Back in 2021, I hopped behind the wheel for my first drive of the 2022 Volkswagen Taos. The compact crossover drove fine for a budget vehicle aimed at the masses, but there was one problem that has long stuck with me. Why, in this day and age of technology in vehicles, are all new cars not able to tell you about its tire pressures?
I say this after reading this COTD winner from v10omous on Thomas Hundal’s piece on the price of the 2024 Subaru Impreza:
That this is not a mandated feature is quite annoying. I own a MY2020 vehicle that cost a lot more than this Impreza that just has the idiot light, meaning on a cold morning when one tire slips 2 psi below the warning threshold I need to get out and check all of them.
There is somewhat of an explanation for this!
Automakers choose between direct tire pressure monitoring systems and indirect tire pressure monitoring systems. I’ll let Schrader, a manufacturer of such systems, explain the difference:
Direct TPMS gathers accurate pressure data directly from the tire valve via four dedicated sensors, reporting pressure information in near real time. Indirect TPMS, on the other hand, uses the ABS system to approximate tire pressure, and motorists must drive a substantial distance before an alert will be generated.
[I]n order for indirect TPMS to work effectively, all four tires must be inflated to the correct recommended pressure and be under optimum conditions. This seems like a defeating proposition for consumers, because the very reason they see the value in TPMS is to help them maintain the tire pressure to begin with. Similarly, indirect technology requires the consumer to install specific tires when replacing the originals in order to operate properly with the system. Last, if all four tires are similarly low in tire pressure from neglect (a common problem) or other reasons, an indirect system will not trigger a warning alarm.
Indeed, some systems do report pressures while others just measure rotation to guess whether the tires are correct or not. Schrader notes a research study revealed some 69 percent of drivers would rather not use indirect TPMS, which requires a driver to check all tires and hit a reset button. Such is unnecessary if the car has the ability to tell you its pressures like direct TPMS can.
Yet, some automakers continue to use indirect TPMS in vehicles sold today. None of my Volkswagens or Smarts have direct TPMS, and the last new Volkswagens that I tested didn’t have them, either. It seems that drivers want direct TPMS, so it would rock to have it!
And while we’re on the subject, it’s also baffling that cars don’t often have a diagnostic mode where you can pull codes without plugging in that $20 reader from Walmart. The last vehicle that I owned that could spit out diagnostic codes was a Suzuki motorcycle, and I still had to jumper two wires to get the codes to display.
Honorable mention goes to Jalop Gold for this suggestion in Stephen Walter Gossin’s piece about his driveway dilemma:
Hello, you write for a website that needs content and March is coming up. this clearly calls for an elimination bracket (could also do one for Mercedes, and David will probably have enough by then for his own as well). Just keep the top 4 finishers.
If it was me, I would keep the Durango, New Yorker, Park Ave, and 300. The rest are cool, but you want someone who has less cars than fingers on a hand to be caring for and hopefully using them.
I love the idea of running a March Madness car bracket, but maybe instead of choosing which vehicles we sell, we have you readers vote on your favorite Autopian staff cars?
And for an amusing comment, TomMetcalf sees Gossin and, well:
Ok Derek Zoolander
Have a great weekend, everyone!
As far as reading codes is concerned, my old 2013 Chrysler had a feature to read error codes through the odometer. You had to do some weird combination of like turning the key between ACC and OFF three times and instead of the odo it would spit out each error code in succession. I think most FCA products from that era have that feature.
Also I prefer the indirect TPMS because it’s cheaper when you get new tires. The same way you should check your oil regularly you should check your tires regularly. You can usually tell if one’s low by looking at it or kicking it.
Our old Caravan (like 95?) could do that too, it would flash the CEL like Morse code, infuriating if you missed a digit and had to repeat the process, but pre ODB it was at least something..
To top it off the manufacturer’s aren’t even consistent across their brands with which system they use. My 2013 VW CC has direct TPMS while my 2016 Audi Q7 has indirect TPMS. The CC has mid-level options on it while the Q7 is a Prestige with the S-Line add-on package (basically top of the line for that MY).
