tire shop broke a TPMS tire pressure monitor sensor during tire change

Buying our Prius was a truly unique experience, plunk down downpayment and "We'll call you when we find one".
When we took delivery, the only negative I could find was the anemic looking Goodyear tires that it rolled on. Having resigned myself to probably not using the Prius in snow conditions anyway, the performance of those tires in the slightest bit of snow was awful. Being the frugal sort I am those tires were used for about 28,000 miles when I moved on to Bridgestone Insignias. Talk about night and day difference. Frugal or not, given the unbelievable difference these tires have made, I should have changed them day one.

 

Overall I'm not impressed with naggy Big Brother safety systems that have to protect ourselves from our own stupidity. People will tend to push the car even harder, as they are secure in the knowledge of having a magic safety blanket keeping them safe

I don't have TPMS on my Prius or my FJ, and don't need it either. I check my tires at least weekly, and always eyeball them before getting in. You can also tell by feel if a tire is off a bit

For example, around 15 years ago I was driving at around 60 km/h on a city street and suddenly something just didn't *feel* right. I pulled into a grocery store lot and sure enough, heard a hissing. Picked up a nail in one of the tires.

So quickly jacked it up, put the spare on, and drove another block to a tire shop to have it patched. I could tell just by how the car was rolling down the street something wasn't right

So not only do we have tire shop knuckle draggers wrecking pricey TPMS sensors, we have a growing number of drivers who have an excuse to ignore one more item.

Just like folks who fly past me in a whiteout blizzard, "secure" in the knowledge their vehicle has VSC, ABS, etc so they couldn't possibly lose control and cause an accident

 

This is absolutley TRUE!!! My Brother in Law is a GEICO Claims adjuster and just had a case like this come across his desk for a Honda Accord that was modified and pimped out. Well the kid of course got into an accident with his ride and he DISABLED the TPMS to get a set of 19's onto his Accord. Well you know the rest of the story. $14,000 worth of damage and ZERO dollars given by GEICO for the accident because they determined that the cause of the accident was [guess what] a flat front right tire. Could the TPMS have saved him from crashing his car? WHo knows. But for insurance purposes I bet he was pissing in his pants when he found out that he'd be walking to college every day for the next 3 years.

 

Interesting. No doubt the loser punk deserved that. But how about if you have winter tires on steel rims, and they don't have TPMS sensors?

I know some vehicles, like the LandCruiser sold in the US, has a switch you can use to "mate" a second set of tires, either offroad or winter, so the TPMS will work. But I can see it now, I slap on some winter tires and wheels, some nut blows a stopsign and t-bones me, and I'm SOL because my TPMS warning light was on ....

 

$14,000 worth of damage and ZERO dollars given by GEICO for the accident because they determined that the cause of the accident was [guess what] a flat front right tire.
I'll bet that Geico reconsiders after the kid's parents' attorney gives them a call. Unless the kid signed a waiver or there was an express condition in the policy that was pointed out to the kid, he's covered.
What if the kid knew the tire was low or flat, but chose to drive anyway. So long as it was an Accident (he didn't mean for it to happen), he's covered. I don't know of a policy form with a stupidity waiver in it (but maybe Geico's pioneered it!).
I'll assume the poster who wrote that the TPMS applies to the original tires knows his stuff. If the kid wasn't on original tires (and you said he wasn't), then where's the violation?
At least the kid saved 15% or more on his premium.

 

So, is the long and short of this one that if you want to run two different sets of rims on the prius, you either have to:

A. pay the "fee" to reset the TPMS to recognize the four new sensors or
B. buy the scan tool and reset the TPMS yourself or
c. forget it, deal with the light and the risk that you may have an issue with the insurance company.

IS that it? Buying the scan tool might be a good option considering the $85 fee my dealer wants each time and I don't mind having an "idiot" light to warn me about something just in case.

