Does the Prius have a tire pressure monitoring system?

I don't think so. You have to do that yourself unfortunately.

 

Sure, the Prius Auditory/Tactile/Visual Flat Tire Warning System (PALTWS) consists of a loud frap-frap-frap sound, jerking of the steering wheel, and a view of the road in front of you through the rear view mirror.

 

How does the car estimate fuel economy without the diameter of the wheel? When the tire is inflated more, the diameter increases, no?

 

because its not that noticable of a change

 

I recall the salesman, on one of my Prius shopping trips, pointing out some sort of "tire pressure indicator" screwed into the tire valve stems. They were color coded, with the theory being that you could tell at a glance if your tires were properly inflated if you could see the color green. I think there were yellow and red color rings as well, although to be honest we didn't talk about it in detail so I can't be more specific. It may well be loaded into one of those dealer installed option packages, along with the fabric protection and what not.

I suspect they would be useful for some folks, but wouldn't take the place of a proper tire guage. I think that may have been what was described to you as a "tire pressure monitor system".

 

I recently inflated my tires from 30PSI to 40. That's gotta be a big change. And it was noticable on my MFD.

 

Valve stem indicators are available from Pep Boys, et al. I use them, but be sure they seal right, or you introduced another leak source! I walk around the car every fillup and check them to make sure there isn't a slow leak I've missed.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Daisy\";p=\"74359)</div>

Daisy, you mean something like this?

SmarTire

You can retrofit onto the Prius. But it is not available as a factory option.

 

"How does the car estimate fuel economy without the diameter of the wheel? When the tire is inflated more, the diameter increases, no?"


Because, it just divides how far you went with how much gas you used. You would end up using more gas with low inflated tires, thus lowering you mpg

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Daisy\";p=\"74403)</div>

It's required by law with run-flats. My MINI had this also. The rationale, apparently, is that runflats have a very finite lifetime when run without air - the sidewalls overheat and deform, and it's Game Over once that happens. Not having a tire pressure sensor would mean that you could get into a situation where you have one or more ruined ties, and no way to get home since there's no spare.

The MINI system did not take direct tire presure readings. Instead, it kept track of the rotational velocity of the four wheels. The steering system on a MINI is drive-by-wire, and the car has yaw sensors, so it knows when you're turning. So, if the car figures out that you're going straight and not accellerating, all four tires should be turning at the same rate. If they're not, a warning light comes on.

It seems to me that any car with stability control could offer this type of tire pressure monitor at no additional hardware cost, since the necessary sensors are already there.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KTPhil\";p=\"74364)</div>

Or the shaking of the steering wheel/vehicle and listing to one side, :lol: .
Actually I have heard that the feds are going to/have already started to make it mandatory for all manufacturers to have some kind of tire pressure warning system on all their models. More Toyota's every year are equipped with one, maybe the new year Prius will finally have one, :roll:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rick57\";p=\"74511)</div>

Or the shaking of the steering wheel/vehicle and listing to one side, :lol: .
Actually I have heard that the feds are going to/have already started to make it mandatory for all manufacturers to have some kind of tire pressure warning system on all their models. More Toyota's every year are equipped with one, maybe the new year Prius will finally have one, :roll:
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Oh, great another add-on I will have to get.. Bet it would require a MFD pgm change??

Note: at first Toyota was kicking around putting on some sort of system on the 2004+ Prius, but did not make the final cut... along with other goodies.

Later

 

The Saturn L series with ABS will turn on the Check light if a tire is low. My parents had that experience. Why must they use such a generic error light? Why not a blink code for an owner to decipher using owner's manual, assuming he doesn't have an MFD to give more details?