It’s Not Your Truck Anymore. They Won.

[Sand-duner]

Yup, my TPMS idiot light has been on for over a year. Had to Google that one. That's the tire pressure monitor sensor. The only problem is it doesn't tell me which one is defective! Even worse, it's attached to the tire valve stem, so you have to dismount the tire to replace it. Not gonna happen! My local garage charges me $35 to mount a tire and the sensor is at least $20, so forget about it!

The car already has an idiot light to tell you if a tire is low, so why would I need a sensor to tell me the same thing? Money maker for auto mechanics, I guess...

My wife’s last car, a 2009 Nissan rogue, had the TPMS sensor warning light on as well. All 4 of them were corroded and they wanted $120+ to replace them. That’s EACH ONE. $120 PLUS FOR EACH SENSOR…

I told them to kick rocks and that the light has been on forever, otherwise state law says they can’t release a vehicle with a TPMS light on until the defective one(s) are replaced. If you tell them that it’s been on for longer than you’ve had the current set of tires, they have no liability and will release the car to you.

It’s all a big scam.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

My wife’s last car, a 2009 Nissan rogue, had the TPMS sensor warning light on as well. All 4 of them were corroded and they wanted $120+ to replace them. That’s EACH ONE. $120 PLUS FOR EACH SENSOR…

I told them to kick rocks and that the light has been on forever, otherwise state law says they can’t release a vehicle with a TPMS light on until the defective one(s) are replaced. If you tell them that it’s been on for longer than you’ve had the current set of tires, they have no liability and will release the car to you.

It’s all a big scam.

Can you link us up with a state law that says they can hold your vehicle? I'd like to see that.

 

[Sand-duner]

Can you link us up with a state law that says they can hold your vehicle? I'd like to see that.

Under the federal TREAD Act and the Motor Vehicle Safety Act's "make inoperative" provision (49 USC 30122), it is illegal for repair businesses, dealers, or service providers to return a vehicle (2008 or newer) to a customer with a knowingly disabled or faulty Tire Pressure Monitoring System.

Now, to my knowledge, the NHTSB has come out with clarifying language that states the law does not apply to vehicles that came into the shop with faulty/inoperable tpms systems prior to that current shop’s servicing of said vehicle.

It’s an extremely convoluted law, specifically written to be as vague and open to interpretation as possible, in order to sell more of these extremely overpriced monitors to naive people.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Under the federal TREAD Act and the Motor Vehicle Safety Act's "make inoperative" provision (49 USC 30122), it is illegal for repair businesses, dealers, or service providers to return a vehicle (2008 or newer) to a customer with a knowingly disabled or faulty Tire Pressure Monitoring System.

Now, to my knowledge, the NHTSB has come out with clarifying language that states the law does not apply to vehicles that came into the shop with faulty/inoperable tpms systems prior to that current shop’s servicing of said vehicle.

It’s an extremely convoluted law, specifically written to be as vague and open to interpretation as possible, in order to sell more of these extremely overpriced monitors to naive people.

Thanks for the clarification. I haven't researched this at all, but from what you say it seems the law is aimed at preventing a shop from doing the disabling. Rather than 'holding' your vehicle they need to fix any disabling they do.

 

[Sand-duner]

Thanks for the clarification. I haven't researched this at all, but from what you say it seems the law is aimed at preventing a shop from doing the disabling. Rather than 'holding' your vehicle they need to fix any disabling they do.

Now you know as well as I do, that what the law is “aimed” at doing, vs what it actually does is hardly the same thing 😆

 

[Tnmountains]

I had TPMS on my Silverado and took them all off. My ram blows the horn twice when filled to the right pressure. Going to be trouble down the road am sure.