It just seems weird that the regular VW got better tech while the up-market VW got lesser tech. The Q7 is the last year of the 1st gen so maybe its a hold over from early days and the 2017 and newer got direct. The CC is a Mk II so maybe it got upgraded tech. These are just the thoughts running thru my brain and I haven’t bothered to go down that rabbit hole.
My Passat had them, but indirect as noted. I would have really rather not had them at all. Same with my hummer. the TPMS system for Bead Lock Hutchinson wheels is pricey, I would rather just program out the system altogether. I do like the ones in My Challenger and Chrysler. you get an actual number and that has been nice, but I wish they would reset when the temperature goes up and they tires get back to the correct pressure.
A lot of vehicles have cheat codes built in to allow you to read the OBDII codes.
For instance, the Jeep TJ series allow you to turn the key to accessory 3 times rapidly and then any active codes will display on the odometer.
This would make great material for an article, Autopians! I know there are hidden sequences of buttons and stuff that some cars have for locking doors, rolling down windows, and other things.
On my Pontiac G8, if you hold the left steering wheel button and turn the car to ACC or ON, the gauge cluster goes into “Engineering Mode” where you can use the scroll wheel to go through things like throttle position sensor, digital tachometer, 12V battery percentage, etc
Hey, that’s me!
Feature I wish every car had… Night Panel!
Also, I loved my old Saturn with the power side passenger mirror, but manual driver mirror.
There are at least three kinds of direct TPMS even if they’re not usually broken down as such.
1. Garbage like my Focus ST used that only says there’s a tire low, but not which one and is useless for any situation that really matters as the problem would be readily apparent without a TPMS and, if you have to check each tire, anyway, what’s the point?—clueless people won’t bother and conscientious would already be doing so. Most often, it would just throw lights and audible alerts while driving to make you think something that matters went wrong when it was just telling you that yet another worthless sensor has died. Which one? Go through the sequence of letting air out of each tire until the horn blows or doesn’t. First tire almost flat and it didn’t blow? OK, probably the bad one, but why couldn’t there be more than one bad? How do you test the other ones? The answer seemed to be to rotate the bad one to the last wheel spot in sequence and start over as the one time I bothered to try it, either the horn didn’t go off on the second either or it wouldn’t advance in some other way and the other three wheels all turned out to have good sensors. Another time, I assumed there was only one bad one and replaced it only to find out there were two, so I had no reprieve from the obnoxious nannies. I swear the whole thing was a passive-aggressive FU to the government for the mandate. Of course, it was Ford and their moron Explorer customers that were the reason that happened in the first place.
2. Good ones that indicate actual pressure for each tire position, however, the TPMS relies on a single receiver and the sensors transmit on the same frequency, so when the tires are rotated, it has no idea that the positions changed. Unless the new positions are reprogrammed with an external device, the pressure readings according to the relative positions on the dash will not be correct. My GR86 uses this system. I was annoyed to buy the tool—even on sale—but the process is quick and the tool seems like good quality.
3. Best ones that use separate low frequency transmitters near each wheel that can activate their respective sensors at different times so that the TPMS receiver can always determine which sensor is at which position without programming.
Indirect TPMS is fine. It’s less sensors. It’s less cost. It’s less failures.
If you have one tyre out of balance with the others, it’s the occasion to inflate all 4. It’s a very minor inconvenience.
I just need a god damn car, with 4 wheels and an engine. The less sensors/electronics/infotainment the better.
Indirect have frequent false positives and can’t tell there’s a problem if they’re all low. Anyone those systems could help is still going to be too clueless to bother, especially after they get too many false positives and start to ignore them. That’s why they only use them on cheap cars.
I never got a false positive on my BMW, and all 4 being low is a mistake on the user’s end: tyre pressure has to me monitored frequently.
I know it’s a “selfish” way of thinking but engineering cars for the worst driver on the earth is how we get shit lane assist, traction control you can’t disable and all the modern shit all enthusiasts hate.
