Lucille,

Before you change all those batteries, call a dealership ask them if there is a reset for it. I know DH's truck uses a TPMS system, and when his light didn't go off after we filled the tire, we took it to our mechanic. That was all he did. "Reset" it, is what he said. We sure as heck haven't replaced any batteries. Not that I am super mechanical, but wouldn't the system run off the car battery and the altenator (sp?) like everything else that is electrical? Any mechanics, you can weigh in here any time, teach me something new.

No, the batteries for the TPMS are enclosed in each individual sensor.

Research for the location of the reset button on my particular vehicle has proved elusive and a local mechanic did not know where it was, but prior to actually buying new sensors I will have a mechanic show me how to reset.

However, even if I luck out this time, the batteries have a finite life and so the sensor replacement will need to be done sooner or later.

I'd take it to an authorized dealership. I'm going to guess the people at Walmart did something wrong, I don't buy the coincidence argument.

Another good reason to check with your auto-ridden friends for a reputable mechanic, as their repairs are usually substantially cheaper than at dealerships.

Sometimes, in the case of a "Reset" job ... that could be several hundred dollars for a few minutes merely pushing a few buttons (which the mechanic knew whereto find).

Just call me a cynical old man ...

... what's that you say: that there's one around here, already?

Oh, darn!

ole joyful

Every time we switch our tires from summer to winter and back the TPMS has to be reset. Take it to another Honda Dealer and ask to have it reset, if that doesn't work then replace the batteries. If we were to have our normal mechanic switch our tires we would still have to take the car to a dealership to reset the TPMS at a cost of $50.
Apparently it can be disconnected.

I'm with Snidely - I think the Walmart people did something wrong. Also, not all cars have this on. My boss has a car that doesn't have it and her car is only three years old. Her car has absolutely no bells or whistles - she even has to hand crank her windows.

I have the same thing and you have to get up some speed for that to stop warning you. I think my manual said something about highway driving. Mine warns me every winter and I was told it was because of the cold temps. If I have the tires checked it will stop warning me for awhile.

The last time I had new tires put on my car, they messed up one of the sensors and the light wouldn't stop blinking. I had to take it to the dealer and wait about two hours while they replaced each sensor until they figured out which one was the problem one. It cost a couple hundred dollars but at least that damn light went out. It made me mad and I'll never go back to that place for tires again. That wasn't the only problem I had, the next day after I got the new tires I got a phone call that my mother had just been taken to the hospital. I ran downstairs to get in my car only to discover that one of the new tires was completely flat. I was livid. I have to call my husband and get him home so I could use his car.

The function on most cars is that no warning should be indicated when the car has started IF tires have enough pressure. Plenty of people don't drive on the highway, that should have nothing to do with sensor operation.

Emma (and others), pressure is proportional to temperature. Even in mild weather places and especially where winters are cold, air needs to be added to tires when cooler/colder weather arrives. The pressure in your tires that reads 34 or 35 pounds on a summer day can be below 30 (and thus dangerously low) in those same tires when it turns cold.

Lucille said in the original post, "Walmart fixed the tire but the TPMS light would not go out, they said that coincidentally, the TPMS battery wore out."

Many folks (especially investigators) say, "there's no such thing as a coincidence."

My car has what the manufacturer calls a "tire pressure warning system." There is a reset button that you press and hold for until the warning light slowly blinks three times to reset the system when the need arises. Have you checked your vehicle's owner manual???

I emailed Toyota. There is unfortunately no reset button for my particular model. Unless the system or components are broken, apparently the icon de-illuminates when the pressure is correct in all 5 tires according to the sensors.

Did the sensor's battery coincidentally give out on the very morning Walmart worked on my tire?

There is no reset on mine either. My manual said the car has to be taken somewhere you can build the speed up to highway speeds. I think that is the way it resets itself. It did for me.

