I have a 2012 Ford Fusion SEL. Shortly after we had our winter tires put on in December 2017, the tire pressure sensor fault light came on. At that time, I was driving in snowy conditions. The next day, the weather cleared, and after a short drive the tire pressure sensor fault light went off. Next snowstorm, same thing happened. And then this past week, driving in snowy conditions, the same thing happened again.
All three times, it has happened in snowy conditions. And then, once the roads clear, after a short drive the light goes off.
The first time it happened, I called the Ford dealership (a 40-minute drive away) and described the sequence of events. I asked if I should bring the car in. They told me it wouldn’t do any good, because it’s unlikely the fault code would be stored, and they would need the code to diagnose the problem. My husband is puzzled as to why snowy conditions would cause this to happen. Any suggestions?
Have you checked the air pressure in all 5 tires?
The cold while snowing could be just enough temperature change to reduce air pressure enough to trigger the TPMS
The tire pressures have been fine all three times. It’s been colder at other times than the snowy days, and the tire pressure sensor fault light never came on. As the dealership noted to me, it’s a fault with the sensor itself, not the tire pressures. That would be a different warning light.
Update: This situation was finally resolved in November, when I took the car in for routine maintenance and had the winter tires put back on. The dealership “retrained the sensors” (Code 9168). However, shortly after I drove home, the tire pressure sensor light came on again.
A week later I took the car back to the dealership. This time they did a more thorough check and found a fault code (9025) in the left rear TPMS sensor. They replaced the sensor, and I’ve had no issues with the tire pressure sensor light coming on since then.