People should realize they are operating 3000lbs of steel at speeds believed to be unsustainable for the human body a century ago.
My 2004 LS430 has the passive sensors. Every time 1 drive above 60 for 20 mins it gives me the alert. Lexus in their wisdom put the reset button under the dash, nearly above the peddles. Not a great idea groping around your feet at motorway speeds so I have to put up with the big red triangle until I can pull over.
For all of GM and chrysler’s many missteps, I have to give them recognition for having the individual TPMS readouts in most if not all of their USDM models. Yeah they need to be programmed when rotated, but it’s still such a better system than the idiot light.
Some others do it as well (Mercedes-Benz comes to mind) but you expect that in a luxury vehicle.
Speaking of safety features that should be standard, can we discuss Ford/Lincoln’s power-adjustable pedals, and why aren’t these industry-standard?
I remember when car ownership had you doing things like…. Checking tire pressure yourself before driving…backing up using your mirrors and eyes, also rotating your body to look around. Checking your own oil and changing it, having a GD spare tire to even change!
I’m 68 and thankful those days are gone.
That’s where the skills, knowledge and respect passed down to new generations should come in.
So you don’t have to physically take care of all those things yourself.
Problem is, that ancient system is broken. Now you need those things because your kids and their kids don’t know how to get by without them.
It’s a continuing cycle of knowing less and needing more, generation by generation.
You mean paying basic attention to your vehicle and the world around it instead of being coddled and neutered by it?
The loss of general knowledge, handiness and mechanical abilities lost with each new generation due to lack of necessity because of technology is interesting to watch. Scary when you think about the future though.
Airbags are cool, but I don’t think I need all the other shit they keep adding to cars. A lot of automotive advancements are really just making us worse drivers and humans.
Social and technological evolution have long outpaced biological evolution.
Wall-E/Idiocracy people are here to stay, they are making decent money somehow and spending it on what they are told to.
This won’t get better.
Hoard the old cars while you can!
What was once made for the handicapped, elderly or injured is now the baseline for the general public.
Fuck your TPMS! I’ll use my boot and a pen gauge thanks.
Recent Volvos use an indirect measurement system. I don’t mind; I check all the tire pressures with a gauge every few weeks.
I had a Chevy Volt with TPMS and didn’t bother putting sensors in my winter wheels. The only issue was a warning light on the dash, and a little square of electrical tape fixed that problem each winter!
I disagree with this take. My car has a passive monitoring system and I’m thrilled with it. Why? Because while the active ones are great at first when they fail they are expensive to replace, and if you decide you don’t want to spend the money on them you have to put up with getting an error every time you start the car. I’ll take passive monitoring all day thank you very much.
I suppose, though even passive systems leave you with a light that you cannot turn off if the system isn’t working correctly. In my Smart, which doesn’t have sensors on like two wheels, the darn light will even flash at me! lol
I agree with Josh. I hate that TPMS is mandated at all considering I’d never buy a car new enough that I’d be certain of the batteries in those things. But if I had to have it, the passive ones at least don’t have batteries in the tires that cost a lot to service and can’t be DIY’ed. I’d definitely fix wheel speed sensors considering that they are part of the safety systems (ABS/traction control).
I know TPMS are considered safety systems too, a reaction to Firestone tire rollovers, but maybe they should have just required them for light trucks which have a higher center of gravity. I have no safety need for them in my cars.
Thanks for following up with Schrader, but the 2020 Sienna I’m complaining about definitely has direct TPMS, they are just too lazy/cheap to have an info page with the individual pressures on it.
The downside of direct pressure monitors is that when they fail due to battery depletion (which they eventually will if you keep your car long enough), you’re faced with the age-old problem of “how long am I willing to drive with this ‘TPMS’ warning light on before I bite the bullet and get it serviced?” And then you have to decide whether to replace all your sensors since the car’s up on the rack anyway and you just know the other sensors will eventually fail.
How about when you get new tires? Gonna keep the “old” sensors or ante up for all new ones? Hey, Schrader sells tire sensors! They’d love to sell you four of them. And four more for your winter tires if you’re so inclined.
