Idea to fool the tire pressure sensors

That was not the question.

 

Ah, good to know. In the future I will try to avoid any extraneous useful information.

Tom

 

good info and I was not confused at all.

 

Sorry to revive an old thread, but, for the life of me, I can't find this damn button! The panel below the steering wheel in my Prius is as smooth as a wall!

Is it possible that this feature of Prii in Canada had been removed due to the fact that it is a must to change into winter tires in Canada? Or is it just me, I mean mine Prius missing this "TPMS reset" button?

Can other Canadian Prii owners double check and confirm my discovery? Thanks.

 

I have a US version of the Prius. Here is a pic of the TPMS reset button on my car.

 

will any set of toyota sensors work (be seen by the computer) in the 3g prius?

 

I would bet they would. The new sensors address would have to be added to system using the TechStream software or other OBDC tools.

 

how do you reset the sensor after putting air in tires. [email protected]

 

It's in the owner's manual. On the Gen II, you hold in the TPMS button under the steering wheel. I believe it works the same way for your Gen III.

Tom

 

is there any way to use the wires to the reset button to fool the computer?

 

Modern tire change equipment will never ruin a wheel when used correctly. Worst case scenario would be minor scratching on the lip.

 

the reset button only read the sensors that are programmed in the ECU. You have to reprogram the sensors if you swap it.

 

True, assuming the technician knows what he is doing and actually cares.

Minor scratching, on the other hand, opens the door to serious crevice corrosion. A big gouge will wreck your wheel immediately. With minor scratches it just takes longer.

Tom

 

On the Gen 3 if you want to disable the TPMS without any warning lights, disconnect the TMPS ECU and jumper pins 5 and 7 on the connector. You can do this with a small paperclip cut and bent into a U shape. Here's the connector:



The TPMS ECU is located in the "ECU Integration Box" located behind the glovebox:



On the Gen 2, this is much more difficult! (the black tape trick prevails!)

 

I'm not sure where you're getting all of this. The chances of destroying a wheel during a tire change is almost zero. You're making it sound like alloy wheels are so fragile that simply changing the tires a few times wears them out. That's just not the case.

Additionally, a tire shop with common TPMS wrenches can swap the sensors with little risk of damage. The valve stems are a strong and simple design, the electronics are heavily protected to deal with the harsh environment inside a moving wheel.

 

FYI: You can unplug this in the winter and bypass it, then in the summer reconnect it and it will still have the programming intact. It will not need dealer attention to restore operation as long as your original sensors are still working properly. It does not have any power to it when the car is shut off, so you don't even have to disconnect the battery to tinker with it.

 

Have you tried it on a real car pEEf?

 

Yes, I was asked to disable it for someone. It was surprisingly easy! I had to reference the diagram though to remember what I did.

 

The wheel doesn't get destroyed during a tire change, unless you have an ape doing the work, which of course does happen at some tire shops. What does happen is that each cycle increases the number of tiny scratches, each of which speeds up the process of crevice corrosion.

Where do I get this? From metallurgy. Read up on filiform corrosion if you want the details.

Tom

 

Filiform corrosion is more commonly related to a problem with the coating process, not from damage caused by changing tires. Modern tire change machines don't even touch the lip of the wheel. You're far more likely to damage a wheel by hitting a curb or from rock damage.

It should be perfectly safe to change tires dozens of times without damaging the wheels.

Typical filiform corrosion: