In the last 6 months since I've purchased my Honda Fit 2015 (now with 12,000 miles), the TPMS light has come on 4 times and each time I have the tire pressure checked and the tires are okay. I reset it and it comes on again a couple of months later. Any ideas what's going on?

 

I've been having this issue too, ever since I hit a pothole and popped the front driver's side tire. I had the tire replaced and reset the TPMS. Now every month or so it comes on, even though pressures are fine.

 

The 3rd Gen TPMS is measuring the tire rotational speed through the ABS sensor. There is no sensor inside the tires to monitor pressure. if one of the tires is spinning slightly slower within a given tolerance the ECM throws the TPMS idiot light.

Best way to calibrate is to make sure tire pressures are all equal (i set mine to 35psi per tire) Hit the calibrate button, and I'm set for a few months. Tires lose pressure over time and change with temperature. What you speak of having to reset the system every few months makes perfect sense.

The alternative would be to have a sensor in each tire, and monitor each tire for pressure. Problem with such a system is reliability of the tire sensors. They corrode and fail over time. Second, to "pair" that sensor with the ECM requires a scanner gun to make the "hand shake" with the car which only the dealer can do, costs money, and plus the cost of a new sensor. This system exists on the GE and GD FITS.


Personally I'd rather pay myself to reset the TPMS than have the dealer charge me to reset a failed sensor. An informed proactive consumer would know to periodically check the tire pressure as its basic car maintenance. Instead we have a complex idiot light system for idiots who don't check tire pressure/condition at all. Unfortunately most car drivers i see have an IQ less than their shoe size.

 

the weather changing in my area (hot/cold) sets it off constantly. I find that it is a pain more than a help.

 

Damn must be annoying , onward to 20

 

same here. oddly with our 15" winter wheels/tires it doesn't do this. the stock 16" it does it all the time once it got cold outside. Wife says it was going off every morning.

 

I got my Fit in September. About 6-8 weeks later I replaced a tire because I ran into a curb and ruined. Since then the TPMS has been going off every few days. There has never been anything wrong with the tire pressure. The dealer has tried to figure out what's going on with no luck. He thought the problem might have something to do with the new tire having less wear than the other 3.
I read about software upgrade #14-006 but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Fit. Has anyone tried it?

 

Only a thought but possibly (the ones who damaged their tires/wheel on curbs) damage to the abs tone ring on that wheel? The clearances are really tight between sensors and rings any warpage will affect proper operation. Yes they say one old tire and others new could make it happen.

 

My TPMS light just went on yesterday ('16 EX). I tested the pressures after driving < 3 mi in 40-degree-ish weather to a gas station with free air and they were about 0.5 PSI under the door-jamb numbers (32.5 front, 31.5 rear). With the light I was expecting maybe to find one lower than the rest but they were all pretty even. I figured maybe they'd test lower cold so I tested again this morning before driving and they were the same. Half a PSI under seems like a pretty small threshold to me, but after reading this now I know it's a quirk of the system. I'll try to top up the pressures and re-set. We did drive through NYC on Sunday and encountered a lot of potholes and rough pavement (avoided the bad potholes and drove gently over the shallow ones), so maybe that triggered the light.

 

More often than not, when people have their TPM light come on, they never think to check the spare tire.

Also, when checking the spare, take into consideration that the spare is required to have a different psi. I've learned through experience that the TPM in the spare is also more sensitive to pressure variations; the TPM light will come on if you add too much air in the spare just as it would if there was too little air.

 

The GK uses wheel speed sensors in the indirect TPMS. There is no sensor in the spare.

 

Yeah, I get that the 3rd Gen has the indirect TPMS system.
And....I think it sucks.

What good is a TPMS system that gives so many false alarms?
Seems to me the whole point of a TPMS is to be reliable. To give reliable feedback.
The 3rd Gen TPMS indirect system does not.

Usually on longer highway drives I get a false indication. But since it's a safety issue, and you never know when that time the light is going to go on, and it be a REAL situation, I have to stop and check regardless.......SUCKS.

My 2010 had the REAL individual sensors that actually monitored the REAL pressure of the tires, and I never had a false indication. Sure, you had to worry about sensor eventually failing and the batteries eventually failing BUT...I'd rather deal with that long term, than a system that IMO simply does not work worth crap at all.

I'm going to mention it to the dealership next service interval, but I doubt there is anything that can be done. I don't think there is anything really wrong with the system, I just think it works like crap.

 

I did not know that, lol.

Off topic question: I'm new to the forum and don't know what GK is? Do tell, lol.

I've also seen GD and GE somewhere.

 

That was a quality rant, but not exactly relevant to my post. Musicalpa posted in the 3rd gen forum to check the pressure in the spare, which the system does not sense. I was correcting misinformation.

To your point, mine hasn't given me any false readings, but I don't even have 3k miles on it yet and the longest drive I've taken had been about an hour. If it ends up being reliable, I'll take the indirect system any day over dealing with sensors in the wheels. They are a pain when swapping to winter wheels and are expensive.

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Chassis codes. GK is the current gen car.

 

Maybe that's because it wasn't in response to your post?
You do realize, any post that is made after another will appear below that post? Doesn't mean it IS a response to the one above it.

I'm responding to the OP. Who asks "What's going on here".

I wish you luck with your Indirect TPMS system. Not everyone does seem to manifest the same problems. But I have read enough posts to realize I'm not alone.
Would be curious once you own yours longer, or take a longer highway drive if the same actions occur.
For me?
Any highway drive resulting in maybe 1-2 hours of solid driving has almost automatically resulted in a TPMS alert.

 

Yes, I realize that. I figured you'd responded to the current posts since the OP's post is ancient.

 

Ok. That's what I have. (rant rant rant, lol)

 

Lol. Sort of to your earlier post, it would be nice if there was consistency between manufacturers. Subarus, for example doesn't put a sensor in the spare and the system can only hold 4 codes making winter swaps annoying. Other manufacturers allow space for 2 sets of tires. Others use indirect monitoring.

I would like TPMS to be optional instead of federally mandated, but that's another conversation. I can see the benefit for some people, but for people that know how to feel when a tire is low and check pressure often like myself, it's one more thing to deal with.

 

My Subaru does have a TPM in the spare. And, as far as when my TPM light went on in my Honda, it was only when I corrected the spare tire pressure that the TPM light remained off, so I am a bit puzzled by that if it doesn't have an internal TPM sensor in the spare.

I agree with you that TPMS should be optional. The sensors and components are expensive to repair "when" something goes wrong. Furthermore, as you have said, for people who can tell when something isn't right, we don't need it. My Subaru TPM light has been on for several years because the batteries in the TPM units inside the tire are expired. It's almost sadistic that my wife and I are forced to look at a TPM light everywhere we go in the Subaru. Thankfully, my Honda doesn't have the battery operated TPM sensors inside the tire, however, that doesn't mean there can't be electro-mechanical failures with an indirect TPMS.