Tire Pressure Monitor, where is the sensor?

I talked to a Toyota Prius mechanic a few days ago and as a few have mentioned previously in this thread, the sensor sits inside the wheel and inside the tire and is attached to or part of the value stem.

So, when changing tires (like putting snows on) you should tell the person changing the tires that they have a tire pressure sensor in them and be careful not to break them.

 

Feedback from my dealer:

Some customers do purchase an additional set of sensors for snow wheels. The price is between $200 and $300 per wheel.

This dealer charges $45 total for all 4 wheels when moving the sensors from wheel to wheel.

Most people do without, and leave the sensors on their summer wheels. The low pressure warning light will be on all the time, but no harm is done to car or system.


-Jim

 

This is incorrect, per the technical documentation on TechInfo. Each tire of the '06 Prius has an individual pressure sensor that communicates wirelessly back to the ECU that controls it.

I don't recall the document I read specifically saying whether it was in the valve stems or mounted separately on the wheel itself. I'll need to check.

 

so how sensitve is the tire presure thing? will it tell me when I'm at 38 psi when I want 42 psi?

 

i've said it before and i'll say it again. yeah. you're right. i stand corrected. no need to continue to pound it in, i feel dumb enough for assuming it was the same as the old pattern.

 

I just put my winter tires on my daughter's new Prius... and new sensors are $106 each. This is an all time record according to the tire dealer. The similar sensors for other cars range from $18 up to about $90. I just did this for our family Jeep... and those were $45 each.

With two new Prius's... this is going to be about $850 just for the sensors! The other bad news... Toyota is totally out of stock and they are on a company wide backorder. For now, we took the sensors out of my daughter's summer wheels, and installed them on the winter wheels. Hopefully, by the time spring gets here, the backorders will be filled.

I am dissapointed that they just use the idiot light to tell you that one of the tires is low. This is the same as my wifes BMW. By contrast... our Jeep's display shows a picture of a car... with a two digit tire pressure value next to each wheel. That is far superior. Still... the idiot light is better than no sensor system at all.

/Jim