Tyre Pressure Indicator didn't go off and tyre damaged

[Autopia]

We are not talking about a $3000 Tata here so there is a level of expectation of service. Besides, there are easy things to check but some are much harder and you do rely on the 'expert'. To the extreme: Have you check your airbag? If it doesn't work when it needs to, I wonder if you will still say the same...

Comparing an airbag to a tyre pressure sensor is ridiculous not extreme. One can be set and checked by the owner, the other one can't. There is nothing hard about checking whether tyre pressure sensors have been set. Any driver worth his salt would ensure he checks this kind of thing himself.
If you're going to make a comparison make sure you're comparing apples with apples.

This kind of complaint really grinds on me. People would rather point the finger of blame at someone else because they are either too lazy or forgetful to do things themselves.

The other point being made about fast deflation is also a valid one. These sensors are apparantly not designed to detect rapid deflation so any "set up" by the dealer would have been inconsequential.

[sylvester]

I'm not sure this is necessarily a dealer problem.

As Tim says, the tyre pressure monitor only works for slow leaks as it compares individual wheel rotations over a period of time and warns of any discrepancies. If the tyre deflated suddenly you would not expect a warning as the tyre monitor is not designed to warn of sudden tyre deflation.

Cheers

George

Slow leak vs quick leak? This is very technical and I don't think that's mentioned in the manual. It only says it may not work "in certain circumstances (eg sporty driving style, winter driving conditions and unpaved roads)". Besides, how slow is slow and how quick is quick... and how quick you can damage your tyre... all a guess work to me.

[Tim]

as i said above. the system is designed to indicate when its time to check your tyre pressures.
The abs sensors measure the rolling circumference of your tyres. There is a set tollerance of how much pressure loss will trigger the system. I think its close to 20% or something to that effect.
Once the tyre is partially deflated it will allow you to drive 20 kms or so before triggering the alarm.

The reason above is why it wont save you from a tyre that deflates quickly such as a major puncture or blowout. Quite likely your tyre pressure monitoring system was set correctly if the deflation was severe enough to make u stop the car within a couple kms

the numbers I have used in the above example arent exact. But it will give you some insight into how the system works. I dont think blaming the dealer for you driving on a flat tyre is fair. At the end of the day I think you have just been unlucky

[VW Convert]

Slow leak vs quick leak? This is very technical and I don't think that's mentioned in the manual. It only says it may not work "in certain circumstances (eg sporty driving style, winter driving conditions and unpaved roads)".

That says it all, VW does not say that the tyre monitor will detect tyre deflation in all circumstances, there are limitations.

Besides, how slow is slow and how quick is quick... and how quick you can damage your tyre... all a guess work to me.

A tyre running flat or significantly under inflated can be damaged extremely quickly, in the case of sudden deflation, often before you have time to stop.

Cheers

George

[gerhard]

If I have driven many km's, I can agree... but I have done only 5000km. It is the responsibility of the dealer to check and adjust tyre pressures, it's all in the delivery checklist. Besides, I have yet to find out if this tyre pressure alert works.

Sorry, but you can't blame the dealer for you not checking your tyres. It's YOUR responsibility.

Even if the dealer is "supposed" to do it, perhaps the teenager who was assigned the task in the predelivery process decided he wouldn't do it because no-one would notice??? Few teenagers accept full responsibility, adults should have grown out of that flaw.

I don't fully trust work done by anyone else when my life depends on it. I drove my GTI home from the dealer (1.5km), lfted the bonnet, checked the oil & water, and checked the tyre pressures with my calibrated guage, and set the tpms. Whenever one of my vehicles has been for service, I double check everything they should have touched, to make sure they haven't left something loose, and I loosen and retighten the wheel nuts with a torque wrench so I know they are right.

[macdoc]

I got a nail in a tyre, the pressure drop required to trigger the warning light was approx 4 psi after about 2 days from when I spotted it.

Also I have noticed that the warning light will activate after 10,000Kms exactly to make the operator check the tyres and reset the TPMS irrespective of pressure loss. I found this out in an earlier version of Vagcom. ie. 'time since last reset mileage - TPMS fault code mileage', somewhere in the ABS section I think.

Macdoc.

[gregozedobe]

I check my tyre pressures, oil and coolant levels every time I fill up. It doesn't take long and it gives me peace of mind.

If you don't check your oil level and you happen to have an engine that uses a bit of oil (I don't) you won't know until (unless ?) the warning light comes on. As some people have noticed, the warning lights don't always function as you'd expect.

I think modern cars are generally so reliable people get into the habit of rarely checking anything - this can be expensive sometimes. It is also common these days to "just get in and go", without reading owner's manuals and other boring stuff like that, then look for someone else to blame when things go wrong.

IIRC there was a similar thread to this a while ago from someone who never looked at his engine oil levels and was wanting to blame the dealer for not checking at the PDI - he got similar responses to those in this thread.

To be blunt, " Read the Owners manual and do the checks it tells you".

[PassatB6]

The TPMS should have alerted the driver no matter how fast the leak happened though I can't see how the alert would have made any difference as it sounds like the tyre went flat immediately. Mine worked perfectly alerting me minutes after I hit a pothole that the tyre pressure had dropped. In Sylvester's case checking tyres regularly would have made no difference .

[VW Convert]

The TPMS should have alerted the driver no matter how fast the leak happened though I can't see how the alert would have made any difference as it sounds like the tyre went flat immediately. Mine worked perfectly alerting me minutes after I hit a pothole that the tyre pressure had dropped. In Sylvester's case checking tyres regularly would have made no difference .

Given that TPMS works by monitoring differences in the rotational speed of individual wheels over a period of time, how would TPMS possibly alert the driver if the tyre went flat immediately?

Cheers

George

[gregozedobe]

Given that TPMS works by monitoring differences in the rotational speed of individual wheels over a period of time, how would TPMS possibly alert the driver if the tyre went flat immediately?

Maybe they expect the driver to notice if a tyre suddenly goes completely flat ? The few times its happened to me it has been pretty obvious, especially if you are trying to go around a corner at the time