Tire Pressure Monitor~What a Pain

[keninaz]

The day I took delivery of our '08 Corolla the tire pressure light was on. Teh pressures were fine. The salesman could not reset it using the manual nor could I.
The shop reset the computer, or so they said.
About 3 months later it came on again and would not reset yet the tires were fine when the pressure was checked. I took it to the dealership and the again checked the pressures and found nothing wrong and reset the computer.
A few months later while on a trip it came on again one morning when we got up. I took it to the local dealership there on the road for a check. Again, nothing wrong they could find. They tried to tell me it was because I was at 5000' in altitude but I also live at that altitude so that's not the answer.
It came on again 2 weeks later and I called the dealership. They told me to put 35 PSI in the tires. I did and it went off but the car rode like a brick so I took it back down a bit but still above the recommended.
Here I am a couple of months later and it's on again. The pressures are fine.
I called the dealership and told them I want the transmitters changed inside all the tires. I am sick and tired of dealing with this problem all the time and taking it back and forth to the dealer.
They gave me some trouble when I called them for an appointment to work on the car again and I told them that this has been worked on several times now and my position is that they can have the car back under the lemon law if that's what they would like.
The car only has 8500 miles on it and this seems like a really minor problem but so far I am not impressed with Toyota's ability to address this issue.
How problematic is this issue with Toyota's or am I alone in this??

[new echo owner]

Do you know how to reset the light?

N.E.O.

[FinalGear]

How is the weather down there....? Cold weather does cause the Tire Pressure light to come on as well.

[keninaz]

Yes as stated the light will not reset when this happens.
I cannot do it, the dealership cannot do it and it's been that way since I got the car.
And it is cold here overnight, but the car sits in a garage.

[FinalGear]

I know how crazy those stupid "Check Engine", "Tire Pressure", and "ABS" gauges can be, specialty when they light up......

My 2-Cents:

I figure one of your tire sensor is busted or the battery is dead on one of them. They did a small article in "Project Car Magazine" regarding these Tire Pressure sensor, and usually when you done everything you can to fix the problem with no result, then the sensor is FUBAR....

Discount Tires sale these Tire Pressure Sensor, but they TOTALLY different from the Toyota set up. And COST A LOT $$$$

[keninaz]

That's exactly what I am thinking, in that it's one of the sensors.
My position is that they should just change all four under warranty as a customer courtesy so I don't have to come back again.
We will see what they do the end of the month when I take it in for service.
Fact of the matter is if this were not a warranty issue I would remove the bulb from the dash that lights up as it's a single function anyway.
I look at my tires often and this is the first monitor system I have had in many years of driving and I have never had a problem as such other than 2 blowouts on Firestones years ago.

[new echo owner]

How did you reset the light? Or did the dealer do that each time?

N.E.O.

[keninaz]

I tried it the day we took delivery as did the salesman. We used the manual and it would not reset as the manual said it would but the tires looked fine. I did not check the tire pressure. I just drove it home that night all of 2 miles and then back to the dealership the following morning.
This was a dealer trade and it came in from another town late in the day and the light was on when it came off the truck.
The following day I bought the car back in for detailing and they said they had to "reset the computer" as they could find nothing wrong with the tire's pressures.
I have now heard that term several times after they have worked on it.
I was not there when they did the work so I must assume that they are manually resetting the computer with a computer?
I am going to make an inquiry while there next time to see if they can test these sensors without having to remove them from each tire.
The fact remains that something is wrong.

[new echo owner]

Would you mind trying it one time yourself?

After you have check to make sure all the tires are properly inflated, turn the key on without the engine running. Push the tire pressure reset switch one time. After the light is off, or if it goes off, push and hold the button down until the light blinks three times, one second on, one second for three times.

N.E.O.