My owner manual mentions sensors and transmitters (and IDs for the transmitters), but there is no mention at all of a battery relative to the tire pressure warning system.

Batteries

I have a Hyundai Elantra (the now-discontinued wagon version) and at the beginning of November, I had enough tread wear to necessitate 2 new tires. You know what new all-seasons cost. The cost of the TPMS for the new tires? $15 each. The place I went to was a Goodyear shop. I know you probably don't want to be running all over town, but it's worth looking for a Goodyear near you.

I'm not a snob when it comes to car care -- ie, I don't go running to the dealership for every little concern. But Walmart would not be my choice for anything to do with my car.

Pammyfay, I have to agree with you. I do have a trusted mechanic, but the only thing he does not work on are tires, and tpms.

I wrote a note to Walmart, asked them to respond to me via email. They have not. I don't think they care enough to do so. Or perhaps the coincidence is so damning that they don't wish to deal with it.

I have a difficult time believing that the sensor suddenly had a bad battery in the very tire they worked on, on the very morning they worked on it.

I will be checking out tire stores, if nothing else than to hopefully give me some straight talk.

Walmart actually called me. Wanted me to bring in my vehicle in a third time, I asked why and they could not say. He asked what would make me happy, and I told him I wanted my car to function normally, as when I brought it in, and I thought they should replace the sensor. I don't think they really want me happy, because I have not heard back from them.

There are many tire centers that cause damage and don't report it. My daughter had struts replaced by a well known, national store (M) that failed to report two stripped lug nuts that were stripped by "trainee". After my visit, the manager agreed to replace them at no charge. When you're endangering my grandchildren, you'll own responsibility for neglect or pay the consequences.

My care is a 2007 with 26,000 miles on it and the last visit for an oil change I was told my tires are beginning to show a bit of wear. When the time comes I will buy from the dealer who sold me the car. They have always taken care of my car. They use a check list of 26 things when they change the oil. I trust them.

I may be cheap, but for $500, I'd just disconnect it and check my tires the old fashioned way. Tires in good shape just don't need all that much attention.

Kelker, I got a nail in my tire and the system functioned normally to let me know one of my tires had decreased tire pressures. It is only after Walmart worked on it that the system functioned abnormally.

Anyone can pick up a nail, and having a flat on the freeway is a nightmare. It is good to know ahead of time that something is going wrong. When the light went on and I checked, the tire did not look extremely low, and I had to look for the nail. The system saved my some heartache, and I want it back, I'm really resenting Walmart for what appears to be shenanigans to avoid responsibility.

One regret I have about government intervention (TPMS) is that so many drivers wait until the light comes on. That in itself is unsafe because the tire may be 10-15 psi low before the light comes on. Check your tires weekly during cold weather and bi weekly during warm weather. Rotate tires every 7,500 miles and they will last much longer than the factory warranty, and you'll most likely never see the warning light in a lifetime.

In my experience, a drop of about 5-7 psi is enough to trigger the warning light. I find having the pressure monitoring system to be very useful, I'd insist it be repaired to normal functioning .

Like many safety features, this one is designed to help people whose practices are, shall we say, less than conscientious with items that have a safety consequence. Or, to point out something that just happened that even a conscientious person may not have noticed. It's no different than, say, a warning light that your door or trunk is open, or the beeper that tells you you've left your key in the ignition.

You think this is a good example of a government intervention problem, eh? Not too paranoid, are you?

Emma wrote, "My care is a 2007 with 26,000 miles on it and the last visit for an oil change I was told my tires are beginning to show a bit of wear. When the time comes I will buy from the dealer who sold me the car. They have always taken care of my car. They use a check list of 26 things when they change the oil. I trust them."

Normally, I would think that a dealer would charger higher prices than other places, but that's not always the case. My car is a 2013 with barely over 12,000 miles on it, and I absolutely do not need new tires. But not too long ago the dealership e-mailed a bulletin of various service specials, one of which was $75 off a set of four new tires (your choice of several brands). Costco is known for its good prices on tires, so for the fun of it, I checked the prices at Costco to compare to the dealership's prices. The dealership's prices were lower than Costco's. I was surprised and impressed.

