Without getting into the pros and cons of lowering the tire pressure - especially for off road where it is totally legit. Just ask any Hummer H1 driver in the military - there is a major issue.


First, it is yet another system that is not "mission critical" - another warning buzzer that in and of itself, is a hazard.

This is very similar to the seat belt buckle sensor --- which is one of the most brain dead warning devices I ever seen.

Often, when I back up a large truck, I unbuckle the belt so I can move around and see easier.

The belt buckle alarm is a distraction --- and thus, contributed to enhancing the danger of operating the vehicle at very sensitive moments.


I can understand that TPMS can make sense for people who never check pressure, and with the Ford Explorer issues, that is how it got legally mandated.

However, like any electronic system, over time, it will degrade, and with it, fail, often intermittently.

Under such circumstances, the persistence of a warning system that distract the driver can (and often IS) worse than the problem.

There should be - and for safety sake - a manual override.


Insofar as your suggestion that having it disabled is an invitation to lawsuits in the event of an accident, that may or may not be the case.

If the fault is directly relevant to the accident and injury, and the injury is limited to the operator of the car that disabled it, then all it means is they lose a way to claim against the manufacturer.

There is no blanket reason to think there would be consequences to operating a vehicle with a disabled TPMS providing that tires are inflated properly.

Finally, TPMS does absolutely nothing to warn you of the worse kind of failure --- a blow out --- unless it is caused by underinflation.

There is a new generation of TPMS coming that will monitor a lot more variables, but that is 5 years in the future.

 

The Ford TPMS is only semi-reprogramable... so you can swap your 65psi sensors with the 70psi rear and tell them their new location... but 65 is the minimum.

 

try reading pages 229-231 of your owners manual the part about reseting your tpms

 

Wait long enough, and someone will come up with a little black box that sends an overpowering strong signal that all is well to the onboard TPMS antenna.

 

I got an F250 mainly for the solid Dana front axle, (4WD performance), will never haul big loads. I got load rage D tires on advice that I could adjust the TPMS, even paid for new monitors. Resultingly, TPMS continually complains. I figure if there were "hack" tools available, someone in this thread would have mentioned them by now, so I won't ask. However, a few other things were mentioned that caught my eye:
-> "Reset" option in the menu
-> Green button in the glove box
-> pp 229-231 in the manual

I could not find the green button on my 2010 F250 glove box, and the manual talks about tire pressure but nothing about resetting TPMS. It is mentioned in the computer system check though. I wonder if there is some secret button push pattern you can do to reset the pressure?

For my situation, I would sure love to set the TPMS much lower. All I care about is if I have a leak and the tire is getting soft, so 30 lbs would do it for me. Still hoping to hear something good. I expect it will be something you can do through the OBD port or some hidden USB to lower the computer's threshold.

 

sure... felony's abound?

 

Just like the felonies with elimination of DPF's? That's what is wrong with America; each generation gets a little more brain dead.

 

eh, gasolines don't have DPF, but we've been taking cat's off for years... it's only a felony if you do it as a business... i.e. making and selling a box to overshadow the signal.

the problem with America is the government trying to control EVERYTHING.

 

I was talking diesels. And yes it's a felony for taking off cats if the government wants to push it. But the fact that every subsequent generation is more brain dead than the last and asking fewer questions of the authorities is why the government wants to control more and more of our lives and is succeeding at it.

 

no it isn't, as you shouldn't be able to get it inspected after removing necessary items like the catalytic converter... you can rip every piece of emission equipment off of a vehicle that will never see a public road and be just fine...

 

ypsm your truck didn't come with a little remote with a green button that was on the 08 but if you turn to page 241 of your manual it tells you how to reset the tires or you can go into your local ford dealership and pick up the small tpms reset tool from an 08 last I checked around 20 bucks

 

So when was tpms made manditory? Also I bought my 08 used and always run my tires at about 60 psi and have never had warning light come on for low pressure Oh and I did't get the green button either. Jeff

 

The legal defense (if it ever came to that) is the common law concept of "necessity".

The TPMS is hazardous under certain circumstances.

So if I were to regularly need to operate under those circumstances, I have a legitimate case to override it.



Now onto your other claims:


It is not illegal to make and sell a box to klutz the TPMS signal providing it is sold for:

a) testing purposes

b) not to disable and tamper with any safety device


Kindly provide the specific law and specific legal precedents if you think it is illegal.

 

Thanks fordtech08, but no luck. I did find the section on retraining the TPMS and I did follow the procedure, horn beeps and displayed message indicating success. I started the process with 35 lbs in the tires when I retrained, then afterwards filled them up to 45. On starting up though, the warning is still displayed. You think "retraing" just to make the computer forget that the alarm went off, but to cause it to go back to expecting 65 lbs? (No way to change that number?)

Does the tool do anything different?

 

Is it possible for the dealer to just turn the system off?