Just brought my new silver Fit Sport (MT) home yesterday. I bought it from a dealer about 300 miles away, as no one local had a MT model I could have right away (I had already waited 4 weeks, but that's another story).

About 30 miles down the road on the way home the TPMS light came on -- the system light, not the low-pressure light. I'm calling my local dealer today to get it sorted, but any one have any ideas as to why this happened? Just wondering.

Otherwise, I love my new little car.


In St. George, about to head the 300 miles to home



In the garage for the first night, then the wife's truck goes back in (my side of the garage is already filled with the Bugeye and Triumph after all...

 

The same thing happened to me earlier this week. I was able to find the Fit I wanted (blue sensation, auto, w/navi) at a dealer that was about 50 miles from my house, and on the way home the TPMS light came on. I took the car to our local Honda dealer, where I have been having our cars serviced for years, the next day. They told me this happened because the TPMS procedure was not followed during the pre-delivery inspection. If it isn’t done properly, the TPMS light will come on sometime after driving 20 miles. They did this procedure and charged me a half hour labor. I called the salesman who sold me the car, and he said they would reimburse me for this.
It shouldn’t be a problem if you don’t get it fixed right away – the tire pressure monitoring just won’t work until it is. I just wanted to get it done because I hate having things wrong with a new car and I wanted to have the dealer I bought the car from pay for it. Hope this helps.

 

I found my tires were at 31 to 33 lbs as per door sticker. tire sidewall states 51 lbs. I am guessing for comfort they use 33 lbs (this leaves very little wiggle room before light comes on). I put 45 fr and 40 rear (28mpg city) next i put 50 fr and 45 rear (30 mpg)...to me it really feels like a better ride at the higher psi. I am sure that when they did their MPG testing they used the 50 psi front and back.
Any one overseas have such low psi sticker or only USA for a softer ride???

2009 black pearl sport at 800 miles

 

I can't believe you guys who are putting 45 or even 50 psi in your tires. What's listed on the sidewalls is the absolute limit the tires can take. Tires heat up when driven on. So when you inflate to 50 psi, it can heat up to something like 57 or 58...dangerous.

 

Totally agree.

If there's TPMS systems they should show overinflation to prevent this bad behaviour. imo.

 

if you check your facts on tire blow outs 65 plus % are from low pressure in cars and even more in motorcycles. the greatest amount of weight is up front so hence more psi is usable. On this site the high milers are putting upwards of 60 psi. Your opinions may vary. Thunder

 

even though mine are still at 33psi, i disagree
honda specs 33 psi for several reasons, and comfort is one of them.
max sidewall will give you a bumpy ride, and probably shorten the life of parts of your suspension though, and definitley alters handing characteristics, although not necessarily in an all bad way
http://www.officer.com/article/artic...on=19&id=27281

 

Thanks for the comments. I've got an appointment with my local dealer on Monday afternoon to get this sorted.

 

If its dangerous all us racers would be in the hospital. We raced routinely on 50 to 60 psi hot to get uniform tire sections.When driven at high speeds and sideloads higher pressures prevent excessive sidewall flexing which leads to failures.
Worse, this weekend I'll do a 'few' laps with my Fit having pressures in the 45 psi range cold. Its safer. And quicker.

Most tire problems happen when the tire pressures are too low for conditions as low pressures let the sidewall flex a great deal every revolution. Like when the tires on Ford Expeditions were overloaded on vacations and driven at high speed tended to fail. Low pressure at high speed = too much sidewall flexing so the structure fails from repeated flexing, not from overpressure.
Its why you bend a thin wire back and forth repeatedly to break it; the wire heats up and fails due to that heat. Hence the reason for stiffening the sidewall with more pressure.
Actually in the lab all tires I've seen tested for max pressure have not blown out til 200 psi or more.
A tire carcass is pretty strong but like the wire doesn't handle repeated 'bending' either.
cheers.
PS too much overpressure also causes poor handling because the tread bows with pressure and you lose contact patch. Like most things there's a happy medium.

 

Bless the bugeye Sprite, my first race car. For all I know that one may be mine. It was white too. Yes, about all were.

 

It came out of San Diego, never raced as far as I can tell. Lots still to do to it, but it will be back on the road next Spring. I've got a thing for small, clever cars, hence the Fit and the Bugeye -- kills em in the corners, killed on the straights.

 

So... back to the TPMS...

I had my low pressure indicator light up about a week ago. It was the first significantly colder day (perhaps 40F colder) than when I picked up the car two weeks prior.

The cold pressure read 30 psi on all four tires. I was surprised it would trigger at only 3 psi below spec.

Aired them up, and after a short drive the indicator cleared.

 

New Fit owner and forum member here.

The TPMS light also came on for us on the drive home. We plan to take it to a dealership soon to have it fixed.

Kinda disappointing as a first time Honda owner (coming over from Toyota), but it looks like it's a commonly overlooked PDI checklist item.