Can Forscan deactivate the TPMS system?

[19Walt93]

Yep. Thank the people who never even look at their tires, Ford’s poor selection of a tire for the Explorer and making a bad psi recommendation for said tire, and the politician’s desire to “do something” to sate the general population.

Many of the safety devices and warning labels we have are because someone was stupid enough to do it. Since we aren’t allowed to let Natural Selection solve the problem, here we are and they are allowed to live long enough to reproduce, thus further dumbing down the general population.

Close but no cigar. Ford chose the Firestone ATX which was a good tire- unless it was produced by the one plant(Aitken,I think) that used their own specs instead of the specs the other plants used. Firestone wasn't Firestone, it was part of Bridgestone. Even then, the ATX's were fine as long as the pressure was maintained. The Ford recommended 26 psi caused outside edge wear but it wasn't unsafe. We always used 32 psi because Yankees hate to buy tires. People who had places like Jiffy Lube "service" their vehicles and never checked the tire pressure between oil changes rode around on underinflated tires and caused tire failures. The weakness in the tires would survive just fine with normal( ie, not Jiffy dub) maintenance.
I still don't like TPMS, anti stop brakes, lane keeping, automatic braking, brake shift interlocks, or any other idiot enabling tech that costs us all money.
Want to be safe driving? Put you "smart" phone down. Buckle up. Stay sober. Stop tailgating. Stop playing with your "infotainment system". Extract your head from your anal orifice. Pay F'ing attention to your driving.

 

[JohnnyO]

Close but no cigar. Ford chose the Firestone ATX which was a good tire- unless it was produced by the one plant(Aitken,I think) that used their own specs instead of the specs the other plants used. Firestone wasn't Firestone, it was part of Bridgestone. Even then, the ATX's were fine as long as the pressure was maintained. The Ford recommended 26 psi caused outside edge wear but it wasn't unsafe. We always used 32 psi because Yankees hate to buy tires. People who had places like Jiffy Lube "service" their vehicles and never checked the tire pressure between oil changes rode around on underinflated tires and caused tire failures. The weakness in the tires would survive just fine with normal( ie, not Jiffy dub) maintenance.

I had a set of the offending Firestone tires on my first Ranger, a 1999.
The tires that blowed up were Firestone ATX's in one specific size (235/75-15) made at one specific factory and installed on one specific vehicle (Explorers).
Other sizes and 235's installed on other vehicles were not a problem but they replaced them all anyway.
Ford called for 26 psi in the rear tires of Explorers to lessen the likelihood of a rollover, so the tires would simply lose traction and slide instead.

True story, which Walt will appreciate:
The defective Firestones were made at one specific factory and identified by a serial number on the tire beginning with the letters "VD".
JohnnyO calls the Ford dealer: "My tires got VD on them."
Service writer: "You should be more careful where you drive."

I'm anal about my tire pressure and rotation and despite that I had one Firestone ATX on my Ranger than was nearly bald at 12,000 miles. The other tires where all fine and evenly worn. I always wondered if it was a bad one and would have blown up if it was on the rear of an Explorer.

 

[Snoranger]

I don't think the TPMS can be disabled, but I am pretty sure that in NJ, it can pass inspection with the light illuminated on the dash.

Allow me to quote my buddy who is a supervisor at an inspection station... “as long as your check engine light isn’t on and you have a windshield for me to put a sticker on, you’ll pass.”

 

[Roert42]

The one thing NJ is weirdly lax on, vehicle safety inspections.

Maybe it’s because they are done buy government employees who can’t loose their jobs.

In Pa the mechanics hood the license, if you lose your inspection license it’s a lot harder to get a job as a mechanic.

Pa you will fail for TPMS light, but not abs or traction control. ABS systems are down right deadly when they don’t work right.

 

[JohnnyO]

In Pa the mechanics hood the license, if you lose your inspection license it’s a lot harder to get a job as a mechanic.

Pa you will fail for TPMS light, but not abs or traction control. ABS systems are down right deadly when they don’t work right.

