TPMS light won't go out on 2012 after replacing all four sensors.

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by averagejosh, Feb 3, 2024.

  1. averagejosh

    averagejosh Junior Member

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    Back in July of this past year, I was driving my 2012 to meet a friend for lunch when suddenly the orange tire pressure light came up on my dash. I pulled over as soon as I got the chance so that I could check out all my tires. None of them were low or flat, so I determined it was safe to continue driving.

    On my way back home, I stopped by Discount Tire, as that's where I purchased my tires. They checked the tire pressure and said that everything looked good, but that they wouldn’t be able to fit me in to check/replace the sensors that day.

    I was extremely busy, so I wasn’t able to fit in an appointment with them until late September. When they checked the sensors, they said that my two rear sensors were dead. I told them to go ahead and just replace all four, just so that I’d be done with it for a while (they charged about $250 to do all four).

    After driving for about a week, the light had still not gone out, so I scheduled another appointment for the end of October (about a month after they’d been replaced) and had them “reset” the sensors again, or whatever it is they actually do.

    Well, the light still never went out.

    I got busy with work, life, and the holidays, and put off a return visit until the beginning of January.

    I explained to them that this was now the third trip (fourth, if you count the visit where they couldn’t schedule me in), and my TPMS light was *still* on.

    They did the usual thing of checking them all and/or resetting them, but it’s now February and my orange TPMS light still has not gone out.

    Is there something that Discount Tire is failing to do? Is there something that *I* can do?

    Any advice or insight is greatly appreciated.
     
    #1 averagejosh, Feb 3, 2024
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2024
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You should ask for a refund. That light is suppose to turn off if what they sold you were actually compatible with your car. There shouldn't be a "you have to drive it for a while", it's pretty much instant if the sensors are good.

    If you paid by credit card, I would just dispute that part of the charge if they don't take care of it.
     
    #2 JC91006, Feb 3, 2024
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I suggest posting the trouble codes here. It is possible the TPMS was reporting some issue other than bad sensors all along, and it's never too late to look for what the real issue is and fix that (plus you'll know you have four new sensors now).

    Or it's possible the original issue was the sensors, but something went wrong in the replacement causing the light to show now. Either way, the trouble codes should tell the story.

    I think the Gen 3 TPMS codes can still be read this way:

    Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat
     
    #3 ChapmanF, Feb 3, 2024
  4. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Maybe they did remove the original sensors and install the new numbers for the
    new sensors. Maybe they don't know how to do it?
    The Prius software can only have 5 sensors, so they have to remove the other ones.
    If they didn't remove the 4 old ones, they were only able to add 1.

     
    #4 ASRDogman, Feb 3, 2024
  5. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    First does the TPMS light flash and then go solid or simply turn on solid?

    Flash then solid means one or more sensors are not transmitting or the new sensor unique ids were not written into the vehicle’s TPMS ecu. Less likely is the TPMS receiver has failed.

    If the TPMS simply goes solid it indicates low pressure. If the pressures are good, the TPMS pressure thresholds should be reset using the button behind the obd2 connector.

    IMG_4123.jpeg

    Discount Tires has the tools to verify each sensor is transmitting, read the individual sensor ids or write those ids into the vehicle ecu.
     
    #5 rjparker, Feb 3, 2024
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2024
    Brian1954 likes this.
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    That would have been the end of the story for me. It's not a crucial part of the car.
     
    #6 Mendel Leisk, Feb 4, 2024
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