TPMS battery died. Any way to salvage the car?
08-23-12, 11:44 PM
#31
Lead Lap
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: CA
Posts: 734
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That sounds like a raw deal. I'd just push the car into the nearest river and use the insurance money to buy a bicycle since you apparently have the only Lexus in the world worth less than the cost of scrap metal.
Seriously, if you're going to get upset about this as a maintenance cost, downgrade to something less complicated. Or wait till you see what the dealer's going to charge you for the spark plug swap and REALLY blow your lid.
Seriously, if you're going to get upset about this as a maintenance cost, downgrade to something less complicated. Or wait till you see what the dealer's going to charge you for the spark plug swap and REALLY blow your lid.
My day keeps getting better!
08-24-12, 08:54 AM
#36
Lexus Champion
Let's all chill. Why do we have these TPMS systems on our cars? Because the average Jack or Jill is too lazy, that's right, LAZY to maintain proper pressures in their tires. A few people get killed with poor tire maintenance and our friendly Federal government sees a need to have these systems put on all of our cars. That's the result of the lousy way we vote, or don't even vote in many cases. $800 over 7 years comes out to about $2 a week if you have it done at the dealer, much less if you shop around. That doesn't sound exorbitant to me. I'm amazed at people who will put $40k down for a car and then cry when they have to pay for maintenance. Let's just move on, there is nothing to see here.
08-24-12, 09:26 AM
#38
Filing a lawsuit over something as small as this is hilarious.. and hoping for a class-action lawsuit, even more so. Big deal, so Lexus glues the battery to the sensor. The sensors have a 7 year lifespan. If you can't budget for that, sell your car and buy an older Honda. They don't have TPMS sensors. You have to realize, you didn't buy the car brand new. Things like this are going to happen.
If you think this is bad, imagine what people are doing with other high-dollar products that have the same problem, and NO SOLUTION. Namely, unibody cellphones that do not allow you to swap the battery out, like the HTC One X (my phone), or the Apple Iphone 4S. Now, consider how many people own an Iphone4/4S. I'm sure many of them have come to the same conclusion that you have, that this design is a ploy to extract more money from customers by charging X amount of dollars for a battery replacement. Yet no class-action suits, or even small claims suits have been filed. Why? Because this is a non-issue. You're simply making it out to be an issue because you can't afford/don't want to pay for the "right" fix. Seriously, just get the two sensors from Sewell, use the CL discount, and get them programmed and installed for less than half of the cost you were originally quoted.
If you think this is bad, imagine what people are doing with other high-dollar products that have the same problem, and NO SOLUTION. Namely, unibody cellphones that do not allow you to swap the battery out, like the HTC One X (my phone), or the Apple Iphone 4S. Now, consider how many people own an Iphone4/4S. I'm sure many of them have come to the same conclusion that you have, that this design is a ploy to extract more money from customers by charging X amount of dollars for a battery replacement. Yet no class-action suits, or even small claims suits have been filed. Why? Because this is a non-issue. You're simply making it out to be an issue because you can't afford/don't want to pay for the "right" fix. Seriously, just get the two sensors from Sewell, use the CL discount, and get them programmed and installed for less than half of the cost you were originally quoted.
08-25-12, 06:50 PM
#42
Do yourself a favor and get rid of the car dude....
If you can't afford a $200 bill for a repair or even a $50 bill then you shouldn't have gotten a "LUXURY" vehicle to start with. Just because the price of a used one now was in the range of what you could spend (which is about the price of a new regular car like a civic or corolla) doesn't mean you can afford the car. Maintenance is part of having the car and you need to think about what you need to spend to keep the car running good. Not only on regular maintenance but also with things that need replacing, specially on a 6-7 year old car... things WILL need to be replaced and what you would have spent on a part for a regular car like say, a corolla, you probably need to double it or triple it for the Lexus. So, if the Lexus is something you can't afford right now, sell it and buy something you CAN afford before you destroy the life of the Lexus and end up having no car and no money.
If you can't afford a $200 bill for a repair or even a $50 bill then you shouldn't have gotten a "LUXURY" vehicle to start with. Just because the price of a used one now was in the range of what you could spend (which is about the price of a new regular car like a civic or corolla) doesn't mean you can afford the car. Maintenance is part of having the car and you need to think about what you need to spend to keep the car running good. Not only on regular maintenance but also with things that need replacing, specially on a 6-7 year old car... things WILL need to be replaced and what you would have spent on a part for a regular car like say, a corolla, you probably need to double it or triple it for the Lexus. So, if the Lexus is something you can't afford right now, sell it and buy something you CAN afford before you destroy the life of the Lexus and end up having no car and no money.
