Was it parked with only one side exposed to direct sunlight? As this TPMS system has no real sensors but simply counts wheel revolutions and triggers an alert when one (or two) tires are rotating at a different rate than the others. Exposure to intense sunlight could, I suppose, create enough of a pressure imbalance to do just that.

Or, have you had tire work (e.g. rotation) done recently? If so, you need to reset the monitor and give it some time to recalibrate. If you don’t, an alert could result.

 

I actually did have the tires rotated as part of an oil change about a month ago, but we had a long road trip in the middle without anything coming on. And even if they didn't recalibrate them after that, I did so myself after the light came on last week. (Refilled, reset, drove for like 40 straight minutes.)

Two of the tires were more in the sun, but the pressure in both front tires was a tiny bit higher than in the back two. I wonder if it's heat from the road affecting it?

 

It is not a tire pressure monitor, it is a differential wheel speed monitor. It infers a possible low pressure in one or more tires when it sees one wheel spinning at a different speed than the others and it has 6-8 psi of hysteresis in the software that process the sensor readings (so it is not super sensitive to normal changes in tire pressure from driving and ambient weather).

Since TPMS relies on the feedback from the wheel rotation sensors... it could be you have a flaky sensor on one wheel (there have been a few instances of this reported in forum discussion, so it is worth checking into). Sometimes though it is triggered simply by an odd traction event where one wheel slips on the road surface while the others are unaffected.

Tire pressure difference in the indirect TPMS used by Honda now days will not trigger a TPMS alert until there is ~ 6-8 psi differential in at least one wheel from the others. The system is designed to alert you when you have a tire low enough in pressure that driving on it may damage the tire or cause other driving safety issues.

 

The temperature light isn't on, just the TPMS light. I suppose it's possible that if the temperature gauge is off, it won't read the tire sensors properly, but I haven't seen any sign of that being broken.

 

Thanks! The differential among the four tires was much smaller than that (+/- 1 psi, the front slightly higher than the back). There was a bigger difference between the cold temps and the hot temps (33 to 36 psi), so I wonder if that could set it off? There is a very slight difference in age among the tires, but I don't think it would be enough to trigger the alert--maybe at higher (65 mph) speeds on a super hot day?

The sensor problem seems most likely to me, but it's just weird that it's only gone off twice, both times in the same conditions in the same place. I feel like if it were a sensor, it would go off more frequently, but maybe not. (I've seen the same occasional posts about the sensors, but I've also seen the hypothesis that the ABS lights are on the same system and are more sensitive.)

I'm guessing the dealer would do a better, if more expensive, job of testing the sensors than a tire place.

 

Thanks! The differential among the four tires was much smaller than that (+/- 1 psi, the front slightly higher than the back). There was a bigger difference between the cold temps and the hot temps (33 to 36 psi), so I wonder if that could set it off? There is a very slight difference in age among the tires, but I don't think it would be enough to trigger the alert--maybe at higher (65 mph) speeds on a super hot day?

The sensor problem seems most likely to me, but it's just weird that it's only gone off twice, both times in the same conditions in the same place. I feel like if it were a sensor, it would go off more frequently, but maybe not. (I've seen the same occasional posts about the sensors, but I've also seen the hypothesis that the ABS lights are on the same system and are more sensitive.)

I'm guessing the dealer would do a better, if more expensive, job of testing the sensors than a tire place.

Since the TPMS system measures relative rotation speeds between the different wheels, temperature should not matter as all the tires are exposed to the same ambient conditions.

As for seeking further analysis by a dealership... I would wait until the problem is chronic. The difficulty with systems like this being intermittent is they usually refuse to present themselves while your vehicle is at the dealership. Which means you will be charged a diagnostic fee, and they find nothing and then tell you to bring it back if it repeats.

A better next step would be to get a readout of any stored OBDII codes and see if there are any error codes that can help localize the cause (there may or may not be). Note: You need an OBDII reader that reads not only generic codes but also Honda specific OBDII codes. Personally, with these modern vehicles I feel all owners should invest in an OBDII code reader, and in my view BlueDriver (~$120 at Amazon) is the best of the bunch, but there are many to choose from. Just be sure you invest in one that can read Honda specific codes if you decide to invest.

