Seriously...TPMS?

[rsallen]

I think I know the case you're referring to and while I don't recall all of the facts I don't think beyond an image hit Firestone wasn't held to any liability. The majority of the quilt ended upon the dealerships that wanted to soften the ride and therefore set AND recommended that the tire pressures be dropped below the advised pressures. Then it all got really messy with the dealerships pointing their fingers at Ford and Ford claiming the dealerships did it all on their. Can't remember who won that battle of he said he said.

And in any case though tort reform is probably something for another thread and farther more, that case hardly would come even close to threatening an industry.

Yep, OBDll was one for the good guys. But it falls well short as it only allows access to emission related data. It does nothing to tap into the myriad of systems cars employ these days unless the manufacturer allows that avenue. Some do some don't.
Myself I think it'd be great if every maker made available all the info via the instrument cluster or screen or better yet a complete down load to a pc. Then I wouldn't need scan tools that cost thousands upon thousands of dollars nor would I need to spend thousands of dollars yearly for subscriptions to dealer info.
But the consumer lost that battle.

No matter how bad or unsafe it is; I know texting etc. is here to stay. And okay I guess....as long as they only hurt themselves.
I think it's dumber than driving on a low tire by a long stretch and as I said, as long as they're only killing trees and themselves I'm fine with the practice.

 

[crazyal]

If I remember correctly Firestone had a plant (don't remember which one) that cores that were several months old. I think it was due to the cores overproduced what the tread installing department could handle. What was happening is the tread wasn't properly adhering to the core. Firestone didn't have a system in place to track how long the cores had to wait before being vulcanization process when it was mated with the tread. Since the industry was mixed Firestone denied that they were at fault yet the only tires that failed came from the same plant as well as the Good Year tires didn't fail. Because of that tire mfgs are defaulting to the vehicle mfg to set the normal operating pressure.

 

[GManBart]

It doesn't. The same personality of person who drives with low tires, can/will ignore a little reminder icon.

That's a gross generalization you simply can't know, or prove.

My wife's SUV doesn't have TPMS, and there was one time when we were both driving separate vehicles while shuttling stuff to our new house....she left a few minutes before me. I caught her at a light, and saw the right rear tire was low, but not ridiculously low, so I got her to pull over (luckily into a gas station with an air pump). I found a screw in the RR, the one she wouldn't see when getting in the car in the garage. She hadn't gone over about 30mph before I saw it, so it never got to feeling unusual. We were lucky it happened about two miles from a tire shop, so I filled it with air and she got it fixed immediately. If there had been a light on when she started the engine, she wouldn't have left the garage.

There are a lot of people who aren't car folks, who don't really know any better, but would pay attention to a warning light.

 

[crazyal]

Maybe it's different inother states but in VT if you have an idiot light (check engine, TPMS, airbag, brake) on you will not pass inspection. Sometimes it's as easy as the gas cap isn't tight. If people didn't ignore the warning lights on the dash there would be no reason for inspectors to even check for the lights.

 

[aczlan]

Maybe it's different inother states but in VT if you have an idiot light (check engine, TPMS, airbag, brake) on you will not pass inspection. Sometimes it's as easy as the gas cap isn't tight. If people didn't ignore the warning lights on the dash there would be no reason for inspectors to even check for the lights.

Not so in NY. SOME lights will fail you, but not all. From the DMV site:

The items in the following list are not a required part of a safety inspection for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles. While some of the items are illegal equipment, the inspection station is not required to inspect the items. You can inform the customer that the item is illegal or that the item does not function. These items cannot cause you to reject a vehicle. The items are:

• Bumpers
• Fog lights
• Window tinting
• Studded snow tires (Tires must pass other inspection standards.)
• Rear window defogger or rear window defroster
• Rear window wiper
• Ball joints
• CV joints and boots
• The thickness of brake rotors
• Activated Anti-lock Brakes (ABS) Warning Light
• Activated Airbag Readiness Warning Light (You must use a rejection notice to inform the customer, but do not reject for inspection.)
• A rear view mirror that is mounted on the outside of the passenger side of the vehicle (Unless the rear window is obstructed. The customer must remove the mirror or the mirror must meet inspection standards to pass the inspection.)
• Brakes on a trailer (The brakes are not required, but you must inspect the brakes if they exist.)

Aaron Z

 

[crazyal]

The problem with new vehicles are that all the computers are tied together. If you have a fault in your air bag computer it will also turn on your check engine light.

 

[GManBart]

If people didn't ignore the warning lights on the dash there would be no reason for inspectors to even check for the lights.

Huh?

If people didn't ignore the lights, it would be all the more reason to make sure that they DO work.

 

[GolfAddict]

Its simple to lock out the touchscreen when the car is in gear (what will you do about re-routing for traffic slowdowns though?) but for his other problems, I see no way (current or future) to lock out a phone without also locking out the passengers and that wont fly.

Aaron Z

On our car some of the touch screen function is disabled when the car is in gear, unless there is a person in the passenger seat. Even then, it first makes you "ok" a disclaimer that pops up...

 

[Runner]

[There are a lot of people who aren't car folks, who don't really know any better, but would pay attention to a warning light]


Fine, so make it an OPTION for those people (to pay for) and leave the rest of us alone.

 

[GManBart]

[There are a lot of people who aren't car folks, who don't really know any better, but would pay attention to a warning light]


Fine, so make it an OPTION for those people (to pay for) and leave the rest of us alone.

There are also plenty of common situations where all you "smart" people could be alerted to a dangerous situation if you had TPMS, thus reducing risk to everybody.

I'm a car guy, check my tires, keep the pressures set correctly, and I've still had TPMS alert me to a problem that happened while I was driving. Without it I would have just rolled along, in an unsafe condition until it got so bad I could feel it, which might be too late.

You guys seem to think that checking your tires before you start driving solves everything, but it doesn't.

Moden radials often don't look low until they are really low, so if you're not checking with a gauge EVERY time you drive, you're fooling yourself.

TPMS is the only way to know that your tires are properly inflated while you're actually driving....you know, the important time.