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Witch’s cauldron on top of a rack. How appropriate for Spooktober!
I was genuinely wondering, if that’s the joke, having never seen this light before…
This is the warning for low tyre pressure. Often shows up after you’ve had a tyre change, such as when you go to winter tyres around this time of year.
Colder air also takes up less volume relative to warmer air, therefore exerting less outward pressure. So, if you haven’t aired up since July, it’s entirely possible that the lower temperatures alone can cause this light to come on.
Yeah, this is the actual joke here haha.
We get it when we switch over to winter tires and never installed the tpms in the other wheels.
It’s there all winter, and ignored. If cold air is enough to set off the low pressure warning, your tires were already really low in July. Or you have a leak.
On some cars the traction control is disabled if the tpms light is on so it might not be a great idea to ignore it all winter. TPMS sensors aren’t that expensive.
Not 10 year old Subarus!
Actually I turn of TC lots in the snow to have a little fun without the Nannies, but it works fine with my snow tires which still don’t have tpms in them like the summer ones.
Interesting fact, the tyre pressure warning isn’t always measuring your tyre pressure! At least, not directly.
Some cars have actual pressure sensors inside the wheels which do measure it, while others (like mine) use the ABS sensor - which measures wheel rotations - to determine pressure as a byproduct.
The theory goes that an under-inflated tyre is smaller in diameter than properly inflated one, and so will have to make more revolutions than a properly inflated one to cover a given distance. By comparing the current status against a programmed normal, a mismatch that indicates possible low pressure can be detected.
Because what is ‘normal’ can change after you inflate your tyres or change them, cars with this type of indirect sensor will also have a button somewhere to reset it (mine is inside the glove box) so you can redefine what ‘normal’ is and cancel any spurious warning.
Or in my experience, when one of the 4/5 transmitters fails.
You must live in warm climate 😀
Cold air in tires makes pressure go down. Low tore warning light.
Nah, I haven’t had a car for a few years and my car before that didn’t have this feature, because it was an old car… 🙂
Happy tireween to you too.
nice to have a low pressure holiday.
Do you mean the time of year where a battery cell goes bad, ruining both the battery and the alternator while you have an Uber passenger in the car an hour from home and every system in your car is cartoonishly shutting off one by one?
Because YEP I GUESS IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME. :(
Chances are that the alternator was already bad, but symptoms didn’t manifest until the battery started to die. A running car should be able to stay alive purely from the alternator. It’s not a great long term solution, since it causes extra wear on the alternator. But it is possible to just push-start it and then keep it alive with the alternator alone.
You may well be right, but I’d already wrestled with the battery previously, and as soon as cold weather hit (literally like day 1.5 - 2), the problem cropped up, which is classic battery in my (admittedly pretty limited, but enthusiastic!) experience.
Edit: I see now that what I’m saying doesn’t contradict what you said.
But it is possible to just push-start it and then keep it alive with the alternator alone.
can confirm. had a buddy in HS whose car had neither a starter nor a working battery. every day after everyone left the parking lot, he would have us push his car over to the street on top of a hill, and then he’d clutch start it on the way down. we only had to push it back up the hill a couple times when he was learning how to do it.
It never really occurred to me that most people don’t check their tire pressure once or twice a month and let it get that bad.
I check mine when my car tells me to <shrug>
In the last month, the high temps where I live have dropped approximately 40 degrees.
That enough to drop tires pressure to the point of the light coming on if you’re not checking it at least biweekly
Which biweekly are you referring to?
Every two weeks.
Twice a week seems excessive…
Exactly
Or they made their seasonal change from their summers to winters, and if, like me, you have separate rims so you can easily do it at home, you now get to drive around with the car whining about no tpms. Because fucking cars can’t have this as built in diagnostic functionality in these giant computers on wheels.
When I have time I’ll pop over to a shop that can reprogram them to the second set, but it’s not exactly priority numero uno.
I used to be somebody who checked tire pressures much more often. Oil level too.
But even though our current vehicles are 12 and 13 years old, the tire pressure monitoring works right away on a cold day, and its threshold before turning on the light isn’t super low. It’s high 20s psi I believe.
It’s not that I want to ignore the workings of my car. I often enjoy using my phone olconnected to my bluetooth OBDII scanner to provide a bunch of extra gauges. I drive an old Mazda3 and it doesn’t even have a temperature gauge, just a light. So it’s cool being able to monitor coolant temperature, voltage, actual gallons of fuel in the tank, and various other sensors if I feel like it.
