Jay Wolfe Acura

Understanding Your TPMS Indicator

According to NHTSA regulations, the low tire pressure indicator must come on when the tire pressure is 25 percent below the listed recommended cold inflation pressure. 

To guard against tolerance variations, the low tire pressure indicator in Acura vehicles with TPMS is set to come on when the tire pressure drops by around 20 percent.  All Acura O/Ms recommend that the tire pressures be checked and set at least once per month. And they should be checked cold, which means the vehicle has been sitting for at least 3 hours, or driven for less than 1 mile.

All tires even those in good condition lose tire pressure naturally for a number of reasons, but mainly because they're porous. It's common to lose up to 1.5 psi per month. Secondly, it's a scientific fact that tire pressure drops with a drop in temperature. You can count on a loss of 1 psi for every 10 degrees of temperature drop.

Here's what can typically happen:
It's August 1, and the outside temperature is a balmy 80°F. The vehicle owner checks and sets his or her tire pressures to 32 psi just like it says on the driver's doorjamb sticker and in the Owners Manual, now we fast-forward to November , and the outside temperature is now a nippy 30°F. The owner checks the tire pressures, but now they're reading only 25 psi, and on top of that, the low tire pressure indicator in the dashboard is on and the TPMS control unit has set a low tire pressure DTC.

Nitrogen in Tires:

• Dramatically slows pressure loss from permeation
• Improves fuel economy
• Reduces tire oxidation
• Eliminates interior wheel corrosion
• Reduces running temperatures
• Decreases false alarms and activation of Tire Pressure Monitoring System.