TPMS light is NOT coming on.
 

So around a month ago I swapped out my summer tires for winter and for whatever reason, the TPMS light is not staying on in my car even though the winter tires have NO TPMS in it. The TPMS is in my summer tire, which is stored in my basement. The TPMS light in my car is not broken (flashes on right when I turn my car on as with every other light).

my guess would be that maybe they were never programmed and the module was never set? i have no clue... kinda strange that its happening... maybe call a few toyota dealers and see what they say

Do you store your summer tires (with TPMS) near your car? The TPMS light will only illuminate once the car has been driven ~20 miles without detecting TPMS sensors. If you only take <20 mile trips and return home, parking your car next to your summer tires, your TPMS light won't illuminate.

Ohhh you may have nailed it. My commute to work is 5 miles each way. I store them in the basement, which is not really near my car but close enough where this is a possibility.

Also i'm curious where you got your source on the 20 miles thing. Never heard of this before.

My tires are ~15 feet from my car and separated by a sheet of drywall and metal door. The manual might say something about the distance driven vs TPMS light illumination; however, my only evidence is personal experience. My commute is only 6 miles round trip and the light has never illuminated, regardless of how long I've been away from my summer tires. However, when I drive for longer distances, I notice the TPMS light will illuminate at ~20 miles, regardless of the time it took me to go that 20 miles.

http://drive2.subaru.com/Spr05_WhatsInside.htm

Maybe the delay is a timing delay, rather than distance. It looks like the sensors enter a sleep mode after the car is stopped, so perhaps my TPMS light doesn't illuminate from my 6 mile commute despite the long time away from the sensors because of this sleep mode. My 20 mile estimate is most often at highway speeds, so it could easily be 15-20 minutes, and thus a time delay as the website suggests.

I think it is based on the distance traveled. When I had an in-town ~5 mile commute withthe car parked near the sensors at night, I would get no light. Now I have a longer commute (~25 miles each way) and the light will come on on my way into work. It will reset at night when parked near the tires.

Both trips took the same amount of time despite the difference in distance (which is why I moved), so I believe it to be distance based rather than time - based.

I suppose I could do some science on it to find the trigger point, but since I can read a tire pressure gauge I have very little use for this system.

-Justin

This. ^


I put the winters on last week, and haven't had the chance to pop by the dealer yet to have the car "adjusted". I park the car about 20 feet from the garage (summer wheels are inside). On my way to work the light starts blinking at the same point on the trip regardless of speed. I just went out and re-set the trip odo...if I remember to look at it when the light starts flashing, I'll post up the reading.

^^^
This is it... :-)

My light started flashing this morning at 27.1 Kms (~16.8 miles) from my parking space.