TPMS Lifespan MIC M3 SR+ Nov 2021

[johnchidgey]

In early April this year, about a week after my tyres were replaced, the front-right TMPS sensor went on the blink. Then a few weeks later the rear-right TMPS also went dark, followed by the rear-left last week. I now have 1 TPMS left that works. My car is 2 years and 7 months old and based on my research on these forums it seems like 5-7 years is the normal lifespan I should expect. At first I thought they were damaged by the tyre shop, but given their time-delayed failures it's more logical to assume the batteries have just died and they came from the same batch. (Could be wrong though)

When the first one died, I raised a Service Request with Tesla and they came back with a $265 cost estimate to replace it. This is the first car I've owned with a TPMS system and honestly, it seems like a pain the butt. I've been checking the tyre pressures with a gauge...you know...like EVERY OTHER CAR I OWN AND HAVE EVER OWNED and all is well, but the Error Message is getting annoying.

Curious if anyone else has had these fail prematurely, or perhaps is this actually premature or is it normal? Do I have a warranty claimable item or am I just up for $1000 to replace them all (most likely very soon) every 2-1/2 years if I care enough to get rid of the stupid error message.

Interested in other owners experiences with these things.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

 

[Icey]

6 years on my Model X, I call bullshit on what the service centre is saying.
I had this type of issue in my Holden, turns out it was the BCM.

 

[Maximillan]

Tesla's system (It makes no sense to me) is that when you raise a service request under warranty, that they'll give you a $ estimate for the work that you must accept. In my experience they don't charge you for it if it's warranty work - I'd raise it and get them to fix it.

Despite also having gotten this far in lift with just a tyre gauge, I'd want to keep the TPMS working simply because this is the first car that I've ever had without a spare tyre. I had a screw causing a leak recently, and the TPMS allowed me to get to a servo to get enough air into it to get me to the tyre shop.

 

[johnchidgey]

they don't charge you for it if it's warranty work - I'd raise it and get them to fix it.

That's true. My concern is that the car's Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expired on the 2nd of December, 2023. The Drive Unit and Battery Limited Warranties are still valid, but I would expect the TPMS's wouldn't be covered under the current Warranty.

Unless anyone else has had a similar experience with short-lifespan TPMS sensors then I'll wait until the fourth one dies, then I'll decide if I should spend $1k to get rid of an annoying error message on the screen or not.

 

[Quickst]

I'll decide if I should spend $1k

Or less

Are you sure the $265 is for each TPMS or for 4?

 

[johnchidgey]

Or less

Are you sure the $265 is for each TPMS or for 4?

For x1.

 

[doggy1]

Wow that is a very hefty price for one sensor. I thought the adoption and learning of new sensors was fairly easy and quick.

The price does not sound right for one sensor!

 

[Onshore]

Wow that is a very hefty price for one sensor. I thought the adoption and learning of new sensors was fairly easy and quick.

The price does not sound right for one sensor!

Agree. Set of 4 on EBay is about that price.

Or $360 from local vendor.

TESLA MODEL 3 / MODEL Y 2020-2024 TPMS Tyre pressure sensors x 4 (Bluetooth only)

TESLA MODEL 3 / MODEL Y 2020-2023 TPMS Tyre pressure sensors x 4 (Bluetooth only) Melbourne Stock - TESLA TPMS x 4 FITS ALL TESLA MODEL 3 / Y Cars made 2021-2024 Package: 4 x OEM TESLA TPMS Sensors Fit: These supplied TESLA OEM TPMS Sensors x 4 are ordered directly from the USA and will fit both...

braumach.com.au

I bought a set of 4 of the older non Bluetooth version from Tesla spare parts a couple of years back for about $200 when I was making up a second full set of wheels for an M3P

 

[Flatbat]

My concern is that the car's Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expired on the 2nd of December, 2023.

How do you figure your basic warranty has expired?
The car has a basic warranty of 4 years or 80,000 km. As you said your car is 2 years & 7 months old and warranty expired in December last, it implies you think expired at two years & it has not done 80,000km. What am I missing? https://www.tesla.com/en_au/support/vehicle-warranty

 

[johnchidgey]

How do you figure your basic warranty has expired?
The car has a basic warranty of 4 years or 80,000 km. As you said your car is 2 years & 7 months old and warranty expired in December last, it implies you think expired at two years & it has not done 80,000km. What am I missing? https://www.tesla.com/en_au/support/vehicle-warranty

What you’re missing is it’s done 102,000ks mate.

 

[mrpseudonym]

It does depend on how often the car is driven, but they should last years longer than that. That short life is a bit strange.

As for the price, yes you can get autel mx universal tpms sensor for less than $50 and clone your current sensor, but you also have cost of removing and refitting the tyre on the rim. and the cost of the programming unit is about $400, but then you have the ability to read all sensors of most cars…Personally I think the price quoted is not too bad. I have found tesla parts and labour rates quite reasonable compared to other makes.

 

[Gareth Oakes]

Tesla store has these $120 each, maybe they are failing more often? Seems odd that they stock this part https://shop.tesla.com/en_au/product/tire-pressure-monitoring-system

 

[Flatbat]

What you’re missing is it’s done 102,000ks mate.

Ah that makes sense now. I guess that's your answer too. KMs you have done in 2.5 years is more akin to what an average driver does in 5 to 7 years which is about the expected battery life of a tpms sensor.

