Do TPMS have batteries?

[MSP-4-ME]

Just wondering if TPMS sensors have batteries in them or are they a lifetime part. I am assuming they don't but want to make sure before I purchase some used ones.

[Reitrof]

They have batteries. I think you have to replace the whole unit since it looks to be sealed

[RJKSpeed3]

I read somewhere that tpms batteries are good for 7 years and then needs to be replaced.

[Quiksilver05]

I heard when they spin inside your tires that they recharge or something like that?? Someone needs to confirm this...Just curious!

[GoFast]

no they dont recharge. They do have a life of about 5-7 years.

[Kain]

I heard when they spin inside your tires that they recharge or something like that?? Someone needs to confirm this...Just curious!

lawl, perhaps someday when a hybrid sensor is made that stores kinetic energy, but no. What you're thinking about is that they are activated when the tires are in motion. The battery life is limited, like has been mentioned, to about seven years.

[Hank3]

So do you have to replace the batteries or the TPMS itself when the batteries are gone? And are the batteries easy to replace? These TPMS things sure do become a hassle after a while. I see how they can help, but they become a nuisance when you have to mount/dismount the tires to install/uninstall. Just adds an expense if you ask me.

[Kain]

So do you have to replace the batteries or the TPMS itself when the batteries are gone? And are the batteries easy to replace? These TPMS things sure do become a hassle after a while. I see how they can help, but they become a nuisance when you have to mount/dismount the tires to install/uninstall. Just adds an expense if you ask me.

+1

To people who actually take care of their cars, TPMS is just another bother/expense. You're supposed to check your tire pressures frequently (once every couple weeks is fine, once a month at a minimum). Unfortunately, we're in the minority, and a lot of people go through a car's life without doing simple maintenance inspections. And we suffer for their negligence.

[oaklandopen]

So do you have to replace the batteries or the TPMS itself when the batteries are gone? And are the batteries easy to replace? These TPMS things sure do become a hassle after a while. I see how they can help, but they become a nuisance when you have to mount/dismount the tires to install/uninstall. Just adds an expense if you ask me.

the gov't is to thank for having TPMS on every car manufactured after 2008, and even then you can pretty much thank the whole firestone and ford explorer for starting the debate for some sort of monitoring system

and TPMS' are sealed units so battery replacement is going to be a no-go...and unless you have a tire machine you're not going to be able to get to them anyway, so it's best left up to the pros with the equipment

maybe the valve stems could be made of a solar panel type material so they can always stay charged? or maybe the valve core could double as a charging unit so you could plug in an adapter that looks like a valve stem cap or something

[Hank3]

Great - so instead of replacing just the batteries, we're looking at at least $100 to replace these things. And that's for used units and who knows how long they'll last.

I feel like I'm paranoid when I check the tire pressure on me and the wifey's car every couple weeks. It takes all of five to ten minutes depending if I have to add any more air or not. So easy...

[oaklandopen]

Great - so instead of replacing just the batteries, we're looking at at least $100 to replace these things. And that's for used units and who knows how long they'll last.

I feel like I'm paranoid when I check the tire pressure on me and the wifey's car every couple weeks. It takes all of five to ten minutes depending if I have to add any more air or not. So easy...

i know what you're saying and it really is a crying shame that the majority of car owners probably don't even know how to pop the hood, let alone be able to check even the simplest of things like tire pressure. whats even worse is the amount of ppl who don't read their owners manual, and end up going back to the dealer to ask for help for something they could have found out themselves

hmmm....i guess there's a reason why companies are still trying to perfect the self parallel parking and whatnot, cuz ppl are becoming less and less tuned into their cars

[builthatch]

i'd be willing to bet none of you guys will have this car long enough to worry about it...honestly. 7 years? come on...

[GoFast]

i know what you're saying and it really is a crying shame that the majority of car owners probably don't even know how to pop the hood, let alone be able to check even the simplest of things like tire pressure.

hood?

[Kain]

i'd be willing to bet none of you guys will have this car long enough to worry about it...honestly. 7 years? come on...

How much? I'll wager since my intent before purchasing this car was to go at least that long. See you in another 6 years, 3 months.

[MikeHTally]

I fully intend to keep mine that long. I'll probably keep my Ram that long as well. The 300C will get retired to the garage in another couple of years, but it'll still be mine.

[MikeHTally]

Sorry for the thread highjack. To the OP, yes they have batteries. The sensors turn off when the wheel stops moving and back on when the car gets to 16mph or so.

