A common issue with dealer delivery. The tires are over inflated for shipment and the make ready folks don't lower them back to proper PSI. The system notifies of LOW pressure not over inflated PSI. They are giving you the typical BS.

 

X2 to what was posted above. Vehicles are shipped with higher pressure values in the tires...it is up to the dealership/car prep person to deflate to the correct PSI when a car is sold.

Shame on the dealership!


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No, shame on the mechanic who did the PDI (pre-delivery inspection), he/she didn't do what they got paid for! Lots of them skip a lot of things on PDIs, make more money that way!

 

The dealer shops will also set them kind of high to allow for cold weather, but that's going overboard. Maybe they were keeping them extra high due to extended time on the lot, and forgot to adjust for your test drive and sale.

Somewhat related sidebar: When I got my 2009 (pre-owned) they had it set at 40-lbs in August. It made a typically stiff RAV4 ride into a harsh ride. And thus it sat on the lot longer than necessary and I got a screamingly good deal because of it...

 

Husky Lover: It's obvious the dealer missed adjusting the tire pressure. What are you expecting that they do? Even at 44 psi, the maximum pressure for your tire has not been exceeded. I doubt you'll have any negative long term effect on tires, it's only been 2 months and the pressure is within the tire's specs.

Did they lie to you about the TPMS? Maybe, maybe not. If it's a direct TPMS, it could trigger a fault for high pressure since it measures the actual pressure. But unless you know exactly how Toyota specs the TPMS systems in the RAV4, who knows.

It's not the end of the world. Enjoy your RAV4!

 

My RAV also was delivered to me with tire pressures at 50 psi. One the drive home from the dealership (about 100 miles) I thought that the ride was somewhat rough. After the tires had cooled I checked the pressures, then contacted the dealer. He admitted that they had failed to check them before delivery and apologized. He said that they had obtained my RAV from another dealer and assumed that the first dealer had done Toyota's dealer prep. which includes checking tire pressures and said that because of what had happened his service people thereafter would check the pressures on all vehicles which the dealer sells.

 

Have never driven a new Toyota off the lot where the tires were NOT over inflated.
Same for when it gets serviced and the tires are no where near the proper # inside the door.
I've mentioned it to the service mgr. before but so far they 90% fail.
Now I just pull out my tire gauge and drop them down right in the service bay before driving off.
At least now on the 2016 Rav the actual tire pressure is displayed.

 

When we have our vehicles serviced at the dealers we tell the service writers to instruct the techs to leave the tires alone, since I keep them at the pressures we want. Since then we've had no problems with service department tire inflation.

 

I can confirm the '08 TPMS does not alert to higher tire pressure. We have two and the four on the ground are inflated to 35, the spares to 45. No alert from TPMS unless one is low since 2008.

 

FWIW..Every car I buy, Toy, Honda, Jeep, etc have had tires inflated to or near the tires MAX pressure. They do that to prevent "Flat spots" from the car sitting for days or weeks at the dealership. When I test drive a vehicle, I take my air gauge with me and check the pressure before the test. Never assume that the low paid by the hour employee checked anything. Always check air pressure, Oil level, etc as soon as you get your new car. It's a big investment. You can check it all out within 10 minutes.

 

So the above posters are correct for the most part. The car is shipped from the manufacturer at 50 psi in order to prevent flat spots. There are a couple of other factors here though. The tires should in theory be set correctly as part of the PDI. The PDI should be done right before you pick up the car, also in theory.

However, most people want to test drive a car before they buy it. Nobody wants to test drive a car with a non working radio, and many lights on the dashboard. So they do the PDI when the vehicle comes in, right away. They cannot let the air out of the tires though, because it could be many months before it's sold. They compromise, they let SOME air out and leave the tires around 40-45psi. You did not take delivery of the vehicle at 50psi, I seriously doubt it.

In an ideal world, the sales person should just check the tire psi at delivery. The problem is 80% of them make absolutely no money because we want to haggle the price down to no profit or loss for the dealership. So the only people who are willing to work there are clueless, and you wouldn't want them adjusting your tire pressure anyways.

You should have checked your own fluids and tire pressure at delivery, bottom line.

 

Certain models certainly do need to have the TPMS system activated as part of the PDS, as they can be put into a "sleep mode" depending on where they are being shipped from, and to. It actually is done by deflating the tires to below the threshold and aired back to the pressure inside the door.

 

I've heard there is a 'TPMS reset button' under the steering column of the USA models starting in 2013. Would have been easy enough for the dealer to check the air pressure and reset with that button.

This lack of proper prep would not necessarily be a total deal breaker for me, as I don't think safety was compromised in this one instance. But the denial by the prep manager is a little more serious. What other short-cuts will they take for maintenance in the future?

 

There's a special place in hell for car sales people and lawyers!


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Had a dealer service manager go so far as said it's required for the break in period. Last time I will ever go to that dealer

 

That service manager's BS excuse would make for great fertilizer on a lot of farm fields!

 

This entire thread is much ado about nothing.

 

Unfortunately, badly overinflated tires can make driving in icy and ice coated snowy situations as well as some other wet conditions much more dangerous, so it would appear that the thread is relevant given that now it is winter in North America.

 

Perhaps you are correct. I check the tires on the lot prior to taking delivery of any new car and always have done so. To me, it's a non issue. To those that don't, which is likely the majority, it could well be. Having said that it's up to the owner to check such things as dealer make ready departments are not infallible.

 

Agree about checking before delivery, but with provisos. With my RAV I am one of those who didn't check tire pressures before driving off the dealer's lot. It was raining and the RAV had been left outdoors by the dealer. After I got the vehicle home and into our garage and the tires had cooled I checked pressure and they were badly overinflated. That made me suspicious, so after the car had dried I found other problems which indicated that the dealer hadn't done what was on the dealer prep. list. I phoned the dealer and their excuse was that they had obtained the car from another dealer and had assumed that they had done the prep. work. I agree - buyers should check over the vehicle at the dealer's before taking delivery, but that isn't always easy to do. I can imagine someone taking delivery in a situation when it is raining, the temp. is about zero F. or in a snow storm not checking the vehicle. But in such situations one would expect the dealer to have the vehicle garaged prior to delivery - mine didn't and said that was because the service dept. garage was closed and locked for the delivery weekend.