Hello all! Last Friday while stopped at a red light, I had my first accident in 34 years. Sadly, I was driving our best and most favorite car, my 2007 Prius. The girl who hit me was too busy slugging a 20 oz bottle of pepsi to put her brakes on and stop at the red light like I did. She was a diabetic and had a blood sugar level of just 33, so she thought she should keep driving and just drink pepsi to get her sugar "up". All three in her car went to the hospital. Me? I was too irked to go. I was fine, and the Prius took the hit like a tank!! Since it is in the shop already getting a new bumper, it also needs a new tire pressure sensor. I'm told that once one goes, you may need to replace the other ones soon down the road. They are replacing the bad one, but it sounds like the rest would cost over $700........yikes! I have 74k on the Prius. At over 200 bucks a sensor, is there better place to get these online or something? My non dealer mechanic/tire person should be able to install them for me. Do I have other options? Thanks! Frank
Yes, you can get them on eBay for a lot less $$. Most tire places don't charge extra to install the sensors, but even $700 sounds very high for a set of 4. IIRC, they were around $100 each if you didn't get them online. I got a set of 4 online for around $50. If you search on here, there's a couple threads with the model # of the sensor listed. I don't have it with me at the moment. You also don't HAVE to have them to drive the car. You can either look at the dash light all the time, or find the post with instructions on how to disable the TPMS - I believe it required grounding some PIN on one of the ECU connectors.
Thank you. The dealer today replaced one at the cost of $230.00 Thankfully it was covered under the accident I'm told. I suppose they are a good thing, but I usually keep a very good check of my tires myself.....don't need a set of dummy lights to tell me everything I should know anyway. I am impressed with how well the Prius took the hit. I think it is a very safe car. Frank