 

I work for Bartec USA (www.bartecusa.com.) If the forum administrators do not object (And if they do, I am sure my post will be deleted) I would like to reply to this thread.​

Bartec supplies those TPMS tools the previous poster indicated you need to reprogram Toyota (and most other vehicles.) Specifically our Tech400 TPMS Tool is the only single tool on the market that would let you reprogram your Prius Toyota tires directly without going to the Dealership. ​

The list price of the Tech400 tool is $2699.95​

The price of this is generally too high for the average driver. But trust me, it is MUCH less than the cost of a full diagnostic scan tool, such as the Toyota Dealership uses. If the tire dealer he went to change tires had this tool, he would not have needed to break all 4 tires down or send you back to the dealership.​

When it comes to TPMS Systems, as a general rule of thumb; Most US Domestic and European manufacturers have a "relearn" process that can be done with simple inexpensive tools, while most Pacific Rim manufacturers do not.​

Relearn processes are usually as simple as Flipping a switch, pressing a button... turn the key, press buttons on the key fob, etc... And the proper sequence puts a car into a learning mode. Toyota's do not have this "learn" mode option.​

The Tech400 I mentioned is TPMS Reset tool. In effect it is a combination TPM activation tool and Scan tool. You must have a Scan tool for reprogramming Toyota vehicles. NOTE: The Tech400 tool will NOT diagnose failures in the BCM. Nor will it let you change settings in the ECU other than the TPM values. For this you would still need a full function scan tool.​

The procedure the dealership followed (breaking the tire down) is what they must follow if they adhere to the Toyota process. Some Toyota dealerships have purchased our tools, and use them, to avoid having to break the tire down. Because then it really does become a quick reprogramming if you know the id's.​

From the original posters message, and follow-ups, I suspect the tire shop has one of our activation tools. But not the Tech400.​

Everyone in this thread has expressed frustration at situations that I've heard about over/over again. Bartec is part of both the OEM process and aftermarket tool supply. When the rule was passed, there were many oversights. We have heard just about all of them.​

I can sympathize with the user who put electrical tape over the light, but I can not advise that. There are manufacturers who specifically inhibit operation modes of vehicles if the TPMS system is disabled. Some vehicles "engage" traction control if the TPMS warning light comes on. The Corvette (for example) will not go into performance mode if the TPMS system is not programmed. Other manufacturers like Chrysler do not require ANY tools, Chrysler's reprogram themselves. No system is perfect, and there are exceptions to every rule. Even a Chrysler vehicle sometimes needs to be taken to the dealership with a TPM problem. I've talked to Corvette owners who drove for months before the vehicle dropped out of performance mode due to TPM issues.​

There is a lot of information about TPMS systems on the wiki pages​

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_pressure_monitoring_system​

Some of it is even accurate.​

But we are all stuck with Tire Pressure Monitoring systems.​

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/rulings/tirepresfinal/index.html​

 

That appears to be a very nice system. However, I am unaware of any tire shop around here that would have something like your unit.

Most of the knuckle draggers working there you're lucky if they can even put together a sentence without a lot of grunting. Geez, what am I here, Dr f****** Dolittle?

So in the end I'm quite thankful that neither my Prius or my FJ have a TPMS. I wonder now what would happen if you're running steel wheels and studded tires in winter, some clown flies through a red light and t-bones you.

Is it suddenly *your* fault because your TPMS light is on? Any excuse for an insurance co to get out of a claim, they'll take it

 

X2 on everything you said...

 

Excellent Post. One thing that hasn't been discussed is that the batteries in the sensors only last 5 years. When their dead, the entire sensor will need to be replaced (all 5 if you have one in the spare) This will set you back at least $600. I think there's going to be a lot of dash lights on in about 3 years.

2007 Tundra DC 5.7 4x4

 

Nothing a piece of black electrical tape won't fix

 

those batteries have an expected lifespan of 10 years, not 5.

 

OK, just to stir the pot a little:

If an insurance company can refuse to cover an accident because of the TPMS being disabled, then what about those who run their tires over the maximum safe pressure? Many owners here run at 42 psi or more. If the tire's sidewall says "40 psi Maximum", and an owner runs them higher, and then gets in an accident (however unrelated to the actually accident the tire pressure may be), what's to prevent the insurance company from responding as follows: , "We are sorry, but we are disallowing your claim due to the pressure in your tires being set higher than both the tire manufacturer's maximum allowable pressure, as well as the auto manufacturer's recommendation".

If they can refuse payment due to disabled TPMSs, then you'd would think that they would do it also for excess tire pressure.

Anyone have experience with this??

 

I am bumping this thread to see if anybody knows for sure about insurance coverage. Despite what a guy's brother said regarding TPMS I would be very surprised if insurance actually is void with a malfunctioning TPMS.

Also, given the price of this system I wish the Prius did not have it. I am telling you here and now that I am not going to pay $350 for four extra monitors for a set of winter tires, that nearly doubles the cost. And if there is no insurance reason to keep the system if my batteries ever died on it I'd not get them replaced. This is a neat bonus bit of tech but at that cost absolutely a waste of money IMO.