This question sounds silly even in my head, but I'll kick myself for not asking... I took my 2008 Prius to have its tires rotated for the first time, and the owner of the shop (not dealership) told me that a previous Prius customer had told him that there was a battery associated with each of the four wheels which had a history of failing at 50,000 miles at a cost of $1500 each (she planned to be rid of the car by 100K miles). He didn't know anything further about it, but recommended if that was the case, I be sure I had an extended warrenty. So my question is...really? I can't think what batteries he might be referring to, and certainly have never heard of such a failure.
if this is a serious post, then i will say there is NO known battery in the rims. what's on the rims are the TP sensors. the TP sensors might have batteries and are about $200 each. TP = tire pressure. knowing that, your knowledge can now guide you.
i think the batteries are good for 7 years or something? have the tire shop walk you around the car to make sure they are all operational before and after service... tire repair shops have broken the sensors on occasion.. if its a good tire shop, they will have a wireless device they point towards the side of the tire to read the tpms sensor and to verify it is working.. only takes a minute if its a really good tire shop, they will have a 3rd party toyota programmer for the tire sensors, so if they break one you will not have to go to the dealer
Hi All, TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) devices have been mandated in all new cars (Thank You Ford Exploder and Firestone Tires). Many other cars use the same TPMS system used in the Prius. I imagine all Toyotas do. This is not a Prius specific issue.
All right, thanks. The only thing I could think think he might be referring to was the TPS, but since the cost is an order of magnitude lower, it didn't make much sense.
From Toyotadiscountparts.com: " 2007 Toyota Prius Valve stem, W/pressure monitor, List $106.43 discounted price $79.82 " So, the TPMS valve stem sensor with battery is $80, list price of $106. Plus the cost of having the dealer train the system to recognize the new sensors. Yeah, it's a bit pricey, but not $1500.
TP sensors are the only thing in the wheels with batteries. The sensor was designed for a battery life of 7 to 10 years. And the cost of the battery is nowhere near $200, but more around $20 per wheel. The trick is, if you can get the old battery out and the new one in (some TPSW manufaturers seal their boxes).
Honestly, if the batteries in the sensors go, I wonder why I would need to replace them at all if it wasn't dirt cheap to do so. It's not like they are anything other than "idiot lights" for the tires.
i believe the law that was signed mandating the tire pressure sensors was before the firestone/bridgestone incident, and had nothing to do with it. the only screwy thing about toyota tpms is they had made it so you had to go to the dealer to have the sensors programmed, this upset the us goverment, and toyota then made thier tpms programming info available to others, and now there are tpms registration devices specifically made for toyota vehicles. other then toyota, most cars will set the senors automatically, by simply instaling them or putting a magnet around the valve stem. or by doing a certain magic dance sequence. this is something that toyota really botched up on.
Not as bad as my old 96 Audi A4. The oil change light/maintenance light could only be reset by a VW/Audi scan tool. So, you either pay the dealer for the reset, or buy/build your own tool. The message appeared on the odometer so you couldn't even put tape over it!