 

I live in a hot climate and yes....the TPMS light will come on from time to time, so I just check the tire pressure in each tire and ensure equal pressure.

 

But it's my exit!

Anyway it happened again this morning in another spot on the highway. Definitely not as hot out, but I had been driving for longer. When I got home, I checked all the tires, which were 37, 36.5, 36, 36.5. (I'd calibrated them all at 32.5 the last time, a bit lower than the recommended 33 in order to give a bit more room for highway driving in high heat.) The gauge is imperfect, but there's still no sign of a loss of pressure anywhere.

The tires are all the same make/model. Two of them are slightly older, but only by a matter of months.

It's state inspection month, so I may as well bring it by the dealer and have it checked. Thanks for the help, everyone. I'll post anything useful I find out.

 

Or maybe the sensor is working just fine, and it's the dry rot on the rear driver's side tire no one noticed till now.

 

Whats the DOT # on the tires?

Assuming all tires match?

 

All tires are the same make/model, although a couple of weeks after I bought it, I drove over a nail on our street (neighbors were doing construction). I replaced that pair of tires (front, I think). Even though it was AWD, the dealer said it was okay to just replace two of them.

The DOT: 1218 and 3219.

What was odd is that only two of the tires--one front and one rear--had the date. The others had a blank oval. Weird.

 

FWIW, the dry rot is on the 3219 tire, which seems . . . early?

 

So I took it to the dealer, but didn't really learn anything. They said there's no information available from the light going off, so they just did a hard reset on the TPMS calibration.

They said the sidewall decay was only moderate and not at fault. They said that the tire depths were different (6/32 and 7/32 in the front, 8/32 and 7/32 in the back) but that those differences were okay and also would not cause the pressure sensor to go off. (Maybe the 6/32 v 8/32 when the pressure increases?)

They also said that they took it on the highway and were unable to replicate the problem, but there were only a few miles on the odometer above when I brought it in, so I don't have much confidence in that, either.

Watch and wait, I guess. Thanks to everyone for the help. I'll cross my fingers that the hard reset did it, but I'm doubtful.

 

Hi everyone,

First time poster here, and I promise that I have read all over the forums looking for a similar issue. (Alas,my 2016 SE won't take the Airplay update!)

A week ago, my TMPS light came on while driving home about ten minutes on the highway in very hot (97 or so) weather. I let the car cool down and checked all the pressures, which seemed fine (32-33). I put everything at 33 and reset the calibration. I drove around for a week with no problems.

Today, doing the same thing (slightly cooler, about 94 degrees), the light came back on at almost exactly the same spot. I checked the pressures, which were 35.5-36. Due to a tornado warning, I didn't want to drive all the way back across town to the dealer, so I took it to a local tire place, which confirmed the tires were all at the right pressure and didn't see any signs of damage. He reset the light and, after the storm passed, I drove home.

I bought the car certified pre-owned from Honda back in fall 2019 and almost immediately had to replace two of the four new tires (nail), but otherwise it's just been standard maintenance, just shy of 36,000 miles.

I've actually driven longer on highways in hot weather this past week, and nothing happened, so I thought this was a one-time fluke, but twice in a week is not so flukey. A bad sensor is a possibility--but wouldn't that go off at other times? And it doesn't seem like 35-36 psi is enough to trigger a high pressure alert, even if there is one.

I'm open to any ideas people have, and thanks in advance!

I have a similar situation. Bought a year old 21 CRV which needed a tire replaced (by dealer).
It's been 2 months and I can't get the TPMS light off.
The dealer said these cars are very sensitive and if you have 1 tire with different tread; that could trigger it.

 

Was the replacement tire not the same brand, model, and size tire? If not then yes that will be an issue.

 

I believe it, and in fact I suspect that the 6/32 vs 8/32 gap on one side makes it pretty darn likely (especially when the pressure increases in the heat and highway driving).

I just wish I'd get something like that kind of honest reply!

 

I believe it, and in fact I suspect that the 6/32 vs 8/32 gap on one side makes it pretty darn likely (especially when the pressure increases in the heat and highway driving).