The indirect monitors work with all normal wheel and tire combos including winters (sorry Schrader), have no in-tire failure points, and do what the system was originally mandated to do (thanks Ford Explorer with Firestone 500 tires!): let you know when your car has an unsafely low tire. A visual inspection and/or a tire gauge will add a whole 4 minutes to the process.
I check my tires every couple of months with an accurate gauge and really don’t care if one loses a pound or two between checks since I fill to 2-3 pounds over anyway. Should seeing that three tires are at 33 PSI and one’s at 32 PSI cause me to take action?
I agree. I owned only one (used) car with a TPMS system and advise my mom on what to do with her old (but great condition) cars with TPMS and driven company pickups at work with perpetual TPMS warning lights on and hated them all due to the extra cost and complexity and inability to fix them myself at home. Tire demounting/installation equipment or the tool to check/register the sensors are not DIY things, so that $80-$100 is a lot of money for a DIYer who would rather put that money into tires.
For new car buyers, sure, they don’t have to worry all that much for the first 8 years or so, but for people that keep their old cars for a long time, or buy their cars around the time the sensor batteries are getting iffy, it’s just an additional cost. It’s one of two things that is now mandated that I wish were not. The other being back up cameras which necessitate a screen even if it’s on a mirror (shouldn’t there be an exception for cars with great visibility out the back like many older cars?).
I wish the ones in my Focus had lasted 8 years! I think after a year, I’d perpetually have at least one bad one and IDing which one(s) was a PITA. I found a place to get them for $35 each and have them done when tires wore out, but I still hated spending the money and eventually stopped bothering.
An unsafely low tire should be readily apparent without it. The indirects are on cheap cars for a reason—they don’t ID the problem tire(s), can’t discern a problem if all tires are similarly low, and have a lot of false positives because it’s an inherently in accurate and limited system. They meet the minimum legal requirement, but the value is questionable. Of course, there’s no additional cost for stupid sensor replacement or additional sensors for an alternate set of wheels or programming tools, so they’re a bargain at free.
I really like the TPMSs that show the pressure for each tire. The reason some cars use the ABS system is, of course, cost. For me, the ABS based system works fine. Still , I often at least glance at my tires before driving. I think Shcrader has overstated the disadvantages of the ABS based system.
What i do NOT like about the TPMS is the replacement cost. The unit uses a battery that will eventually fail. And is not replaceable*. So, you need to replace the unit and have the new unit programmed to communicate with your. This whole procedure will cost almost the price of a new tire.
If only Scrader could figure out how to make a unit that uses a cheap, common replacement battery !
*of course you can find Youube hacks,
Some systems do not require reprogramming. If you do enough changes, the tool might be worth getting. Battery thing is definitely stupid. I thought we were all supposed to be going green, but what about all these dead sensors that end up in landfills because of a few dollar battery? Then there’s the cost to the consumer for replacement of the sensor and the waste of making the entire system when many customers stop bothering to replace sensors and the materials that went into the system become a total waste.
Count me as a ludite. Just give a air compressor I can set the pressure I want and it fills to that pressure quickly and efficiently. I don’t want a series of bells ringing to guess the pressure. I don’t want some automaton voice rapidly repeating the different pressure in each tire as
they warm up, i don’t want an ever repeating voice. I heard you baby now STFU I’m driving here. Maybe a compressor with a digital meter on the handle showing the true pressure.
In my work van I carry a bunch of Milwaukee cordless tools, and added their 12V inflator to my collection. Stick in a battery, screw the hose onto the tyre valve, set the desired pressure, push the start button and wait till it stops. And you can use it to check the existing pressure since it displays the actual pressure in the tyre at all times.
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Search/2475-20
Yours tells you the pressures out loud?! That’s obnoxious.
The real baffling one to me is actually a real safety issue. How in the world with modern cars do the headlights not turn on with the windshield wipers. I see far too many cars without headlights in the rain. If there’s a BCM, this is like one line of code. I was pricing a Ford Maverick, and it was only an option on the highest trim level.
