Tyre deflation false alarms

[Peter5145]

Anyway, later today I'm making a trip of about 30 miles along mixed roads, so I'll initialise it before I start and see if that makes a difference.

Success! Did a 66-mile round trip on a mix of motorway, rural and urban roads and the warning didn't come on. Hopefully the car will have learned the lesson!

[TnTkr]

It recognizes the difference in abs sensor pulse rate comparing all four wheels. It does not sense the pressure itself.

[TnTkr]

I'm such an old school motorist, that I feel the flat tyre. I don't want or care about usually false warnings.

That's what I think, an experienced driver will usually 'feel' a deflating tyre.  However these TPMS aren't just optional extras but mandatory requirements on new cars since 2012 in the UK.  So they should work properly and presumably the car would fail its MOT if they don't.

The legislation in UK or even in my country does not make it any less annoying.

[doctormirabilis]

Exactly my experience as well. Same age vehicle too. I can almost clock it now. 80km or thereabouts, without stopping  is where it starts blinking

I have a Mk 3 which is approaching five years old, and recently I've been getting a lot of false alarms or overzealous warnings from the tyre deflation indicator.

Very often it seems that as soon as I build up some speed on the motorway and the air in the tyres warms up, it triggers the indicator. I carry a pressure gauge and a pump, so it's usually no more than a minor inconvenience. Generally I find all four tyres are properly inflated anyway.

As I recently had a genuine puncture leading to full deflation of the tyre, I can't just ignore it and have to stop and check when convenient, but surely it's being very over-sensitive.

[embee]

Just a thought,  do you have different brand/model tyres around the car? Different tyre versions might well run at different temperatures so the changes between cold and hot could possibly trick the rather sensitive TPMS system. Just a thought......

[Peter5145]

Getting a bit fed up with this now. After taking the advice to initialise the system before doing a run of various road types, I managed to go away on holiday and drive almost 1,000 miles with no problem.

But since returning home, I've had two consecutive weeks where I've only done short journeys on 30/40 roads during the week, but at the weekend have gone on the motorway and had the deflation warning come on after about five miles.

In one case, one tyre was a bit low, but not that much, while in the second there seemed to be no problem at all. But it's no use if I have to check the tyre pressures a short way in to every journey.

I was thinking about replacing the car this summer, and this encourages me to do so sooner rather than later. Does the Mk. 4 have similar problems? (I am considering alternatives too, but apart from this am generally happy with my experience of three Hondas).

[Peter5145]

Just a thought,  do you have different brand/model tyres around the car? Different tyre versions might well run at different temperatures so the changes between cold and hot could possibly trick the rather sensitive TPMS system. Just a thought......

All the same following the recent puncture, and even before that the front and rear pairs were matched.

[Lord Voltermore]

The mk4 also uses  the indirect system that monitors and compares wheel rotation speeds. But it may now be better regulated. I have not found it a problem.      You may still sometimes get a false activation  after  you have adjusted  tyre pressures .   Or if  the car is fitted with brand new tyres (inc a brand  new car)     there may be one or two false activations  within the first few hundred miles until the tyres bed themselves in and settle down.

  I have had 3 activations in about 24000 miles.  Twice when the car was brand new and once  which I attribute to the road having lots of  subsidence where  the wheels on one side  rotated   further through repeated depressions  than the other side.

 And this includes the fact I regularly swop between my summer wheels and tyres  and my winter rated set.
 (long story)       

[Marco1979]

Tyre deflation warnings are compulsory by EU law. There are 2 systems: direct and indirect. Honda uses the indirect system by measuring and comparing the rotation of 4 wheels. And sometimes calibration is required.
I only had 1 car with a direct system. Sometimes that system could not find a wheel and it would give an alarm. Also you could not swap between winter and summer tyres and also using your spare was a problem. Long story short: I would not trade in my car just for this issue; chances are it will be worse with another car.

[peteo48]

I have found my Mk4 markedly better than the MK3 in terms of false alarms but I have a couple over just under 5,000 miles.

[Nudge]

I kept on getting the tyre warning alarm, but found one tyre lost a bit of pressure during prolonged high speed driving (A-road / motorway). On speaking with a tyre centre lots of Japanese manufacturers use clip on weights to balance the wheels. These weights cause corrosion (??) and allow air to escape between the tyre and rim. If you get the tyres refitted (+rim cleaned) and balanced it should hopefully lessen/resolve these annoying alarm notifications. After getting all four done, it seldom goes off.

[Peter5145]

I would not trade in my car just for this issue; chances are it will be worse with another car.

I'm not going to change it just because of this but, as I'm thinking of changing over the summer anyway, it may bring forward my decision.

[baffled]

I've only had my car since Sunday. The warning light came on today, so I took it to a local garage. The pressure was low on one of the tyres (10 psi), but there was no puncture.They said it was the valve that was the problem, and have replaced it. The warning light is still on, but they said this would be the case until it had been driven for a while, and to go back if I still had a problem in a couple of days.

Does this sound correct? Also, do you think I'd be able to get the dealer go reimburse me for the new  valve? It was 'only' £20, but I didn't expect to be forking out on day 4 of having the car.

[Marco1979]

I think you should re-initialize the warning system. The warning light will go off immediately.

[baffled]

I think you should re-initialize the warning system. The warning light will go off immediately.

How do I do that please?