Reminder: if you're on the original TPMS sensors and due for tires soon, replace them with the tires

i changed tires around 5 years, and forgot the tpms. i'm at 7 1/2 now, how long do they last?

 

thanks! i should get them done with the next set.

 

Meh, cargo cult. If and when they croak, I'll switch to regular valves. That said, I'm in a country where it's not mandatory to maintain TPMS

 

It’s not mandatory to maintain them here either And I blame you Canadians for not having pop up headlights. You and your daytime driving lights.

 

If I were installing a new set of tires I would put in regular valve stems. If I still wanted TPMS at that point one of the many variants of the aftermarket TPMS systems could be installed. Like this one:

Unlike the internal tire sensors, the batteries can be changed on the external ones, and if one breaks, they are cheap to replace. No need to go to a tire shop to do so either.

 

A big difference between a faulty tire and a faulty TPMS sensor is that you can't drive a car without a tire, but you will be perfectly fine to drive without TPMS.

 

I found calling around to different places can also help find a much better deal on them as well....

 

Yes, you still get the option of taking the whole car/wheel assembly to a shop and having them put in regular valves. No need to get your hands dirty if you don't want to. We must first do some disassembly, hand the shop just loose wheels, than do our own final reassembly back at home.

And the hassles of two border crossings to avoid the DIY portion are worse than simply getting our hands dirty.

 

Last few times it's invariably been loose wheels anyway, for me. I alternate between snow tires and all-seasons (on separate rims), and if either is getting low I wait till they're off the car, bring them in loose.

This cuts me loose from the tread life warranty, but I don't really care: between our snow tire use and low usage, our tires tend to "age out" these days.

Too: if your tpms sensors fail, there's no need to rush to a tire shop: the valves are still functional. That's assuming you're not in a State with an inspection, where the tpms light will pull the car off the road.

 

I think as @Mendel Leisk pointed, If and when they (TPMS) croak, you don't even have to take off the wheel. If TPMS is already nonfunctioning when a customer brings in his/her car to the shop, shop has no legal obligation to fix it. They just can not “make inoperative” already functional TPMS.

According to the law, “A manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business may not knowingly make inoperative any part of a device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable motor vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter....”

 

NHTSA TPMS Letter

The above is a pretty good primer about TPMS laws in the USA

 

Scenario #1 seems to let the tire shop off-the-hook: if you show up with one or more sensors inoperative, they're not braking any law, by not repairing/replacing those sensors, or if they put in a regular valve. If they replace an operating sensor with a regular valve, they have crossed the line.

 

Gray area would be, if only one sensor is malfunctioning, but entire TPMS system is now inoperative due to this single sensor. Would the shop be braking a law of "make inoperative" provision if they replace ALL four valves? I would argue NO at least for dumb TPMS like the one in PRIUS, since even with a single bad TPMS sensor, entire system is now not operating. This may be different story, if the car has a display for each sensor corresponding to four tires, but I don't know for sure.