TPMS - Tire Pressure Monitoring System: Cold Weather, High Altitude

Your Acura Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) indicator may come on in cold weather at high altitude.  Because of differences in barometric pressure in Colorado, tire pressure sensors may read four pounds light.  The indicator will probably shut off if you set your tire pressure to 36 pounds rather than 32.  See your Acura Dealer for more information on this issue.

Tire Pressure Monitors are set to alert you when the pressure is 25% under the recommended level.  To me, this means you should not neglect your tire pressure level and assume there is nothing to do unless you are alerted by the indicator.

Read what Tire Rack says: While The Tire Rack applauds the emphasis on maintaining appropriate tire pressure and requiring a system that will warn the driver if low pressure is detected, we are concerned about the percentage of underinflation that the law permits before warning the driver. The driver of a passenger car that calls for 35 psi may not be warned about tire pressure loss until it drops to between 24 to 26 psi depending on the type of monitoring system used. Under the same circumstances, a driver of a light truck that calls for 80 psi won't be warned until between 56 and 60 psi remains. In both of these cases, significant load capacity has been sacrificed before the driver is warned. The only way to overcome this obstacle would be to fit significantly oversize tires to every new vehicle that could compensate for a 30% loss in tire pressure before becoming overloaded. Unfortunately, these larger tires will add to vehicle weight, generate more rolling resistance and increase the vehicle's aerodynamic drag. This would result in a loss of fuel economy and increased gasoline consumption in direct contrast to the government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAF¿) requirements for cars and light trucks.

Additionally, we are concerned that the drivers of vehicles equipped with tire pressure monitoring systems will become over-confident in the capabilities of their system and will be even less likely to confirm their vehicle's cold tire pressure at least once a month with a pressure gauge.

While the legislation is well-intended, we feel that direct tire pressure monitoring systems are the better means to warn the driver of low tire pressure before inconvenience becomes calamity.