the LRR tires on the factory alloy rims that were already on the car. I swapped on the snow tires yesterday and was surprised my TPMS light hadnt come on, and Ive driven about 100 miles so far over 2 days. I previously assumed that the past owner cheaped out and didnt have TPMS sensors installed.

Well, it looks like the snow tires DO have TPMS sensors in them, based on the appearance of the valve stems.

Apparently the Prius can have 8 tires (2 sets of 4) worth of TPMS sensors programmed into it?! Which Im pretty sure is unusual. Or is my TPMS light going to come on tomorrow now that Ive celebrated too soon? lol

Most cars only allow for 1 set of 4 tires to be programmed into the TPMS. Interesting....

 

Thanks for the replies!

I cant imagine the tires being close to the car have anything to do with it as I work every day 15 miles away and run errands often for work. So the TPMS definitely would not be picking any signal from the summer tires there!

If the TPMS light doesnt come on today, Im going to assume the sensors on the snow tires were programmed to duplicate the summer tires like you guys mentioned (Learn something new every day around here!) So I guess the Prius can only have 1 set of 4...dang and I thought I had some kind of special Prius with a goose egg programmed into it or something (haha jk). Now I know that it is possible to program duplicate sensors with the same wireless ID's....got it.

 

After doing a google search, some guy on a Tacoma forum changed his tires to NON-tpms tires, and it took 3 weeks for the light to come on. Over that 3 week period, he claims to have driven 2500 miles.

If/when the TPMS light illuminates (or not) Ill check in and update this thread!

 

....light has still not come on. Its only been 9 days though.

 

Dangit!! I jinxed myself...lol. Today, after driving for 1 hour, the light started blinking and is now illuminated

 

Yeah me too! Now that Im back home in my parking spot, the summer tires with the TPMS sensors are about 10' away in the garage. I wonder if the TPMS will sense them and turn back off? That way, I can plan all my trips to be under 1 hour in duration and I wont have to see that light til spring hehe

 

Baugh!! Went to the tire shop today, my snow tires do in fact have TPMS sensors in them but the front 2 tires are dead.

$100 for 2 new TPMS sensors installed, out the door, turns out during re-syncing the new sensors, the rear right one dies!! Now they are recommending I replace the back 2 sensors now too for another $106.

I'd rather save the money and spend it on something else but now I already have $106 invested in fixing it....

 

Well thats my song today

Brought the car back after work, they replaced the right rear TPMS sensor now. They closed at 6 and wouldnt you know it... at 5:55pm the kid comes out from the back, says "heres your keys. Oh the TPMS light is on but it will turn off with some driving"

In other words, "Im done for the day, dont have time to sync the sensors, guess you'll have to waste more of your time while we screw up your car some other day!". I was pretty mad. And the kid left his half drank soda in my car - the nerve.

Anyway, I tried resetting it with the TPMS button under the steering wheel, of course it wont reset. It goes through the notions, but in the end the light just comes back on solid. Arrrrgggghhhhhh

 

I just called the tire shop and they said they are having trouble calibrating it. They can read each of the sensors with their scan tool, so each TPMS sensor is working but the TPMS module wont accept the ID's of the new sensors.

I am a little worried now because the tech on the phone was in my MFD saying that he was trying to reset the mileage on the tires??? I told him that the maintenance screen in the MFD has NOTHING to do with the TPMS. Oh brother......

 

So the tire shop called me to come get the car at 4:30 today.... they had 'finally' figured it out.

The 3 sensors they installed yesterday were all transmitting data but the Prius TPMS didnt like them, this is what the tire shop told me (in their words).

So they ran out and picked up 4 brand new 'universal' tire sensors that are programmable with their special fancy schmancy tool. They programmed them and voila! Prius likey. Light is off, life is good.

They threw in the fourth sensor for free for the inconvenience. Still, I put $150 into the TPMS for my SNOW TIRES that I totally didnt need to, but it snowballed and I didnt want to half nice person it. Lesson learned.

 

Thanks Ron!!

Im NOT looking forward to re-installing my summer tires if it was as expensive as this experience.

On the bright side, I have 4 new sensors in my snow tires that I didnt know I ever needed, nor did I ever want...lol.