I just wish I'd get something like that kind of honest reply!

I have driven recent model Hondas with this sort of tread difference with no TPMS issues. As long as the tires are alll the same brand and model (because it is the tread pattern that apparently is the most important variable besides the road surface) that should not cause an issue.

 

Yep, same brand/model/size/etc. Only difference was a few months of driving, resulting in the different amounts of tread left.

It seems that 2/32 is about the maximum difference recommended, and maybe highway speeds in high heat make it worse? We've been on vacation in a different car, so I haven't driven it since. I did check the air, and all the cold tire pressures were down to 31.5 after an unexpected (and pleasant) dip into the 50s last night. But at least all the tires were the same.

 

I know for a fact 2/32 difference between tires will not cause the TPMS to chronically trigger. 2/32 is about the most I personally would let the difference between tires become. Note: sometimes tire shops will simply spin down some tread on a new tire to match it to old tires, from owner reports.

Now, if there was an abnormal tread wear issue on one tire, that in effect over time distorted the traction and handling quality of a tire... that might cause the TPMS some grief. But this is speculation on my part as I have personally not experienced this because I generally never have abnormal tread wear issues.

If a tire was out of round or had some other manufacturing defect that might also drive the TPMS nuts. Thing is, when this is the case, you generally also will hear some abnormal road noise from the tires interacting with the road surface. So you have audio indication from the tires in the form of excessive road noise.

 

Thanks for all the insight! I thought about shaving the tires but decided that was just one other variable introduced to the mix. The easy solution is probably four new tires, but with 6-8/32 left, it seems like a waste of nearly half the tread life.

It's hard because the TPMS is not triggering "chronically," only on hot days at highway speeds. (I think you noted this difficulty earlier in the thread.) I've driven it around this week (admittedly cooler weather) for a few errands without any issues. No sign of road noise at those speeds, and I definitely didn't hear any when the light was on previously. I'll probably have a chance to take it early next week and see how it does. I just wish I had more confidence in the dealer's reassurance that there's nothing wrong.

EDIT: Three tires at 33.5, one (in the sun) at 34.0 psi. No sign of leaking air.

 

It is possible that one of the wheel speed sensors is a bit flaky. There have been a few reports of that being the cause of random somewhat chronic TPMS alerts. But if there are not stored codes (honda specific OBDII codes) in the vehicles OBDII logs, not much point in working this angle until you get persistent solid repeat failures. Bringing an intermittent issue to a dealership is real hit and miss unless there are stored codes they can rely on to validate an issue they cannot actually recreate at the shop.

 

Happened again today, driving on a highway in nice mild 75 degree weather. I haven't yet checked pressures since I just got off the road, but I'll do that tomorrow. I think I'll take it to the local Goodyear shop since the experience at the dealer was so unsatisfactory.

 

You may have a flaky wheel rotation sensor. It has been reported by a few owners as cause for persistent TPMS issues. Goodyear will likely not be able to find such an issue, nor replace the sensor if that is what is at the root cause.

 

I didn't take it to the dealer because he insisted it was low pressure due to the colder temperatures overnight, even though I tried to explain that the problem has been ongoing for six weeks and that the light came on when the temperature was in the mid 70s after driving on the highway for 20 miles. I did take it to Goodyear, which didn't find any leaks in the tire and didn't think the wear on the wheel was enough to cause the issue.

So I reset the pressures to 33 and reset the TPMS, fine for a week, until the same tonight: driving on the highway for about 20 miles, the light came on about two miles south of where it did the previous week. I checked pressures when I got home: 35 on both front wheels, 34.5 on both rear wheels.

The only thing I can think of is either a flaky sensor or some kind of tire issue, whether it's the alignment or a slight difference in tread or some combination of the two. But it seems like tire places can't diagnose those and the dealer doesn't seem to want to.

 

My instinct says a sensor issue and not a tire/wheel issue. You set all tires to 33 cold, then a week later drove 20 miles and added some heat, so the fronts increased to 35 and the rears increased to 34.5. This is exaclty what I would expect and should not cause any problem in and of itself. You don't have a slow leak in one tire causing the problem. It would seem there are no leaks whatsoever.

