Responding to the Firestone/Ford Explorer debacle of a few years ago, Congress has passed legislation called the 'TREAD' act. All vehicles manufactured for sale in the United States are to have "tire pressuring monitoring systems," that will alert a driver when a tire is at an unacceptable air pressure. There are two current systems presently in use: INDIRECT and DIRECT.

INDIRECT MONITORING:

Utilize the vehicle's antilock braking system's wheel speed sensors to compare the rotational speed of one tire vs. the other positions on the vehicle. If one tire is low on pressure, its circumference changes enough to roll at a slightly different number of revolutions per mile than the other three tires. Reading the same signal used to modulate ABS systems, the vehicle manufacturers have programmed another function into the vehicle's onboard computer to warn the driver when a single tire is running at a reduced inflation pressure compared to the other three.

DIRECT MONITORING:

Direct systems attach a pressure sensor/transmitter to the vehicle's wheel inside the tire's air chamber. Most Original Equipment systems attach the sensor to a special tire valve that clamps through the wheel. THIS VALVE IS EASILY IDENTIFIABLE WHEN COMPARED TO A RUBBER SNAP IN VALVE.

Direct tire pressure monitoring systems measure, identify and warn the driver of low pressure. Because direct systems have a sensor in each wheel, they tend to generate more accurate warnings and can alert the driver instantly if the pressure in any one tire falls below a predetermined elvel due to rapid air loss caused by a puncture. In addition, a gradual air loss over time will result in too little air pressure being detected. Many direct systems use dashboard displays that provide the ability to check current tire pressures from the driver's seat.

'Young Mike' at Thoma Tire has been fully trained and certified in these systems. The technicians employed at Thoma Tire are fully competent to recognize vehicle's with Tire Pressure Monitoring Sensors. It is our goal to service your vehicle as quickly as possible, but please realize that wheels equipped with any sort of Direct Monitoring Sensors require extra CARE, ACCESSORIES, TIME, as well as COST.

Not only are we trying to stay on top of this new technology, we are adding tools to accomodate these systems. Bear with us as the technology slowly standardizes, allowing us to service all vehicles.