Updated at: 23-05-2022 - By: Lucas

Even though the TPMS is a great way to make sure your tyres are always properly inflated, if you can’t find the TPMS reset button, the whole system can stop working.

But where is this annoying button, and what can you do if you can’t find it? More importantly, what’s the difference between resetting the TPMS and learning it again? Here, we’ll go over everything you need to know.

General Tips for Resetting a TPMS Light

We know you’re looking for the TPMS reset button, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you that most of the time, you don’t even need it to turn off the TPMS Light! That’s because the TPMS light should turn off on its own after you put enough air in the tyres and drive 50 miles per hour for at least 10 minutes.

Even going 50 miles per hour for 10 minutes is often too much. Most of the time, all you have to do is slow down and drive for a few minutes for the TPMS to adjust to the new tyre pressure.

This makes sense, since all you’re trying to do is get the system to notice the change in tyre pressure, and it’s the tyre pressure sensor’s job to tell you the current pressure in the tyre.

But if you can’t drive fast enough to get the TPMS light to turn off, you can still do something else, even if you can’t find the TPMS reset button. To reset the whole car, all you have to do is take out the battery and leave it out for about 10 minutes.

When you reconnect the battery, your car has to figure out again how much air is in each tyre. This turns the TPMS light back on.

Possible TPMS Reset Button Locations

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There are a few places in your car where the TPMS reset button could be. Most guides say that it’s under the steering wheel, but that’s not quite right.

That’s because the spot is usually under the AC vent on the side panel that is the farthest to the left. So when you hear “below the steering wheel,” you might not think to look there.

Some other possible places are:

On the actual steering wheel

The dashboard

In the middle of the car

In a high-tech centre console’s “Settings” menu,

Please keep in mind that this will cause the TPMS to re-evaluate the air pressure in each tyre, but it won’t “relearn” the system and it won’t fix a problem with the TPMS itself.

Relearning the TPMS

If you replace a TPMS sensor in one of the tyres, a simple TPMS reset probably won’t fix the problem. Almost two-thirds of vehicles need a tool to reset the TPMS system, and even many that have this feature can only learn one new TPMS sensor at a time. So, you’ll still need a relearn tool if you changed more than one sensor.

Because of this, if you replace a TPMS sensor, it’s usually best to take the car to a repair shop so the system can be retaught. You can buy the tool yourself, but unless you plan to replace the sensors often, it’s unlikely that you’ll save enough money to make it worth it.

But if you do a lot of work on cars and have an OBD-II reader, it will often have a TPMS relearn feature.

What Does It Mean When the TPMS Light Is Flashing?

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If your TPMS light is flashing, you can press the button or take out the battery as many times as you want, but it won’t fix the problem. That’s because a blinking TPMS light means that something is wrong with the system.

Most of the time, this is caused by a broken TPMS tyre pressure sensor, but it could be caused by other things as well. You’ll need an OBD-II scan tool to figure out what’s wrong. This will let you look at the readings from each sensor and the voltage in the system as a whole.

Final Tips

Even though a TPMS reset button can’t fix every problem, you have nothing to lose by giving it a try. After reading our guide, you should have been able to find your TPMS button or at least find a way to get by without it.

But if resetting the TPMS doesn’t make the light go out, it’s time to get an OBD-II scan tool or go to an auto repair shop to find out more. Even if you don’t care much about the TPMS function, you need to make sure that it isn’t caused by a bigger problem.