Therefore, you either have a faulty sensor, or the sensors are accurately reporting a difference in rotation speed between two or more of your tires. My gut tells me it's probably the latter.

You previously mentioned your tires have 6/32 inch to 8/32 inch remaining tread. There have been a lot of comments lately saying that a 2/32 inch difference will not trigger TPMS, but maybe you have hyper sensitive sensors. It might be helpful to know exactly which tires have how much tread remaining. For example, if you have one at 6/32, one at 8/32, and two at 7/32, that's different than having three tires that match and one that's different. In the latter situation, the one tire that's different should be on the rear of the vehicle. In the former situation, both 7/32 tires should be on the same side of the vehicle to minimize the difference between left and right tires on each axle.

The tires with less tread remaining have a smaller circumference, thereby requiring them to rotate more revolutions per mile than the tires with a larger circumference. I'd try overinflating the tires with less remaining tread by 3-5 PSI compared to the tires with more tread (or, alternatively, if you have only one tire with more tread and the other three match, deflate the one with more tread - there's no TPMS sensor within each individual wheel, so you're manipulating the indirect system without any risk of setting off a warning as in a direct system). Drive around for 5-10 miles and see if that solves the problem. If you can pinpoint this as the cause and repeat the behavior (i.e., test it out by restoring uniform pressure across all four tires, replicate the problem in that condition, then eliminate the problem again by again overinflating the tires with less tread), then you know the problem is not a faulty sensor, but a slightly overactive sensor. The solution in this scenario is to either find a tire shop that will shave down some tread to get all four tires to exactly the same matching tread depth, or simply buy a new set of four tires.

Another thought is that if you have a significant alignment problem, combined with 2/32 inch tread difference, the combination could amplify a difference in rotation speed. You can try moving individual tires to different positions on the vehicle and see if that makes any difference. Depending how much time and effort you want to put into this, you can spend hours or days experimenting with tires on different positions on the vehicle and with various pressures in each tire. That's if you really don't want to spend any money. The quick and lazy way to diagnose this problem is to throw money at it by buying 4 new tires, paying for a wheel alignment, and hoping that solves the problem completely. If it comes back after, you know you have a faulty sensor.

 

Depending how much time and effort you want to put into this, you can spend hours or days experimenting with tires on different positions on the vehicle and with various pressures in each tire. That's if you really don't want to spend any money. The quick and lazy way to diagnose this problem is to throw money at it by buying 4 new tires, paying for a wheel alignment, and hoping that solves the problem completely. If it comes back after, you know you have a faulty sensor.

Thanks for such a thoughtful answer. It's sporadic, but there's a definite pattern of either (1) long highway driving or (2) short highway driving in high temperatures, so a random sensor blip seems less likely than SOMETHING triggering the sensor, even if unnecessarily. (I was also told that if it were the sensor, the ABS light would come on. I'm not completely sure that's true, but it hasn't.)

The 7/32 tires are both on the passenger side, with the 8/32 in the front and the 6/32 in the rear on the driver side. I'll definitely try slightly underinflating the 8/32 tire and maybe slightly overinflating the 6/32 tire, and I might try re-rotating the tires (the problem started after the last rotation at 35000 miles) to see if that helps, but I agree that the easy solution is to buy the new tires. Given the amount of time involved in testing everything, and that time is "money," it might be the less expensive choice, too!

 

I was thinking a little more about what I posted earlier saying both 7/32 tires should be on the same side. What I should have said is they should be on different axles, so each 7/32 tire is paired on the same axle with another tire with only 1/32 difference on the same axle. HOWEVER, having the 8/32 and 6/32 tires both on the same side of the vehicle might be exactly what's triggering the warning. I don't know how the system is set up, so I'm only guessing here, but it wouldn't surprise me if the difference in rotational speed from front to rear wheel on the same side might be given more priority by the engineers who designed the system. It makes sense that the rear left wheel should have almost no difference in rotational speed compared to the front left tire that it's following. Compared to the other side of the vehicle, you should have identical rotational speed between front and rear since those tires are both 7/32.

