How to turn off Tire Pressure Light in winter

[Fabric8r]

On our 2014 Outback, I will be putting snow tires on after market rims for winter use, then back to OEM for the summer season. I am curious if the tire pressure light will come on, and if so, how do I disable it while the winter tires/rims are on.

[jp98]

If you keep the same air pressure in the snow tires that is recommended for the other tires then the light should not come on. 

 

From what I know you can not disable or just turn the light off.  Also you would have to talk to your dealer to see if they would be willing to change the pressure that the light is set to go off on if they are able to do it.  This is one of the federally mandated items that most dealers do not like to mess with due to liability laws.

 

You can thank those that never check the air pressure in their tires for this. 

[AEROCOOK]

As I understand it, the only way to keep the light off is to either transfer the existing wheel pressure sensors from the summer wheels to the winter wheels or to buy a second set of sensors specifically for the winter wheels. If you choose the later, you will have to have a technician initiallize the wheel sensors (to the receiver in the car) each time you do the wheel change over. I believe only 4 sensors can be initialized to the car.    

[forester2002s]

Just another reason why I'm trying to keep my 2002 running for as long as possible.

I hate these 'bell & whistles' on newer cars.

[upnorthguy]

A little black electrical tape?

[spazomatic]

A little black electrical tape?

Beat me to it

[1 Lucky Texan]

yeah, just ignore it and check tire pressure regularly like 'the old days'.

[Fairtax4me]

Buy sensors for the new wheels is the only way to turn the light off.

Too difficult to pull the bulb out on the new ones, plus they put in failsafes to detect the bulbs. If the bulb is gone or burned out some other light will start blinking rapidly, and a beeper might ding incessantly whenever the key is on. 

 

The shortcut is a piece of tape over the light. Just don't try to get it past state safety inspection like that. 

[MilesFox]

Just ignore the lite. It's arbitrary anyway, and is only there for federal mandate to remind the consumer to keep air in the tires ever since the firestone/ford explorer fiasco in the late 90's.

 

You can get around any inspections while keeping the original wheels mounted, or perhaps load them in and on the car as they are wireless.

Edited September 10, 2014 by MilesFox

[stovall]

Actually the system helps to eliminate wear and tear on the transmission on the newer AWD models by alerting you when the pressure is low. As a tire deflates the overall circumference gets smaller & starts putting the wheels in a bind. This is also why you should always replace all of the tires at the same time with tires that match & preferably manufactured at the same time. Even the early modes that were"shift on the fly" were supposed to have matching tires installed unless you NEVER used the 4wd at all.