[oaklandopen]

i'd be willing to bet none of you guys will have this car long enough to worry about it...honestly. 7 years? come on...

ah-HA....but therein lies the problem. maybe some won't have this car in 7 years....but there will be others. and what happens when they drive off the lot with this (or any car manufactured with TPMS) and the batteries go dead? they'll be right back in the shop on a non-warranted item (unless the place they buy it from replaces them beforehand or has some special warranty on just that item).

the same thing is happening with the first generation of prius' and insights. those batteries don't last forever, and if you find one on the used lot and buy it and it doesn't hold it's charge anymore....that like $5-10 grand you gotta spend getting replacement batteries

first generation air bags as well...they have a shelf life and there are thousands of ppl driving right now that dont' know if their airbags will deploy or not

[RJKSpeed3]

^^good point...I'm using a 5 years old TPMS from an 04 RX-8 and it seems to be working fine...no light yet. Im hoping to use these sensors for 2-3 more years.

[Reitrof]

While I like the idea of TPMS, if the batteries die I will not replace them. I will keep doing what I do today and use the gauge every week or so to check the tire pressure. I use the stock rims in the winter that have TPMS but run other rims in the summer that don't have TPMS. The orange light doesn't bother me.

[MikeHTally]

...the same thing is happening with the first generation of prius' and insights. those batteries don't last forever, and if you find one on the used lot and buy it and it doesn't hold it's charge anymore....that like $5-10 grand you gotta spend getting replacement batteries...
You have a point on the Prius's, prii?, etc. It won't be that bad, though. Last I read was about $2,800 to replace a Prius battery (probably doesn't include the $10K disposal fee. (omg) Of no consideration to the tree-hugging whackos though. They'll want a government bailout for the battery cost.

[kilik2]

lawl, perhaps someday when a hybrid sensor is made that stores kinetic energy, but no. What you're thinking about is that they are activated when the tires are in motion. The battery life is limited, like has been mentioned, to about seven years.

My Seiko Arctura probably doesn't use much power but it charges from my arm swing. I have not worn the watch for a month and it still has the correct time. It would be nice if they incorporate a battery with a capacitor and some kinda miniature em conversion unit in it. I am sure they can make them relatively small too.

[davens]

I was reading in another thread that the if you remove the TPMS completely, there will not be a warning indicator. They were saying the system needs for a sensor to be present AND for there to be low pressure before it would trigger the light. Put on wheels that don't have the sensors and you will never see a TPMS warning. Or so they say.

Now, I'm wondering...when the battery eventually does go dead and the sensor is no longer broadcasting, is that the same as not having any sensor at all? In the next couple years, are there going to be masses of 04-05 owners with TPMS systems that have just gone quiet?

And where did this 6-7 year battery life figure come from? Does someone have a concrete source or is it internet speculation that has morphed into "fact".

[Antonio DiMarco]

+1

To people who actually take care of their cars, TPMS is just another bother/expense. You're supposed to check your tire pressures frequently (once every couple weeks is fine, once a month at a minimum). Unfortunately, we're in the minority, and a lot of people go through a car's life without doing simple maintenance inspections. And we suffer for their negligence.

I always check my tire pressure at least once a week, but what TMPS is good for is alerting you to a nail that you may have picked up during a trip. For instance. You may check your tire pressure the morning before you go to work, but during the course of the day you pick up a nail that causes a slow leak the same day you checked your pressure.

In two instances TMPS did just that and I was able to get it repaired before I got stranded or had a blow-out.

I'm with you when you say that most people are negligent and rely on technology like TMPS and DSC to save their ignorant ass. But these products do serve a purpose if people see them as "assisting" better habits, not supplanting them.

I regret my wife's car not having TMPS because I only drive it on the weekends and in a few cases I've noticed a tire was low. And at that point you're already in trouble. At least with TMPS, a 2 psi defficiency won't break the bead. It also acts as a warning that the driver needs to do something ASAP. No different than the check engine light or low gas light. I know I wouldn't want my wife trying to change a flat in the middle of the night on a dark road. Better for her to know somethings wrong and get to a gas station or call me. IMO

[oaklandopen]

^^^most ppl who haven't experienced cars with TPMS are still having trouble with the system. they either rely on it too much (never even look at the tires) or they don't know what to do when the light comes on (so they take it to the dealer right away). sure there are plenty of ppl like you who check their pressures often, but there are countless others that don't, and they don't bother to learn about how the system works

then you have those ppl who carry the fix-a-flat with them in case they do get a slow leak, and you can't use that stuff with TPMS or else you'll just be buying a whole new sensor

ps....awesome thread revival lol

[Kain]

I was reading in another thread that the if you remove the TPMS completely, there will not be a warning indicator. They were saying the system needs for a sensor to be present AND for there to be low pressure before it would trigger the light. Put on wheels that don't have the sensors and you will never see a TPMS warning. Or so they say.

