Magazine for the auto service professional
Issue link: http://asp.epubxp.com/i/636156
46 | February 2016 the rewards of a new revenue stream, while those who have complained and resisted should not expect to see any positive changes in sales. But TPMS should never be about money or proft. It started as a national move- ment to improve safety on the highway and somewhere along the line the message was distorted and the motorist ignored. The industry has gone to great lengths to con- vince retailers that there was a pot of gold at the end of the TPMS rainbow. TPMS service and the law There is still one area of TPMS service that many auto service professionals are con- fused about. It is the "make inoperative" words in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Must auto service providers repair a faulty system before the vehicle can be returned to the customer? According to the law, "A manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business may not knowingly make inop- erative any part of a device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable motor vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter…." What, exactly, does that mean to an auto service professional? When asked, a surpris- ing number of techs think that the only illegal action is to purposely disable the TPMS. Many also believe that they may not legally release a car back to the customer if the warning light is on. In a written letter to NHTSA, TIA asked for clarifcation on several key points. TIA's letter outlines four different TPMS scenarios that service professionals regu- larly face. Each scenario includes how the "make inoperative" provision of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (49 USC 30122(b)) applies to each situation. In the frst scenario, TIA asked if a retailer can replace an inoperative TPMS valve stem sensor with a standard rubber snap-in valve stem and still comply with the "make inoperative" provision. NHTSA's response was that as long as the TPMS part was inoperative before the customer brings the vehicle to the repair business, "a motor vehicle repair business would not be violating 49 USC 30122(b) by removing an inoperative or damaged TPMS sensor and replacing it with a standard snap-in rubber valve stem." However, a repair business that goes on to make any other element of the TPMS inoperative, for example, by disabling the malfunction indicator lamp, would violate the "make inoperative" provision. "This is exactly why our training pro- grams have always stressed the importance of checking the status of the TPMS prior to service," said Rohlwing. "If a valve stem sensor is not functioning prior to servic- ing the tires and wheels, then the retailer cannot violate the 'make inoperative' provision because the system was already inoperative. This increases the importance of documenting an inoperable TPMS prior to any work being performed on the vehicle, especially now that the batteries in the sensors are starting to die." The second scenario focused on the purchase of aftermarket winter tires and wheels and the customer's refusal to pur- chase new TPMS sensors or pay for the labor to transfer the original sensors to the after- market wheels. NHTSA responded that if the TPMS is functioning at the time of the aftermarket tire and wheel purchase, "a service pro- vider would violate the 'make inoperative' prohibition of 49 USC 30122(b) by installing The Chassis Photo courtesy of Huf North America Huf North America Automotive Parts Manu- facturing Corp. offers two universal Intellisens TPMS sensors with two variants (315 MHz and 433 MHz in both metal and rubber valves) to cover a multitude of OE part numbers.