My Prius has been struggling to break 45-48 MPGs (now at 2,700 miles). The first 2,500ish miles ranged from 51-56. It must be tire pressure, me thinks. I scroll and scroll and try as I may, I cannot find the screen to display my tire pressure readings. After referencing the manual, there is apparently one TPMS dummy light, but your actual PSI is not displayed -- anywhere. WHY? This could not cost any real money to include on these vehicles, nor is it even remotely new tech. Our (built in mid-2009) 2010 Lexus HS 250h tells you the PSI (and let's not say it's because it's a "Lexus" ... that car is nothing more than a Camry hybrid bred with the Euro Toyota Avensis). I know nothing replaces checking them yourself, by hand, at each tire, but it still doesn't excuse the absence of this "feature", IMO.
On our 2017 RX450h it has a nice display for them. It seems Toyota feels this is "luxury" knowledge and something the masses do not require. I carry a tire pressure gauge in the car just in case. Have used it several times when the TPMS light has illuminated. What's your normal travel paths through the 510? I traverse the 707 and 925's and average 51.3 mpg in a Gen3.
I find out about the tire pressure monitors the same way you did. After the fact. I was genuinely upset. But.... I got a very accurate tire pressure gauge and check my pressure every few days, so it is a moot point for me now. Your tire pressure will definitely impact your mileage in a negative way if it is low.
I do the same, have a tire pressure gauge in the glove box. Four touring does take an MPG hit, but be patient. It will get a little better. And if you live in the Oakland hills like I do, notice that climbing and descending over an 1800ft grade require more a lot energy. I see 45 mpg commutes over highway 13/24. On the 580 flats my mileage has settled in to 50-61 mpg. I think I've seen you on the 580. Watch out for the crazy bat nice person Oakland drivers, and don't irritate the motorcycle lane splitters. They will 'Prius hate' you in a moment.
If you don't want to take off the cap and stick tire pressure gauge to monitor individual tire pressures, for a few hundred bucks you can buy TPMS Diagnostic And Service Tool that will display psi, temperature, and battery life of TPMS sensor onto handheld devise. The problem is that you still have to have the car parked and hold the tool next to the tire bulb to ping the signal from each TPMS sensor. Since those information are constantly being sent to vehicle ECU, I would think there has to be a way to extract those data, but I don't know how. That seems hardly a luxury knowledge, IMHO.
CACAGOO TPMS Tire Pressure Monitoring System with Real-time Warning, LCD Display, 4 External Tire Pressure Sensors, Psi/Bar, °C / °F Units Selection Been using one of these for 2 months. Rechargeable, accurate and awesome. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Tire pressure and temperature information can be retrieved using Toyota Techstream diagnostic software, for example, but on the fourth-generation Prius, you get only a list of sensor ID codes and readings, without any indication of which sensor is in which tire. This might be useful for technicians, but it’s fair to assume Toyota didn’t want to give drivers a tire pressure display that does not reliably identify the tire positions. As implemented on other Lexus and Toyota vehicles with such displays, tire position identification requires additional components, such as front and rear tire pressure monitor initiators; adding these parts and their wiring to the Prius would have marginally increased the product and warranty costs and the empty weight of the vehicle. Toyota presumably decided this wasn’t justified by expected customer interest in the feature.
I have not tried using ebay version of Techstream, but it sound useful tool for Toyota owners. When I have time, I will try out. Can you make TPMS information display real time while driving using Techstream? If not, after market TPMS system like the one mentioned above Toyota was lazy | PriusChat maybe more useful.
Been using one of these for 2 months. Accurate, rechargeable, wireless, easy to setup and and awesome. Just do a search on Amazon for B01N2TSELY Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
It is very useful, but be aware that many of the interface devices offered on eBay are counterfeit products, sold with hacked copies of the Techstream software; proceed at your own risk. I described the legitimate Techstream Lite kit in another thread. The Tire Pressure Monitor Data List in Techstream updates continually, but the Techstream software has a traditional PC user interface and isn’t suitable to use while driving. When diagnosis has to be done with the vehicle in motion, it’s recommended to have a passenger operate the software or to use one of the automatic recording functions, so the driver won’t be distracted.
There is only an oil level switch, not a gauge, wired directly to the combination meter. In Techstream, its status is shown under Body Electrical > Combination Meter > Data List: OFF: Oil level not low ON: Oil level low
I've never had an oil level gauge. My last car, a FORD Euro Diesel didn't have a temperature gauge either. It reckoned I needed to know how fast I was going, how fast the engine was going and if I had enough Diesel to get where I wanted to go.
You're sadly right. This should really be a part of the Toyota Safety Sense package, now standard on these vehicles. Many people drive, completely unaware of their tire pressures, so this added info "could" be a life saver. So far my car has seen probably 50/50 city/highway, due to a few out of town trips (Tahoe, wine country twice, Palo Alto once). Typically when in Oakland it sees short stints on the highways here, then stop and go around town. I live in the lower hills so the overall MPG suffers some due to that. Hope you're loving the new RXh!
It seems like my car did better the first 500 miles of life than it has ever since. Yes, I'm also in the hills (near the Temple) and that definitely has an impact. I'll look for you on 580!
The TPMS light comes on when it gets low (I think it is 25%), so there is some "warning". The wife loves the RX450H. She used to like driving our 2010 Prius II, but that has changed. If you're ever going up to Tahoe, let me know (we're just off 80 near Travis Air Force base). We have also been known to spend a fair bit of time enjoying the fruit on the vine in wine country.