 

[Onshore]

Tesla store has these $120 each, maybe they are failing more often? Seems odd that they stock this part https://shop.tesla.com/en_au/product/tire-pressure-monitoring-system

Not sure it’s odd. TPMS sensors are a consumable with a finite life, and nearly every car will need fresh set at some point.

The batteries are not designed to be replaceable, as they are heavily encased against the tough environment inside a tyre.

They are subject to heat, cold, moisture, and incredible g forces.

That said, some crafty DIY types have replaced TPMS batteries (see YouTube) but I’m not sure how reliable this is long term.

 

[johnchidgey]

Not sure it’s odd.

I suppose my point is simply what's the wear out mechanism? I deal with low power sensors in my Engineering work regularly and the wear-out mechanism is purely battery life vs update rate. The update rates are fixed by interval, not by cycles of wheel rotation, hence logically the failure mode is simply battery lifespan. Given the most likely cells used (according you YouTubers like you pointed out) are small Lithium Button Cells. These cells should last 5-7 years but the problem is that as much from date of manufacture as it is from current draw. Therefore my supposition is the TPMS sensors fitted either had defecting batteries or they were old batteries used in the TPMS sensors.

Irrespective of the engineering reality what I'm getting from this thread is that NOT ONE PERSON has said theirs died in that amount of time. My current intention is to wait for the final sensor to die (should be any time now) then resubmit a Service Request to Tesla to replace all four. If it's an unreasonable amount I'll challenge Tesla that these are defective as they should last 2-3x this long. If they refuse, I'll leave the error message up forever.

Or maybe I'll try and hack the software to disable it if I get really bored once it's out of drivetrain and battery warranty. Who knows? It's my car after all and everyone needs a hobby.

 

[doggy1]

I suspect what you are seeing is the button cells going flat. I understand the sensors go into a sleep mode until the car is actually moving or at least woken up. So, life will depend more upon the calendar if the car is not moving and more on the driven hours on the move.

As a comparison, My Peugeot 508GT sensors were still working after 12yrs but only about 70,000kms. My Zoe ones are still working after 6yrs but only 33,000kms.

You could try a few of the high mileage folk on this forum who have done between 100K and 300K and see what their experience has been.

I suspect the price is high because of having to remove the tyre, change the sensor, replace and re-balance the wheel. So maybe there is benefit in changing these things synchronously with a tyre change. I do not know how you re-pair the sensors to the car or whether that is automatic.

In retrospect, even though you could not have known, changing them a few weeks before they died when you had the tyres changed would have been optimum! I wonder if there is any chance the tyre place did something that affected them? Though hard to know what that might be.

 

[Onshore]

I suppose my point is simply what's the wear out mechanism? I

It's battery life, but from reading your post, I think you've formed the view that it's just simple calendar aging, independent of car usage, which is not correct. The sensors dont transmit when the car isn't in use. The more the car is in use, the shorter the battery life.

"When Do TPMS Sensors Transmit? If a TPMS sensor transmitted all the time, it would not last very long. Most TPMS sensors will transmit when movement is detected through a simple accelerometer inside. If the wheel stops moving, the sensor will stop broadcasting after a programmed amount of time"

A heavily used car, means that the sensors spend more of their time transmitting. It's not wheel rotations or mileage as such, but more the "hours" that the car is active and moving.

Also note that 2021+ Teslas use bluetooth TPMS, as opposed to the 315 or 433 mhz which are still commonly used by many carmakers. From memory the Bluetooth TPMS use a little more power. The older 433mhz had a longer battery life.

 

[doggy1]

Also note that 2021+ Teslas use bluetooth TPMS, as opposed to the 315 or 433 mhz which are still commonly used by many carmakers. From memory the Bluetooth TPMS use a little more power. The older 433mhz had a longer battery life.

Tesla switched to BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) TPMS sensors in 2021 but difficult to know which month (my car is 2 months older than OP's). BLE is lower power than BT and I am prepared to bet they are lower power users than RF sensors (I build a lot of 433 and 915 RF stuff). They are asleep when stationary and wake up when moved/shaken. They go back to sleep again very quickly when not moving.- in a matter of seconds.

It would be interesting to use a BLE scanner to see if it picks up the one working sensor or indeed some of the others in case it is not a sensor fault but the car module.

 

[Vostok]

I deal with low power sensors in my Engineering work regularly and the wear-out mechanism is purely battery life vs update rate.

You should be all over this then! Power consumption in battery powered IoT devices is an area where extraordinary engineering lengths are gone to in order to minimise power consumption and maximise battery life. Especially in devices which are generally inaccessible (e.g. TPMS) or would require an expensive truck roll to replace (e.g. electronic water meter that is not mains powered). Every microamp is scrutinized to the n-th degree to see if a bit more can be squeezed out.

The focus is on using as little power as possible as infrequently as possible for the intended use case, with lots of sleeping inbetween.

 

[Maximillan]

What you’re missing is it’s done 102,000ks mate.

I sir want to applaud the number of kilometres that you've done in 2 years and 7 months.

Good to see you getting a high rate of use from your Tesla, and I'm sure plenty of folk on here would appreciate a summary of your ownership experience (besides tyres, what else have you had to maintain) in your first 100k kms.