I live in PA and the TPMS light was on in my old Sport Trac for years and I put a piece of black tape over the light. No mechanic ever said a word about it, passed inspection every time. Maybe the tape wasn't obvious.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I had a set of the offending Firestone tires on my first Ranger, a 1999.
The tires that blowed up were Firestone ATX's in one specific size (235/75-15) made at one specific factory and installed on one specific vehicle (Explorers).
Other sizes and 235's installed on other vehicles were not a problem but they replaced them all anyway.
Ford called for 26 psi in the rear tires of Explorers to lessen the likelihood of a rollover, so the tires would simply lose traction and slide instead.

True story, which Walt will appreciate:
The defective Firestones were made at one specific factory and identified by a serial number on the tire beginning with the letters "VD".
JohnnyO calls the Ford dealer: "My tires got VD on them."
Service writer: "You should be more careful where you drive."

I'm anal about my tire pressure and rotation and despite that I had one Firestone ATX on my Ranger than was nearly bald at 12,000 miles. The other tires where all fine and evenly worn. I always wondered if it was a bad one and would have blown up if it was on the rear of an Explorer.

Dad ran 35 and had two sets blow belts.

Being the tightwad he is he kept them for augers where they don't really go anywhere and thus had two sets to turn in when the recall dropped.

 

[sgtsandman]

Close but no cigar. Ford chose the Firestone ATX which was a good tire- unless it was produced by the one plant(Aitken,I think) that used their own specs instead of the specs the other plants used. Firestone wasn't Firestone, it was part of Bridgestone. Even then, the ATX's were fine as long as the pressure was maintained. The Ford recommended 26 psi caused outside edge wear but it wasn't unsafe. We always used 32 psi because Yankees hate to buy tires. People who had places like Jiffy Lube "service" their vehicles and never checked the tire pressure between oil changes rode around on underinflated tires and caused tire failures. The weakness in the tires would survive just fine with normal( ie, not Jiffy dub) maintenance.
I still don't like TPMS, anti stop brakes, lane keeping, automatic braking, brake shift interlocks, or any other idiot enabling tech that costs us all money.
Want to be safe driving? Put you "smart" phone down. Buckle up. Stay sober. Stop tailgating. Stop playing with your "infotainment system". Extract your head from your anal orifice. Pay F'ing attention to your driving.

What fun is that if I can’t drink and text while driving? People need to pay attention to where I’m at, regardless of what side of the road I’m on!

As far as the tire thing. It was certainly a combination of issues. No one person or entity was solely at fault. Ford may not have known about the problem(s) with the one factory but they did know about the psi issue. If the tread edges are wearing faster than the middle, the psi is too low. I’m sure the psi recommendation was made to make the ride more comfortable for the customer.

Which leads back to the customer not doing their part and blaming everyone else other than themselves, or the family doing it for them if they are dead. Now WE all get to pay for it.

 

[19Walt93]

What fun is that if I can’t drink and text while driving? People need to pay attention to where I’m at, regardless of what side of the road I’m on!

As far as the tire thing. It was certainly a combination of issues. No one person or entity was solely at fault. Ford may not have known about the problem(s) with the one factory but they did know about the psi issue. If the tread edges are wearing faster than the middle, the psi is too low. I’m sure the psi recommendation was made to make the ride more comfortable for the customer.

Which leads back to the customer not doing their part and blaming everyone else other than themselves, or the family doing it for them if they are dead. Now WE all get to pay for it.

The low tire pressure was an attempt to make the Explorer-basically a Ranger station wagon- "ride" like a passenger car to make the SUV more attractive to former car buyers instead of having a more truck-like "ride". Other than tire wear and sloppy, hard cornering, it would have been fine if the pressure had been maintained at the correct psi and if Firestone was still really Firestone, not Bridgestone. I put "ride" in quotes because I think it's a ridiculous concept. I want my vehicles to hit each bump once, not float over them, bob, and wallow like a Buick.

