TPMS stands for Tire Pressure Monitoring System. It does exactly what it sounds like: Monitors the pressure inside all of the tires on your vehicle; it’s also included on forklifts, airplane undercarriages, & pretty much other vehicles that are used to carry heavy loads.

There are two types of TPMSystems: Direct & Indirect.

Direct TPMS has an actual pressure sensor that’s set on either the Wheel or the Tire of the vehicle. The pressure information is sent to the vehicle from the pressure transducer in the tires; this lets the driver know of either under or over inflation of one of the tires. Radio Frequency technology is how the information is transferred through; it’s passed on by either Mechanical, Electrical, or Magnetic methods. The only disadvantage with this type of TPMS is that the battery that operates this system is much more expensive than the whole Indirect TPMS.

When it comes to Indirect TPMSystems, they pretty much just “estimate” how much air you have in those fancy tires of yours. It does this by examining & recording how fast your tire rotates all the way around. See, if it’s lacking air, then it’s obviously going to be smaller & rotating all the way around more often than a tire that is inflated the way it’s supposed to be. In contrast, tires that are over-inflated take a little more time to make a complete rotation than the other regularly inflated tires. The main disadvantage is that the driver with Indirect TPMS would have to constantly push the reset button when the tire is inflated properly; but sometimes it can be pressed by accident which causes for the calibration to be off when a tire is really either under inflated or over inflated.

TPMS was first included on vehicles for safety reasons; but now, they typically come standard on all newer models. TPMSystems maintain the proper air pressure in tires, allow the vehicle to perform to it’s full potential, & even saves a couple bucks when it comes to gas. When a vehicle has this Monitoring System, it avoids approximately 120 out of the 533 annual victims that unfortunately kick the bucket.

Anyway, that’s the difference between the two TPMSystems; hopefully its helped you realize what it is & how important it can truly be.