Do You Need To Replace Your TPMS Sensors Every Time You Change Your Tires?
As people like to say, your car has only four contact points with the ground, or three if you drive something like a Reliant Robin, one of the lightest cars ever made. The wheels and tires are the only items on your car that are always touching the ground, so it's always a good idea to use high-quality tires, and along with that, you need to make sure that your tires are always the right pressure.
A low tire pressure can cause numerous issues, including uneven wear, loss of grip, and in worst-case scenarios, a weakened ability to withstand potholes, rocks, and other road vermin. Most modern cars have a tire pressure monitoring system, abbreviated as TPMS in most cases, that tells you at exactly what pressure the tires are at and whether they need to be reinflated. Obviously, this system uses tire pressure sensors, but you don't need to replace those with every tire change.
TPMS sensors last a lot longer than tires themselves
While there are two distinct types of tire pressure monitoring, we're referring to direct monitoring here, i.e. using sensors to give a mostly accurate reading of the tire pressures, along with warning the driver accordingly if one of the tires is low. In most cases, the internal battery in these sensors lasts anywhere from six to 10 years.
The problem is, a lot of TPMS sensors can't warn the driver directly that the battery is low, so it'll just show the yellow low tire warning light. The light might flash for a while, and then it might stay on, it depends on the car. Either way, if you do get a TPMS warning light, it's always a good idea to check the tires before diagnosing the system with a weak battery.
This is because batteries in TPMS sensors cannot be user replaced, unless if you're very handy in the workshop. Usually, the manufacturer recommends that a specialist check the sensors and replace the battery if need be. Before you go out to replace the battery, which incurs labor costs, check your tire pressure. If the pressures are fine but the warning light won't go away, that's when you should replace the battery.