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I really hate that Toyota's tire pressure monitoring system is so @&*( fragile. We replaced the tires on Prius #2 last weekend only for TPMS to go dead (light stays lit all the time, won't reset) the following day. Now we have to go through the hassle of getting the tire shop to acknowledge fault, then negotiate a resolution.

I was **VERY** clear when we dropped the car off that they need to be careful, and the guy said "Oh, yeah, we deal with these all the time so don't worry about it." That statement was determined to be a lie when we brought the car back yesterday, and were told that they had to order a scan tool to diagnose it. (Translation: we're the guinea pigs.) I offered, in the gentlest terms possible, to just take it to Toyota so that they can fix it, and the tire shop can reimburse me or be billed for the expenses. He didn't have any of that, as he wasn't "ready to admit fault."

I'm mostly irritated at the tire shop. These are the same clowns who nearly put the wrong tires on the car, then didn't tell me until after they were installed that they quoted me for the wrong tires in the first place, and I had to pay $120 more. I'm also irritated at Toyota for implementing such a fragile and expensive system in the first place. This wouldn't be half as much trouble if not for the fact that those sensors each cost over $100, and they could have broken all four! No wonder they don't want to admit responsibility.

Alright, I'm done ranting. Shoot me a PM before you buy tires in Columbia so that I can tell you where not to go.

Hi Tim:

___Sorry to hear this and it is indeed a PIA when one shop causes problems and you are supposed to “fix” it at another :(

___The newer HCH-II’s have a fuse powering the TPMS system and if the Prius-II does, maybe you could try and reset it the hard way vs. that little button under the dash or dropping out the 12V?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

This is an issue for the peeps over on the toyota forums (toyotanation / matrixowners). They are coming up against problems because of changing to winter wheels or getting new wheels, and then having to deal with the tpms.... so far no-one has found a way to deactivate tpms as far as I know. One guy has divised a 'pipe bomb' type thing pvc pipe that contains all his tpms sensors and inflates it and keeps it in his trunk to fool the system. Everybody else just lives with the light on the dash, puts a piece of tape over it or buys new tpms sensors....

I'm sure there are some procedures for registering the tpms or guidlines to follow when rotating tires etc but it looks like this tire shop were not aware of.

That sucks! I try to do everything myself if possible to avoid this sort of thing.
My cousin owns a tireshop and this sort of thing isn't an issue.

I once had a tire shop bend a 20" rim while taking the tire off. They found out the rims on a Dodge ram cost $700 each. Then they said "we didn't do this you brought it in this way."

That was a fun experience...they ended up paying for a new rim.

Goodness, that's $100 more than the HCHII, and I thought those were expensive.

I think that it should be pretty easy (at least in my mind) to demonstrate fault. If there is a fault with the system, the TPMS light blinks for a minute after you start the car. It just goes solid, which simply means the car thinks I have a flat tire. Since resetting the system doesn't help I have good reason to believe that one of those sensors is reporting offscale (low or high) and the electronics aren't sophisticated enough to recognize that as a fault with the sensor. When they get the scan tool I'm guessing the bad sensor(s) will read 0 100 or whatever garbage is output when it is mechanically damaged or contaminated. And it would be pretty tough for the sensor to become damaged at some time other than when the tire was off the rim, no?

Well, the car appears to be fixed. The Toyota service writer explained that the computer became "confused" when the tires were swapped because the pressure went to 0. (Translation: the genius tire tech left the car on while he was working on it.) They had to spend an hour reflashing the computer and now it should be fine (to the tune of $100).

The other thing I learned: NEVER use chrome valve caps on a car that has the TPMS sensor on the valve stem. The tire dealer installed these "upgrade" caps, which can break something in the sensor over time. I still don't understand that one but I have read it a few times while researching the problem.

I think I'll stick with a tire guage!!! H

Yeah Honda uses either really thin plastic or really thin metal caps on their TPMS stems.

I'm glad to hear you got it fixed, is the tire shop going to reimburse your expense for the super mart tech?

Also have you passed or been passed by a silver Prius with flhybrid.com on the windshields or a Blue/Gray HCHII with the Midlands Honda logo across the sides?

On the reimbursement, we are going to try to get them to cover it. We have it in writing from Toyota that they caused the problem. If they don't know how to work on the system then they shouldn't have tried in the first place!

Interestingly, the Mrs. tells me that three other people brought back cars with apparently service-related issues while she was sitting in the tire shop on monday morning. I thought the guy's "I am not assuming any responsibility..." line sounded well-rehearsed, now I know.

As for those cars, I haven't seen them running around as far as I can remember. I'll keep an eye out.