TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) is a coin battery powered computer inside each tyre of your car. They’ve been around for a couple of decades now. Even the lowest end cars have TPMS in each wheel. If you change wheels you need to go to a wheel shop and have them re pair (as in re pair wifi) the wheel with your car. I had to do this recently with my 2014 ford focus.

Anyway those are just four of hundreds of computers in your car these days.

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throwaway27448 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Not exactly a great example as it's unnecessary and expensive to replace. Lots of other microprocessors actually make your car easier and safer to drive.

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dcrazy 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

TPMS has been mandatory in the U.S. since 2007. It turns out riding on under-inflated tires is dangerous, and people don’t regularly check their tire pressure.

My car will not exceed a certain speed if TPMS is malfunctioning.

	▲	_factor 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Conveniently it cost around $200 every 5-7 years to replace all 4.
	▲	tonyedgecombe 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It amazes me that people don't notice. I was driving with a friend once and had to tell them to pull over because they had a puncture.

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xyzzy_plugh 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A TPMS doesn't make your car easier and safer to drive???

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throwaway27448 3 hours ago | parent [-]

You can buy a tire gauge at a gas station for $10 and check your tires when you clean your car.

But then again, I am old enough perhaps to have been taught to regularly check your tires before driving to begin with.

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sokoloff 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Did I just read an argument that it’s easier or safer to manually check your tire pressures rather than having the car do it automatically every time the car drives fast enough to “wake up” the TPMS units?

	▲	throwaway27448 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It's easier to do that than to pay to replace them when the battery dies. Just stop adding more unnecessary costs to my car maintenance!

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izacus 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Some cars use ABS speed sensors instead of that which is usually a bit less accurate, but also less of a hassle.