TPMS on the PHEV - no pressures, what a joke!

[STS134]

What is the point of having a TPMS if you can't even see the tire pressures? I took one tire down to around 25 psi to see if it would alert and the TPMS alerted, but didn't even tell me which tire was low. Even worse, if all wheels had been at say 28 psi I would have had no alert and no indication anything was wrong at all.

So the computer obviously KNOWS the pressures, but just isn't displaying them. What kind of idiots programmed the software for this car? If you have information, it's not of any use unless you display it, now is it? This system would basically wait until you're underinflated by like 10 psi before it even throws an alarm? That's already into risking a blowout territory, especially if the vehicle happens to be heavily loaded and it's hot outside. I mean, if I go into the TPMS menu in other vehicles, I can literally see the pressure in either psi or kPa...and I will instantly know if it's even slightly too low or too high. There's other info that the computer has that's also not displayed, like engine coolant temperature, battery cell temperature, etc. Again, what's the use of having a monitoring system if you aren't gonna display the information?

[greendwarf]

Having had lots of slow punctures in the PHEV I have found it useful in giving an alarm at around 30 psi - when the car is still drivable but also it is obvious which tyre it is by looking.

Of course, there are always extra whistles & bells individuals would like but they all cost money. Personally I would prefer 2 reversing lights as per Japan but life is full of disappointments.

[STS134]

There's essentially NO extra cost here. The hardware is already there and it's just the software that's lacking. The computer is already keeping track of the pressures and displaying an error if they fall too low, and literally ALL they have to do is display the data they're tracking internally.

[ThudnBlundr]

Terrible - you should sell the car and buy another make

[greendwarf]

There's essentially NO extra cost here. The hardware is already there and it's just the software that's lacking. The computer is already keeping track of the pressures and displaying an error if they fall too low, and literally ALL they have to do is display the data they're tracking internally.

So the display doesn't need a redesign and software changes cost nothing? - I wonder what all these IT staff do to justify their pay

[michael8554]

I bought my PHEV from a non-Mitsu dealer.

Halfway home the tyre pressure warning light came on.

All the tyres were at about 25 psi, I guess the dealer at some point had set them at a typical non-electric car pressure?

So maybe 10psi down before you get the warning?

[STS134]

So the display doesn't need a redesign and software changes cost nothing? - I wonder what all these IT staff do to justify their pay

Well okay, it doesn't cost nothing. But they literally have almost all of the components there and just left out one of the cheapest: displaying the tire pressure on the center display in the instrument console. Why did they have to go 95% of the way and then half ass the last step?

I bought my PHEV from a non-Mitsu dealer.

Halfway home the tyre pressure warning light came on.

All the tyres were at about 25 psi, I guess the dealer at some point had set them at a typical non-electric car pressure?

So maybe 10psi down before you get the warning?

That's my experience as well. And being 10 psi down is VERY dangerous, especially in a fully loaded vehicle on a hot day. It should be displaying the individual pressures so that I'd immediately know if the tires are 3 psi down. If they were that low at any time, I'd take the next exit and pump them back up. And if I drive into a cold area (like Tahoe/Truckee in the winter), I'd want to know if the psi was a bit low immediately after starting the vehicle.

[greendwarf]

Well okay, it doesn't cost nothing. But they literally have almost all of the components there and just left out one of the cheapest: displaying the tire pressure on the center display in the instrument console. Why did they have to go 95% of the way and then half ass the last step?

.

Are you sure about this? As America was late to the party, you may not know that on launch in 2013 it didn't have TPMS. That was added in 2014 in response to an EU directive. How Mitsu did it, I don't know but you can't say this unless you have knowledge we don't - or is this just an assumption on your part?

[STS134]

Are you sure about this? As America was late to the party, you may not know that on launch in 2013 it didn't have TPMS. That was added in 2014 in response to an EU directive. How Mitsu did it, I don't know but you can't say this unless you have knowledge we don't - or is this just an assumption on your part?

TPMS was required in the US since 2014 as well. The computer must have knowledge of the individual pressures in each tire. The sensors transmit the pressures to the computer, so that it can alert if one or more of them gets too low. The Outlander PHEV uses Direct TPMS; if it used Indirect TPMS, it wouldn't have alerted immediately when I started the vehicle, and the indicator wouldn't have gone off immediately after I pumped the tire back up. Given that it has knowledge of all 4 pressures, all it has to do is display them. Whether it knows which pressure is in which tire, I'm not sure, but that information is not necessary to just display all 4 without regard to which is which. Then, even if 1 of them is 2 psi too low, I'd at least know to check them all.

[ThudnBlundr]

But you're ignoring that tyre pressures vary hugely during use. I'm sure that a few ill-informed people would be letting air out of tyres because the pressure shown is too high after a long run.

Also the system has to have some slack built into it to allow for the increase. The engineers have chosen a figure that they believe is safe - do you know better than the experts on the car?