TPMS is Tyre Pressure Management System – and it is a system that monitors your tyres.
Last week, the wife was driving the car that is equipped with TPMS, and for the first time ever the alarm went off. She called me (hands free!) and I said it could be a puncture and she needs to check ASAP. Sadly she was on the M4 in the massive roadworks….. Not knowing if it was a puncture or not I said she still needed to stop where safe and check.
Which she did. All was OK, but she had to stop “in” the roadworks entry. Bloke came to “rescue” her as she was checking, helped checked, all OK, but then needed escorting off. Straight to garage and one tyre was a bit flat. So thank you alarm, and yes, slap on wrist for not knowing….. Poor show. But it did put Mel in danger and a situation that wasn’t ideal.
Got me thinking….
Whilst buying a new tyre pressure gauge for the car 🙂 – I noticed a stand-alone TPMS system which would be ideal for the van that doesn’t have one. £25 (with £5 voucher) and worth a punt. Next day Amazon.
And, well, it works and appears to work really well! The unit is solar powered and the “caps” have 5yr battery. Took minutes to fit and instantly the unit displayed the correct tyre pressure (and temperature) of each cap… very impressive (I pumped up to new pressure). When testing, the system beeps, flashes a warning and actually tells you “Front Left Tyre – Low Pressure” in an easy to understand voice. It also monitors high pressure, low pressure, and over temperature (e.g. if brake gets stuck on).
The unit is small and unobtrusive.
For £25 – bargain to potentially avoid dangerous issues. Don’t know why we didn’t get one before! (Also means no manual checking of pressures!)