People have put on aftermarket wheels w/o TPMS and get the warning light, so take that for what it's worth.


And where did this 6-7 year battery life figure come from? Does someone have a concrete source or is it internet speculation that has morphed into "fact".

Automarkers require TPMS manufacturers to have sensor lifespan be from 7 to 10 years.

[oaklandopen]

of course after my post i drove down to my house and my TPMS light started blinking and went solid (i call it the butt cuz that's what the light looks like)

pulled over, took out my trusty pressure guage, and measured all the wheels. well my fronts were around 40psi and my rears were around 38psi, so i odn't know what the problem was (this considering i had already been driving a good 30 minutes at around 60mph)

went through the manual and it says something about possible EMF interfierance so i'll just chalk it up to that. light went off while it was sitting with the engine still running and i was checking the pressures...weird

[davens]

Automarkers require TPMS manufacturers to have sensor lifespan be from 7 to 10 years.

Thanks for the clarification.
But why use years and not mileage?
If I put 25k/yr on my car, I would think that the batteries would run out a lot sooner than someone who puts 10k/yr on their car.
By using mileage, they could make it part of a maintenance schedule...100k tune up...replace TPMS batteries.

[oaklandopen]

Thanks for the clarification.
But why use years and not mileage?
If I put 25k/yr on my car, I would think that the batteries would run out a lot sooner than someone who puts 10k/yr on their car.
By using mileage, they could make it part of a maintenance schedule...100k tune up...replace TPMS batteries.

you dn't replace tpms batteries anyway, it's a solid unit. to replace the batteries would probably cost more than replacing the unit itself. like trying to get a shop to repair an alternator, they just don't do it anymore cuz it costs less to just replace it

and it wouldn't make sense to make this a schedule item, it's not a normal wear-and-tear thing.

some systems used to go by the different rotation speed of the wheels to determine the pressure in the tires. already have the wheel speed sensors in place, so if one wheels was moving faster than the other whilst driving than obviously that tire has less pressure in it. and you don't need batteries for that

[Antonio DiMarco]

^^^most ppl who haven't experienced cars with TPMS are still having trouble with the system. they either rely on it too much (never even look at the tires) or they don't know what to do when the light comes on (so they take it to the dealer right away). sure there are plenty of ppl like you who check their pressures often, but there are countless others that don't, and they don't bother to learn about how the system works

then you have those ppl who carry the fix-a-flat with them in case they do get a slow leak, and you can't use that stuff with TPMS or else you'll just be buying a whole new sensor

ps....awesome thread revival lol

Thanks. The tire thing is very close to my heart :-)

It all goes back to education. People don't want to bother being educated. My mother for instance just drives and drives and drives, with no interest in WHY her oil light keeps coming on, while Hertz looks at me funny because I refuse to drive a car with bad alignment, worn out suspension or a bubble in the tire.

I suppose social darwinism applies until one of these bananaheads takes out a "smart person" when their tire blows.

It drives me NUTS

IMO I think people are too worried about the TMPS sensor going bad and the cost. Look at it this way, if you keep the car long enough (which most of us won't :-)) by the time the sensor does go bad most of us will have been without car payment for a few years. $400 for 4 sensors is less than a car payment for most. ANd for those who buy our car used they'll probably get the sensors replaced under some warranty or will have to pay the $400 dollars in which case you could chalk it up to the risk of buying a used car.

[Design]

It is $260.00 to replace all 4 TPMS sensors. Most tire places will do them for free when replacing your valve stems. I plan to keep this car at least 7 yrs/150K, so I expect to replace them all before I sell the car. Seems like a small price to pay for as much as you get in this car.

[Antonio DiMarco]

It is $260.00 to replace all 4 TPMS sensors. Most tire places will do them for free when replacing your valve stems. I plan to keep this car at least 7 yrs/150K, so I expect to replace them all before I sell the car. Seems like a small price to pay for as much as you get in this car.

That's even cheaper so in review:

Replacing TMPS sensors in 5 to 7 years = No Issue. :-)

[tonyclarkson]

My five year old batteries on this redundant system have started to fail. Also had to replace a control unit of some kind. Very expensive and not covered by extended warranty as "batteries" are not covered!

[Hank3]

Wow - just five years?!?

[MikeHTally]

It is $260.00 to replace all 4 TPMS sensors. Most tire places will do them for free when replacing your valve stems. I plan to keep this car at least 7 yrs/150K, so I expect to replace them all before I sell the car. Seems like a small price to pay for as much as you get in this car.You can get a set on eBay for about a c-note.

[chief_wiggum]

You can get a set on eBay for about a c-note.

+1; that's where I got my second set for my winter set up - $105 shipped off a regular 3.