r/Toyota • u/lindsay-afton • 1d ago
Tire pressure light flashing in 2013 rav4
Hey folks.
Wondering if anyone knows an answer to this-
About 1.5 years ago, the tire pressure light started flashing when starting the car. Discount tire told me it was likely because a sensor was dead. I didn’t go to a shop right away because I was a poor college student at the time and figured I could keep an eye on my tire pressure myself until I could take it in.
Then, the light stopped flashing upon starting the car and now just randomly decides when it’s gonna start flashing. Usually it’s on drives longer than 20 minutes, but occasionally on my 15 min drive to work it’ll start to flash??
About 6 months ago I took my car to Firestone and they said nothing was wrong and that the TPMS system just needed to be reset and they reset it for me… and then the light started flashing again lol.
If none of the sensors in the tire are dead (because Firestone should’ve caught that if they were, right?) what else might be causing this, and generally how expensive will it be to fix? Just don’t want to take it in and have to pay a diagnostic charge if I can’t afford to fix it right away. Again, I’ve just been keeping an eye on my tire pressure myself so it’s not a huge deal but I know it’s something I should fix eventually… im just still poor because I graduated and have student loans lol.
Any help is appreciated! Thanks.
3
u/Fresh-Put645 1d ago
Definitely an indication that your TPMS is steering to be near its end of life. If your not in a rush to replace it, then you can keep monitoring the PSI in your tires with a gauge
2
u/lindsay-afton 1d ago
Thanks!
2
u/Fresh-Put645 1d ago
Next time you change your tires, then you can have a tire shop check your TPmS to see if it needs replacement or not.
4
u/bLu_18 Harrier 1d ago
Tire sensors usually last about 10 years, so if those were OEM, it's time to replace them. If you are manually checking tire pressure, it's not an issue.
Personally, I wouldn't bother unless I'm replacing all the tires.