Federal law requires a tire-pressure monitoring system on new cars in about a year, with some cars being equipped now. So I didn't expect one on my brand new Escape Hybrid, but the owner's manual says it is there, and the place for the warning light is there. But there is no other indication that one is actually installed. Of course the dealer has no idea.

Short of letting the air out of a tire to see if the light goes on, does anyone know where to look to find out if the little beastie is installed? I think it is supposed to transmit from the valve stem, but I'm not sure.

BTW, it is only supposed to warn you if a tire is down by more than 25% of the recommended pressure, and that is a lot of air loss. So safety-wise and MPG-wise you'll be better off to monitor your tires the old way. But it should warn you if you run over a nail, and are losing pressure

Hal

 

Hey Hal,


I know for sure that my '06 doesn't have one and I don't remember seeing anything in the owner's manual about it either. They probably rewrote the manual to be ready for when they do start installing the TPMS.

My father's Buick Century has the TPMS in it and it is a POS (the TPMS, not the car). Unreliable to the point of being ignored when it does come on. Then it has to be reset after airing the tire.

 

Hal:

I won't trust the owner's manual, but did the window sticker list the TPMS as installed equipment?

 

That's a first-class question, which hadn't occurred to me. They delivered the car without the sticker. At the time I only cared about the sticker price, and (perhaps naively) assumed they were honest about that. It's been thirteen years since I bought a new car---is the sticker supposed to be there when I take possession?

Hal

 

From the Chicago Sun-Times article
Don't let car dealer stick you without the sticker

Keep after the dealer to get you the sticker, which only the car's manufacturer can generate, says Erik Higgins of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association. Every new vehicle buyer is entitled to such a sticker, and it's up to the dealer to find the sticker or to get a duplicate from the manufacturer, Higgins said. The sticker will come in handy when you need to sell the car.

 

Look either in the glove box or in the seat-back pockets. That is where I found mine. The prep people stuffed mine there when I picked up mine.

 

You might want to check the glove box(es) to see if they put it there or with your paper work. Otherwise, I would ask them to get you a copy. It lists the options that were installed on your car, along with other (sometimes) helpful info.

 

This made me go look, as I'm looking for extra wheels for studded tires. On my sticker for 2006, it's listed under standard equipment that is on the car.

Does anyone have a way of knowing if the tpms wheel sensors are same for other cars, or the Explorer. I've come across a set of Explorer tpms modules....$100, but still a lot less than Ford.

 

Even if you have TPMS sensors for the studs.... how do you program them? I doubt the system can understand 8 different tires....

 

Good question. Although there would still be just 4 sensors near the car (or 5 if there's one in the spare, which I don't actually know), I'm assuming if they're the right ones, it's just going to work. But I don't know that. Could they need "activating" or "synching" to the car system?

The manual is a tad limiting.