I hate to hear that TPMS is becoming mandantory. That is a great example of placing an unnecessary maintenance expense into the vehicle. For the price of one replacement wheel sensor you can buy what?.. 35 new air gauges. It takes a total of about 2 minutes to check all 4 tires air pressure. The Electronic stability would be a much more welcome mandated safety feature to me.

 

Regarding the addition of Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems, most cars under $50k are likely to adopt the "indirect" TPM system. The most basic TPMS is relatively easy (and cheap) for any manufacturer to implement on a car equipped with anti-lock brakes.

An "indirect" system uses the existing ABS wheel speed sensors to determine if one (or more) wheels is turning at a different number of revolutions over a given distance than the others. This works under the premise that an underinflated tire is effectively smaller in diameter and will therefore experience more revolutions along a straight path than a properly inflated tire. These simple TPMS's do not require inflation pressure sensors of any type (that would be a "direct" system). If the TPMS detects a mismatch in wheel speed over a period of time, it will alert the driver with a tire pressure warning light. Case in point, my wife called me a couple weeks ago while she was driving (Toyota Highlander) and tried to describe the "funny orange squiggly symbol" on the dashboard that had just come on while she was driving home. Shortly thereafter, when she pulled into the driveway, she found that her right rear tire had picked up a nail and was slowly losing air. So this simple TPMS system is effective.

As for why these systems are becoming popular, I'd venture to say that it is, unfortunately, all about litigation. Remember the Ford Explorer rollover issue a few years back? Ford and Firestone got hammered by lawsuits resulting from tire failures that caused Explorer rollovers. It was shown that underinflated tires that overheated and failed were to blame in combination with the Explorer's affinity for loss-of-control when the front tire failed. The fact is, tire failures due to underinflation are a high risk for any vehicle, and so many manufacturers quickly implemented TPMS's in the wake of the Ford/Firestone incidents. That is why more and more vehicles are equipped with TPMS as standard.

The fact remains that very few people keep tabs on their tire pressure. At one time, people relied on full service gas station attendants to check the tires now and again during a fill up. Since we have become a self-service society, no one performs these tire checks on a regular basis. Most owners are oblivious to the hazards of underinflated tires. People who use the "it looks like it's got air in it" visual method will think things are OK even if the tire is actually 15psi low --it's not a reliable method even for a trained eye.

So keep those tire gauges handy and use them often, especially when the outside temperatures change (remember: PV=nRT !)

 

Totally agree - people don't check tire pressure. 1 million Hybrids on the road in the US probably saves as much gas as would be saved if everyone had correct tire pressure. Put in that way and given that indirect TPMS probably costs less than $10 per car (when ABS is present), it is a no brainer.

Add in the safety benefit and it is a win-win requirement. My last car had it and I had a tire down to 24 (from 30) and I never would have noticed.

Little things on every car makes a difference.

 

Re: TPMS

Folks:

I am really happy that there are those among us who will opt for a good $10 digital gauge to regularly maintain a proper and safe tire pressure. Thumbs up to you!!

Personally, I have decided to install a direct (configurable) TPMS system on all my hybrids because I look at the safety side of the system more critically. And given my past experience with TPMS systems, I will never own a car unless it has a good TPMS installed. Period.

Now, I have participated in several lobbying efforts to have TMPS standard on vehicles, primarily because there is no other easy way to ensure that tires are properly inflated for ALL vehicles on our roads today.
Our $10 digital gauge and self discipline does very little for folks who could not care less about you and your loved ones when sharing the highways we're in. And that scares the "blip" out of me.

Having a TPMS system (even if it is a mediocre indirect type) is one way to at least, alert the least disciplined drivers that their tires need air. While I agree that we should also have VSC standard (Honda has it available on Civic Hybrids for other markets) and I also see a simple TPMS as the "low hanging fruit" on our HCH (as 300TTto545 mentioned).
The Prius has it, and it works rather well for most folks.


So yes, I am happy that TPMS systems are going to be legislated into law soon. I also hope VSC also gets on the list soon after. Heck, why not throw in a built-in breathalyser, and a drowsiness detector just to round off the package.



Cheers;

MSantos

 

i'd rather have vsc & tc over a tpms.



wasn't this scene in Good Morning Viet Nam....?