It’s actually the XLT/Lariat for the Maverick. Although it’s sort of a moot point for the XL that doesn’t have it as the headlights are used for DRLs (unless you specifically turn them off).
Oh that’s another good one!
pretty much every car I have owned or rented since the early 2000’s has auto lights, and even prior to that most had DRL’s I don’t know how you would even be driving the car without some sort of front illumination these days.
My MINI has auto lights, but given that my car is so much smaller than most other cars on the road, I always drive with all my exterior lights on, day or night. I don’t see why having all lights come on automatically for all cars isn’t standard by now (yes, an override to turn them off for whatever reason is fine, but they should default to being on every time you start any car).
I have direct TPMS in my Cruze. The sensors in my winter tires died and I haven’t replaced them. It made sense when I was driving a hilly commute with spotty cell service. Now it’s all limited access roads with great cell service. My car also doesn’t have a spare. So AAA tow truck if my significant other isn’t available to snag a 3 season tire, 5 lugs, breaker bar and 19mm socket.
Or, cheap sensors that don’t need a tool to relearn are $30 for all four. I may bite when the winter tires need replacing.
Depending on your system, they might need to be programmed even if they’re recognized. On a Cruze, I imagine you have the system that will be fine, but thought I’d mention it.
My customers all complain about direct, sensors are always bad and none wanna pay the 80-100 for replacement. One of the most common questions I get are if I can disable the tire press system, along with auto start stop feature, seems to be another one that drives people crazy.
Being a pedestrian in a city, start/stop is really unnerving.
As a resident of large northeastern city who makes an effort to be bicycle and pedestrian friendly, can you elucidate? I know too many people who don’t have cars. Is it that the engine stops, no sound?
I travel city neighborhood streets until I reach an interstate. I’ve tried turning off the stop/start and my mpg isn’t effected much.
Educate me.
TPMS warnings are more annoying than useful in the first place. I especially hate those that display messages that you have to cancel every time instead of just having an idiot light.
Like when my 2017 car bings and displays the message that it’s cold out and the roads may be icy. I live in Maine. No DUH you stupid car! It also makes you clear the message by hitting a back button like a backspace. Soooo annoying.
Trust BMW to go too far in the opposite direction on tire pressure monitoring: TMI. Four or five? years ago, my 5 Series not only told the the pressure in each tire, but told it to the 10th of a percent. Being a little OCD sometimes it made me crazy because I couldn’t find a gauge that measured in tenths. So you ended up with one tire at 37.3 PSI and its counterpart at 37.8 PSI and the only way to adjust it was to listen to the hiss and then drive the car around the block and see if you got lucky. Stupid me, but I hated that.
The newest one only reads to 1/2 PSI, BUT: now you get a message – “Your left front tire is 2 PSI low but you may continue driving.” But you get that message constantly till you add the #$&*!! 2 PSI.
God help us all when German engineers left unsupervised…
Well, we all know that driving a BMW where your tire pressure is off by 1.5 psi results in bad things.
Exactly. But tell that to the Germans.
Never gets old.
Imagine being such a tool that people still make fun of you in comment sections to this day.
I also use “pretty sure that’s a Lambo, bro” pretty regularly still.
“Similarly, indirect technology requires the consumer to install specific tires when replacing the originals in order to operate properly with the system”
The is so wrong it’s not even funny. Indirect systems use ABS sensors to measure wheel rotational speed. No more, no less. If one is spinning faster than the others it gets triggered. It does not care about what tires or even wheels you are using. I have summer and winter wheel/tire combos. It doesn’t care. And it saves me a bunch of dough on sensors.
What if it also used GPS to tell you that all 4 are low after an initial calibration with proper tire pressures? What about a system that uses both pressure sensors and wheel speed sensors and GPS for redundancy?
Yeah, that part confused me. I’ve upgraded tires without problems with my TPMS system. For a moment there I thought maybe Smart had something going on that other automakers hadn’t figured out.
Thank you for confirming I’m not crazy! Well, not that crazy…
I came here to challenge this, haha. Glad someone beat me to it.