You don’t get it. Snow tires.
You buy a second set of wheels, and its more expensive to add TPMS so you don’t and you just get the light 4 months of the year.
Mine got down to 18 psi
Isn’t it great how cars just have like random lights that come on whose design is so ambiguous that there’s no possible chance you could work out what they’re trying to indicate.
My car occasionally displays a blue tick, what the hell is that supposed to mean? It only comes up maybe once every 4 or 5 months so it’s really hard to work out a pattern.
My car occasionally displays a blue tick, what the hell is that supposed to mean? It only comes up maybe once every 4 or 5 months so it’s really hard to work out a pattern.
I got the same issue with my BMW, except it’s a green arrow pointing either left or right that flashes and makes a ticking sound. Only lasts for a few seconds though.
Oh that sounds like the swerve suddenly into another lane without looking light.
I just got a used Cadillac and it has this little blue icon quite frequently. Had to get out the manual. It means I’m driving over the speed limit. Fuck’s sake what a useless light.
Dont you have the manual? I did buy a used car and it had manual
No you dont get it, its bad design if you have to read. Also why are there 3847436189347 different lamps that indicate something now? Thats bad design. Oh why do i not know what the single error lamp means and what exactly is broken?bad design…
All because people dont want to rtfm.
It’s called user experience. It’s like a whole discipline.
It’s a car it’s centuries old technology I shouldn’t have to read the manual to know what it’s complaining about. It has a big infotainment screen it could put the error in English on there, but no.
My ten year old Subaru has a small screen that says what the light is. Unfortunately that doesn’t always help: recently the “spend $1,400” light came on but the screen claimed it was “passenger airbag sensor”
That doesn’t sound like it would be best aligned with shareholders’ interests, mister! We have a dealer network and a vast web of suppliers and channel partners that those dumb lights can lead our consumers to.
Hah, nailed it. Happened this morning. First frost this year.
Is that the symbol for a cauldron? I don’t get it
Its a low tire pressure light.
In the fall, lower temperatures cause tire pressure to drop.
I don’t own any horse shoes.
Is it normal for tire emergency lights to come on in autumn?
Just the low tire pressure warning.
Cold temperatures reduce the pressure, and since air leaks out of tires naturally over time, it is quite common for the change in temperature to suddenly put your tires below the threshold for normal tire pressure.
The cold weather compresses air which reduces the pressure… there no need for a leak for this to take place.
As soon as the day warms or the tires warm (with use) the pressure returns… it’s a pain the ass and I have yet to find a proper source that explains what the proper thing to do is.
I just top up my tires in a cold morning, and now they run 4 psi over the mark when they warm up.
We usually get a big enough quick drop in temperatures that I get this each autumn. Even with new tires
Yes, if the tires were close to the cut off before the temp dropped. The sensor in my vehicle readstire pressure about 10% low in colder weather, which can be enough to trigger the warning on chilly mornings if I haven’t topped it off during the summer.
Heat up gas => pressure go up
Cool down gas => pressure go down
pV=nRT
♥️
It’s only normal if you’ve been neglecting to check your tire pressure on a regular basis. Unless you live in a place with a massive yearly temperature differential, properly inflated tires won’t lose enough pressure to trigger the TPMS light once temps drop in the autumn.
Prevent a blowout: please stay on top of your tire pressure, people. Check it at least once a month.
But tpms means the car tells me when the tyre pressure gets low?
I think you need to check your definition of “massive”. Coming from the opposite perspective, I assumed that essentially everyone sees this when the season turns.
Question for the Lemmings down under: is fall/autumn when it gets cold or when the calendar says October? What season do you call it when the weather turns cold? Or does it just not?
It’s only normal if you’ve been ~~neglecting to check your tire pressure on a regular basis. ~~
It’s only normal if you’ve been living in an area when temperature drops significantly.
There FIFY
Get an air pump that runs off your car battery. Don’t get a jump/pump as those are more expensive and they break. Get one with a flashlight.
It’s one of those cheap purchases that makes a world of difference.
Most places still have a few gas stations with free air!
35 to 27…buy a small compressor, its handy
we top ours up at tireween and tirester every year
I live in Taiwan and it’s been 90-95 since February.
Spooky!