Therefore, the first thing I would try is to get the 8/32 and 6/32 tires as far away from each other as possible by swapping the rear tires only from side to side. Then the only major significant difference in rotational speed will be between two wheels that are separated diagonally. Considering the two tires in question only have a 2/32 difference in tread, the difference in rotational speed between front left and rear right might be interpreted differently by the indirect TPMS speed sensors, and there very well could be a greater allowance for a larger difference in rotational speed, in turn, preventing the system from going off. Even if you don't want to bother trying anything else, it's one thing I would definitely try before replacing all four tires.

Also, have you ever had an alignment done? Being a 2016, it shouldn't be subject to whatever problem has been affecting a small percentage of the 5th generation units getting delivered misaligned from the factory, but if you've never had one done in six years and 35,000 miles, it wouldn't be a bad idea to throw $100 at it and see what happens. Definitely get a printout from the shop with before and after specs so you can compare and we can analyze.

Another possibility is if you have any friends with a 4th or 5th generation CR-V with four identical tires, you could borrow their wheels for a brief test run. I don't know how practical that would be for you, because then you'd have to switch all of them back to the other vehicle after you're done. If you can switch all the tires yourself, that's one thing, but if you have to take it to a shop every time you want to move a wheel around, that can get tiresome very quickly. Maybe you can find a small shop where you can just tip the guys who actually do the work of moving wheels around for you and not have to pay the shop.

 

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

 

I use paint dots on mine so I can follow all four tires exactly. Unless I have some reason not to do this, I use a rear crossward pattern, rear to front on same size, front moved to rear opposite side. It allows the tires whose direction is reversed to warm up to the new spinning direction with less pressure by being on the rear. Then by the time they move the front on the subsequent rotation, they're happy to continue in the same direction on the front, where they'll have to do harder work. That's why I was so mad in 2013 when a Nissan dealer rotated my tires without permission, among other reasons.

 

These are good hints for the future. Thank you. I made notes of which tire was where. I wonder whether they only go left to right on mine because of the age/tread difference so that the better tires are on the front (odd for AWD, but maybe?).

Anyway, I set the pressures differently in the tires, with the highest (34) in the 6/32, medium (33) in both 7/32, and the lowest (32) in the 8/32. I do think I felt a bit "uneven" while starting out but maybe it was in my head. With the cooler weather, I don't expect to see the light come on until I spend more time highway driving on Thursday. I'd love to be able to just take it out and test it, but alas that's not something I can do right now.

EDIT: I spoke too soon! Driving home today, in maybe 80 degree weather, for less than five miles of highway driving, the TPMS light came on. I'll do either the alignment or rotation next, but it may be a week or so as work is hectic right now.

EDIT 2: I checked the tires after three hours. The numbers were 35.5 in the 6, 35 in the 7, and 34 in the 8/32. So it was still pretty close to the proportions I had added.

EDIT 3: Obviously, I had an alignment when I installed the new tires in October 2019 (duh). I haven't had one since (~12K miles), although my recollection is that Honda always checks it as part of the standard service.

 

I had about six months of success, due in part to the tinkering with the pressures and in part to the cold weather. But I had a valve stem leak in the front tire--shot the cap off when I tried to remove it--that caused the light to go off. So in fixing that, I had to reset everything and driving that usual 15 miles in surprisingly warm weather (high 70s), the light came back on for the first time in a while--right at the same spot it always had.

It was fun while it lasted, but some of these tires are probably getting close to the point of replacement anyway. Costco's got a sale on Michelins starting tomorrow, and I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and grab a set of those, toss in an alignment, and hope this never happens again.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed on this thread. I got an extra six months out of these without having to check the pressures on a regular basis, so I count this as a win.

 

It was fun while it lasted, but some of these tires are probably getting close to the point of replacement anyway. Costco's got a sale on Michelins starting tomorrow, and I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and grab a set of those, toss in an alignment, and hope this never happens again.

i got Michelin Defenders - luv them. got mine at Discount Tire sale.

 

Surprised nobody suggested black electrical tape over the tpms light.

 

In my case, it's because since I've had the car, I've actually had two incidents where the TPMS light coming on alerted me to problems with the tire--a nail punctured one shortly after I bought it, and then the leaky valve stem a few weeks ago. So it's actually a helpful indicator--when it works.