So, when it comes time for me to get new tires, I will get them from the dealership. At least I'll know that they will take care of the TPMS properly! :-)

You think this is a good example of a government intervention problem, eh? Not too paranoid, are you?

No, I didn't say that. What I did say was too many people wait until the warning light comes on to check air pressure. And according to your implication you believe the latter to be true. this one is designed to help people whose practices are, shall we say,
less than conscientious with items that have a safety consequence.

They asked you to bring it in and what it would take to satisfy you, but it sounds like you're refusing to take it in. Why? I too would not use Malwart as my service center but that's your choice. I don't quite understand why now it appears you don't want to resolve it when they've approached you about it. Maybe I'm missing something or something is unsaid.

As a different point: We have idiot lights now because a certain group of people couldn't read gauges. So now, instead of knowing what is happening, we know what happened. Same thing with these tire monitors. A simple glance at tires reveals a low tire if you take a few seconds to look, but few will. I habitually look at my vehicle when approaching or walking away from my vehicles. A quick once-over glance to see if there's problems. Done that for decades. I still check oil and other fluids between changes even though I don't do the oil changes myself anymore. It takes only seconds to do and you can easily forestall problems. AFAIC people should prove ability to do this in order to get a driver license. Checking lights too (head, tail, brake), is incredibly simple to do, takes essentially no time from one's scheduled and with today's poorer quality components it's more important than years past but I these days I see more people with low tires and/or lights out than I've ever seen before. Most places will check this stuff between service intervals at no charge but people are too lazy to do it. You should have it checked at normal maintenance, whether you do it yourself or take it in. That is, if the place checks things and why would a person go someplace that doesn't? Oh, that's right. Nuff said! LOL And I shake my head when I try to tell people they have a low tire or a light out, all too many (a majority of whom shall remain unspecified) get offended to the point of belligerent at being shown the courtesy of informing them they have a problem. Sorry to interrupt your phone call or texting. I've quit being frustrated about it now and now am amused. Cops love it too. They don't need probable cause to pull someone over when there's a burned out light.

They could not tell me why they wanted to look at it a third time. Resolution for me is a fixed sensor, they already told me they had none in stock.

After reading your perspective, I may bring it in just to see what a third exam might find. Thank you.

brushworks, you're saying that phrase was your joke to yourself and wasn't a comment about that feature now being required by law? I guess I missed the sarcasm.

PS for Lucille,

I agree with you, I'm not sure why the fact that they have none in stock changes their responsibility to fix the damage they caused. Tell them you'd be happy to have the dealer fix it and bring them the bill for reimbursement.

It's probably something really simple. I'd take it to a GOOD mechanic! Don't expect the people at Walmart to know much! I bet it just needs some reset. Think about it, if it worked to tell you immediately that your tire was low then it WAS working correctly and didn't have a bad battery! They most likely just don't know what they are doing!

I took the RAV in today, asked for the manager. he was very nice, wanted to hear what happened. I told him, and I told him that I did not believe that the sensor suddenly malfunctioned that morning right after Walmart worked on my tire. I was surprised and pleased when he told me he is going to order a sensor and have it put in, and if that doesn't work he said he would reimburse the costs at a dealership. He spoke for a few minutes, is experienced and he really knows a lot about cars.

I'm not going to say everything is solved because it isn't until my vehicle actually works the way it did when I took it in, but he definitely had a problem solving attitude, mirroring my past experiences with Walmart that they stand behind their stuff.

I've never used Walmart's garage and would not, but I have found Walmart is very good at backing up what they do. I have even got a couple of refunds without a receipt. The clerks go in the PC and say something like 'you don't make a habit of doing this, so we refund your money'.