Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) 

A new federal law requires manufacturers to include a Tire Pressure Monitoring System — or TPMS system — in all vehicles by the 2008 model year.

Some 2006 and 2007 models already have TPMS. The system is a dashboard-mounted warning light that goes off if one or more of the tires falls 25% below the manufacturer’s pressure recommendations.

Every time a tire is changed: taken off to fix a flat, a new tire installed, or a snow tire mounted, the service technician is now going to have to deal with the TPMS system. Sensors will need to be removed and reinstalled. The sensors will have to be re-activated after the change. And, unfortunately, the very act of changing the tire will damage some sensor parts from time to time — it’s inevitable and can’t be avoided.

Even a simple tire rotation will require that the monitor be reprogrammed to the new location of each tire. When a car battery is disconnected, the TPMS system will need to be reprogrammed. TPMS sensor batteries will need to be changed and failed parts replaced.