I will say that systems that use the ABS system and don’t have easy-to-use/find reset functions deserve a boycott. Looking at you, Honda and VW, and even Toyota at times. Kudos to Mazda for having it easy to find and consistently placed at the driver’s knee panel.
Yep, I’m in the same boat as you with my Sportwagen, summer and winter tires and indirect TPMS. Although, I’m debating the need for another set of winter tires…our winters are getting noticeably warmer in Southern Indiana and we just don’t get much snow any more. And I work from home now.
Seeing the Clickbait article about “What Farley said” that I cant read or comment on is just rude.
If its special for special members then hide the damn thing from me and dont put it on my feed.
Now I got to start crossing my fingers every time I click on an article and hope its one I can read? You guys are better than this.
It’s unmistakably clear BEFORE clicking through which articles are for paid members only, unless you don’t bother to read at all & just click away blindly.
That’s only true if you click the article from the home screen, not if it’s listed as a recommended article at the bottom of another one.
I do think it could be clearer. That particular post does not have a members-only mark on the image or the headline, just in the preview. As a member and someone who remembers that Tales from the Slack is a member exclusive, I still see how someone might not notice, especially a newer reader.
I don’t have a simple fix. You want people who are not members to see that there is regularly content for members, and you don’t want to make the member branding too obtrusive, but I think it could be a bit clearer, especially since people probably skip right past the preview because it is in the article.
I think a small but visible mark on the images for member content could work. Alternatively, it could be set to show non-members an image that says it is member content instead of the main image.
On the one hand, of course I want to see them succeed and in this day and age you definitely need money to do that. On the other hand I can’t fathom paying for extra content on a car blog.
Hi! I’m sorry that member only articles aren’t clearer. We don’t want you to think we’re baiting you into anything. I’ll see if there’s anything we can do to make it clearer, maybe a banner or something.
MotorsportDOTcom puts a “PRIME” logo on their paid member stuff to help call it out. Maybe y’all do similar and use the stylized A
Ford likes to do a fun thing where they install a direct TPMS system with in-wheel monitors, and then still refuse to tell you the tire pressures and instead make you get out and check them all. Both my Focus and my Fusion used systems like that. Bonus: you can’t even press a button to reset them, you need to drive a few miles after reinflating before the system will pick it up. It’s the worst of both worlds!
Yeah, it’s one of things that really annoys me about my Focus. That and I get the common intermittent “tire pressure sensor fault” warning that can’t totally canceled out.
Lukly for you it’s intermittent, I have a permanent Tyre pressure sensor fault. More electronics in cars just means more issues for future owners.
And mine were constantly dying. Replace one, another goes. Worse than no system at all. I have cursed the families of every engineer, accountant, moron old Explorer driver, Firestone, and scumbag government loser responsible for the mandating, implementation of, and allowance of that system so many times now that I wouldn’t be surprised if their lives were ruined by the rain of negative psychic energy.
Anyone who wants a direct system can buy them on Amazon for $40 or less. They come with sensors that are either installed internal to the tires like OEM or that screw onto the valve stem.
https://www.amazon.com/Monitoring-Installed-Windowshield-Real-time-Temperature/dp/B08LK3MDC3/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2JXG12PA2NUTM&keywords=tps+sensor+system&qid=1677342951&s=automotive&sprefix=tps+sensor+system%2Cautomotive%2C383&sr=1-3
But test it before you trust it. I lost a tire because the sensor on the punctured tire failed to report a catastrophic loss of pressure. The tire COULD have been saved but since the sensor didn’t go off the tire was driven on too long, chewing up the sidewall.
Annoyingly ONLY that sensor failed, removal of the others caused the system to immediately sound the alarm. So maybe I just had shit luck, I dunno.
“I love the idea of running a March Madness car bracket, but maybe instead of choosing which vehicles we sell, we have you readers vote on your favorite Autopian staff cars?”
Spoken like someone who has vehicles she could sell…
WE’RE ONTO YOUUUUU