My Tire Pressure Monitoring System light came on. I immediately checked all tire pressures. The recommended TP for my tires is 35 psi. All the tire pressures were over 30, the lowest being 32. The outside temperature was 50 degrees. I jacked up the car, inspected all 4 tires, no suspicious foreign objects. In the past, I have seen the TPMS light come on when the tire pressure drops due to cold weather (much colder than 50, more like<20), or when the pressure drops. much lower then 32. Do these things malfunction? Thanks

 

The battery in a TPMS sensor can die.

The owners manual can have a reset procedure. Set the tires at the same PSI and reset the system.

There are sensor readers that can check if each sensor transmitter is working.

 

Yup, what Joey said.
Some TPMS systems will only trigger a light if one or more of the sensors is +/- so much psi.
Get them all to the same psi level, usually that will turn off the light. If the light remains, probably a sensor has died/battery issue.

 

One of the most important point here is checking the spare tire. One of the most overlooked part of vehicle emergency readiness (out of sight - out of mind); especially if your car has an external-mounted spares. I remember assisting a lady who had a flat, and her spare was mounted under the trunk - the spare was rusted-stuck and the tire was dry-rotted. I even tried kicking it, and it won't budge. I used my emergency flat tire slime and advised her to to go straight to a tire service asap to get her tire and spare checked and replaced.




Kodi nox