Tyre pressure warning light

[SimonB]

Whilst driving through the rain this afternoon a warning light of an amber picture of a tyre with an exclamation mark appeared on the right hand side of the speedo with a ping sound as well.
Checking the handbook we found that it meant tyre pressure too low or fault in the tyre pressure loss indicator, Page 309 of the handbook.
The tyres all looked fine, but I had changed the wheels for winter ones recently. Apparently if you change the rolling circumference of your wheels you need to synchronise the tyre pressure loss indicator afterwards.
In the handbook there is a picture of the button to press on Page 309 it also states that this button is on the Central Console. After two of us searched unsuccessfully for this button for a while, or anything like it, I rang the dealership.
Apparently the handbook is generic and the button you have to press is in different places on different T5s and may also look different.
The very patient, helpful lady went through some of the places it can be located - still found nothing even remotely like it. She suggested inside the glove box, on the end of the dash that you can only see with the door open and so on. She then asked a fitter for some more ideas and he suggested that on the end of the wiper stalk, where you press up or down to select the option on the display, if you press it inwards it goes into a new mode where you can change all sorts of things.
The handbook also says that if you put chains on this can change the rolling circumference and thus activate the indicator.
It might be worth finding where the reset button is in your vehicle, before you need it, as you may have no idea what has activated it should it come on and also no idea how & where to rectify it.

Would be interested in hearing if anyone else has come across this problem.

Simon

 

[Skylark2.0]

It happened to us about 10 miles after picking it up. Walked around the van and scowled at all the tires looked fine.
We found it listed in the menu's accessible from the fancy steering wheel. Not where it said in the manual at all.
Went of once after again about 5k miles checked them in a garage and they were fine but again no problem.

 

[SimonB]

Thanks for this. Did you ever find what was causing it?
It's almost worse having this than not having it. I have driven to Chichester & back from Bristol on these new tyres last week - no problem from the sensor. I've no real idea why it has gone off.

 

[Hotel California]

Are you sure it was the tyre pressuse warning ( if you got it) ?
Could be wheelspin or loss off traction /aquaplanning and the tractioncontroll taking over...
Just an idea...

 

[SimonB]

Thanks for responding. I wondered if many other people had seen the same warning. Definitely the tyre pressure light.
With many of us changing wheels, using snow chains it would seem likely that others will have the same issue. Unless you reset the indicator after doing the change it can assume that the change is due to a fault and activate the warning light.
I think I was almost more concerned about the handbook being so vague as to how to resolve it. You would hope there would be an "update" page when VW change things. I was lucky it happened when the dealership was still open & they found a fitter who knew a lot of different places this switch could be located. It could be a helpful warning about a puncture, or just a misleading fault that worries the driver.
In the attached pdf it's the middle picture in the bottom row between the steering wheel & the screen wash & it appeared on the speedo on the right hand side. It's not on their example of the speedo & rev counter.

 

[motacyclist]

It happened to us about 10 miles after picking it up. Walked around the van and scowled at all the tires looked fine.
We found it listed in the menu's accessible from the fancy steering wheel. Not where it said in the manual at all.
Went of once after again about 5k miles checked them in a garage and they were fine but again no problem.

Same with ours, and again after about 5k miles, nothing wrong either time. I think maybe it prompts you to do it if it hasn't been done recently.

 

[Neilgbj]

Had this when towing, Welsh Gas kindly explained here how to sort this out here -

http://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/boats-n-bits.11110/#post-105562

 

[andyinluton]

We had ours ping on last year in pouring rain on the motorway in france, checked the pressures, did the reset via the multifunction display mess & it hasn't gone off again yet. I can live with one false alarm per 10,000 miles.

 

[andyinluton]

A tyre fitter I spoke to reckoned as it works on rolling radius of the tyres, if you put in enough load in the back you can squash the tyres enough to set it off!

 

[SimonB]

Thank you all for the information. I'm quite surprised that so few people seem to have had the problem. It's a shame that the handbook is so unhelpful. If you don't have the smart steering wheel you would have a real problem finding how to reset the tyre pressure indicator. Thanks for the link to the cutting from WelshGas Neilgbj. I think I'll print that bit and put it in the manual ready for next time.

 

[WelshGas]

A tyre fitter I spoke to reckoned as it works on rolling radius of the tyres, if you put in enough load in the back you can squash the tyres enough to set it off!

Correct. Anything that affects the rolling radius and thus the wheel revolving speed by more than 10%, since the last Tyre Pressure Reset can trigger the warning.
Thus a drop in pressure due to a puncture, a significant ambient temperature change or change in vehicle weight etc: can trigger this warning.
Although called the "Tyre Pressure Alarm" the tyre pressure is not directly measured but inferred from ABS sensor measurements and calculations.

 

[JohnnyP]

Thanks for responding. I wondered if many other people had seen the same warning. Definitely the tyre pressure light.
With many of us changing wheels, using snow chains it would seem likely that others will have the same issue. Unless you reset the indicator after doing the change it can assume that the change is due to a fault and activate the warning light.
I think I was almost more concerned about the handbook being so vague as to how to resolve it. You would hope there would be an "update" page when VW change things. I was lucky it happened when the dealership was still open & they found a fitter who knew a lot of different places this switch could be located. It could be a helpful warning about a puncture, or just a misleading fault that worries the driver.
In the attached pdf it's the middle picture in the bottom row between the steering wheel & the screen wash & it appeared on the speedo on the right hand side. It's not on their example of the speedo & rev counter.

This has happened twice with my Passat, on both occasions I had fitted new tyres a few days before. Following the instructions (which could be different to those for the Cali so perhaps not worth posting) which included scrolling through the convenience menu and confirming tyre pressures the warning light cleared never to be seen again (until the rear tyres were changed).

 

[Lester]

I had the warning go off yesterday midday en route to a walk.
I took the car in to the tyre man today midday. All the tyre pressures are correct. Reset the computer and will see how it goes.

 

[Erbster]

I’ve had several false positive alarms on the tpms so I bought a digital pressure gauge, so I can check and reset. Seems to happen when temperatures change quite a bit - conclusion: worth regular check and adjustment. I had a warning this week after new front tyres fitted and it turned out to be a leaking tyre valve. Tpms doing its job!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lester]

Thanks for that - I'll follow suit!