 

[19Walt93]

Allow me to quote my buddy who is a supervisor at an inspection station... “as long as your check engine light isn’t on and you have a windshield for me to put a sticker on, you’ll pass.”

Not in NH it won't. If defective equipment causes an accident, injury, or death, the tech who signed the sticker is criminally liable.

 

[19Walt93]

We made a ton of money replacing Firestones under the recall. I hired a young guy from a local tire shop and he'd mount and balance 10 sets of 5 tires in a day but his attitude "caused some dissention in the shop", as his former employer put it. Properly maintained ATX's would easily go over 50k on an Explorer or F150, the Goodyear RSA's we put on a bunch of them were on the warning bars by 30,000 miles. Some people would get all giddy if we offered Michelins, about half would come back and tell us how great they rode, the other half would complain about sloppy handling from the typical Michelin soft sidewalls.

 

[Roert42]

I live in PA and the TPMS light was on in my old Sport Trac for years and I put a piece of black tape over the light. No mechanic ever said a word about it, passed inspection every time. Maybe the tape wasn't obvious.

There are a lot of weird rules. Like you can get failed for the CEL bulb being out, even if there are DTC.

Could be as long as the "light" is not on, it's ok.

The rules are probably all written by people who have no idea the difference between an alternator and a carburetor.

 

[Snoranger]

Not in NH it won't. If defective equipment causes an accident, injury, or death, the tech who signed the sticker is criminally liable.

We don’t have safety inspections or pre ‘96 emissions inspections. We only have OBDII, plug and play emissions inspections.

 

[09fx4guy]

Inspections can be a pain, some of the people there do not care very much about anything. I have multiple stories, but here is the best one.

I remember when NJ had safety inspections. I had my 92 Explorer at the time and took it in (probably around 2007). They put it on the dyno machine where they speed it up. Turns out I picked up a bolt in the tire and it kept clicking as it went around. I failed for it. I was not happy, so I went back to the parking lot, put the full size spare on, and got back in line. When I went to go through again, I failed, because the odometer had not changed (they do not go by the .1 factor, just whole numbers). The inspector got snippy so I politely asked him if he remembered me from 30 minutes ago, then asked for his supervisor. When I explained to him and showed him that the two failed reports were from 30 minutes apart, he laughed and told me to drive around the block to get it to change, then come back and he would pass me, which fortunately he did.

 

[sgtsandman]

The low tire pressure was an attempt to make the Explorer-basically a Ranger station wagon- "ride" like a passenger car to make the SUV more attractive to former car buyers instead of having a more truck-like "ride". Other than tire wear and sloppy, hard cornering, it would have been fine if the pressure had been maintained at the correct psi and if Firestone was still really Firestone, not Bridgestone. I put "ride" in quotes because I think it's a ridiculous concept. I want my vehicles to hit each bump once, not float over them, bob, and wallow like a Buick.

This why my 2019 Ranger rides like it does. Not the tires this time nor the springs. The dampening of the shocks is to light. I’m definitely buying stiffer shocks when these ones wear out. I never understood the affinity people have with their vehicles “floating” along as they drive down the road.

 

[ryan]

Inspections can be a pain, some of the people there do not care very much about anything. I have multiple stories, but here is the best one.

I remember when NJ had safety inspections. I had my 92 Explorer at the time and took it in (probably around 2007). They put it on the dyno machine where they speed it up. Turns out I picked up a bolt in the tire and it kept clicking as it went around. I failed for it. I was not happy, so I went back to the parking lot, put the full size spare on, and got back in line. When I went to go through again, I failed, because the odometer had not changed (they do not go by the .1 factor, just whole numbers). The inspector got snippy so I politely asked him if he remembered me from 30 minutes ago, then asked for his supervisor. When I explained to him and showed him that the two failed reports were from 30 minutes apart, he laughed and told me to drive around the block to get it to change, then come back and he would pass me, which fortunately he did.

My jeep kept failing because it "did not have a computer" according to the guy there. LIke for whatever reason, their OBD scanner just wouldnt work with my jeep. Not sure how they thought I was able to drive it in