New Altima ad with guy filling his tires...

Apparently when you fill your tires, the new Altima beeps and flashes its lights when you're at the right (I would assume factory) tire pressure. And if you're a douchebag who doesn't know how to use a tire pressure gauge (and who doesn't adjust your tire pressures according to style of driving/typical passenger load/etc), your car will tell you when your pressures are right...

What next....an alarm to tell you when your wiper blades are worn out, just in case you can't see it in front of your face?

More crap to cause problems. Although it struck me as interesting. Pitty the neighbor who checks it weekly.

Yeah, I don't get that one. Putting aside how easy it is to check tire pressure, how often do you even have to do it? And they think this is such a revolutionary feature that they built a whole commercial about it?

If a domestic carmaker did this, they'd be getting blasted for being out of touch....

The lemmings love techie gadgets and when you only have a slim grip of market share compared to the others.....

It's actually a fairly simple reuse of sensors already in the car. No extra complications, just a bit of extra code in the computer. Where's the problem?

I like the way my BMW checks tire pressure. It uses the ABS signal to see if one wheel is running faster than it should. If it is, then there's a pressure problem on that corner. Again, just making use of information already in the car. It's not sensitive enough to tell if a tire is 5 psi down, but it will let you know if you're starting to lose significant pressure somewhere.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a sec before we go any further.

You guys have to remember, we're not the masses.

I'm opposed to any new gimmick that makes horns blow.

I'm actually with Synthetic (and Keith, if I read his comment correctly) on this one. I can't even get SWMBO to check pressures, and most of my non-gearhead friends are absolutely astonished that their "it just feels funny to drive" crap goes away after I shove four quarters into the air pump at the QuikTrip.

Working at a Luxury Dealership I'm just surprised to see someone actually check their tires in the first place!

GM did this ten years ago iirc. When resetting the older (ABS based, iirc) tire sensors you would air them up to spec and they would beep. You'd go around the car LF RF RR LR and it would beep when each was right, and the sensors would reassign.
That is if I remember right. I know for a fact that they would beep all 4 when resetting without the handheld tool though

Keith Tanner wrote: It's actually a fairly simple reuse of sensors already in the car. No extra complications, just a bit of extra code in the computer. Where's the problem? I like the way my BMW checks tire pressure. It uses the ABS signal to see if one wheel is running faster than it should. If it is, then there's a pressure problem on that corner. Again, just making use of information already in the car. It's not sensitive enough to tell if a tire is 5 psi down, but it will let you know if you're starting to lose significant pressure somewhere.

Exactly. It's not like the extra 10 lines of code used to make this feature weigh anything, nor is it adding another system that could fail.

Not that I think it's worth it's own commercial, though.

Yeah, this is pretty small in the big scheme. Who gives a E36 M3? If two out of ten people now actually put correct air pressure in their tires, I'm happy.

Keith Tanner wrote: It's actually a fairly simple reuse of sensors already in the car. No extra complications, just a bit of extra code in the computer. Where's the problem?

TPMS sensors can be shockingly far off.

One episode that sticks in my mind is the Cayenne where the owner came back all pissed off because we got all of her tire pressures wrong. The gauge said they were correct, the dashboard had the tire pressures 2psi high to 3psi low, none of them reading actual.

On the bright side, as pointed out, at least she was paying attention to tire pressure, which is something 90% of the driving public doesn't even think about, let alone check.

Keith Tanner wrote: It's actually a fairly simple reuse of sensors already in the car. No extra complications, just a bit of extra code in the computer. Where's the problem?

It's not a problem per se.....it's just the continued dumbing/lazying down of Americans, especially with regard to cars. Which, in turn, dumbs down their owners to the point where they literally can't even do the simplest thing (like check the air in their tires using a gauge).

Add to that the fact that when new cars have all this technology to do everyting for the masses, those of us who don't want/need all this crap on the car will end up having to pay for it anyhow if we ever want to buy a car again. I have stupid TPMS on both of my newer cars (well, technically only on the WRX's winter wheels). I"m quite certain that the system added a couple hundred bucks to the price of the car. And I'm quite certain that I don't need a berkeleying dummy light to tell me if I get a flat tire. But I have no choice.

I'm fine with options and gimmicks like this if people want to pay for them. But I don't want all this little stuff to be standard equipment on a car I want to buy though, since I'm not a big fan of paying for stuff I don't want or need, personally. And it always ends up as standard equipment.

Osterkraut wrote: Exactly. It's not like the extra 10 lines of code used to make this feature weigh anything, nor is it adding another system that could fail.

certainly true. That said, I bet the car companies will charge more for the car having that feature, even if it costs them nothing to add....

At least the Quest and Rogue do it too, I assume most all of the '12+ Nissans do. I've used it, it's convenient and a second or two quicker when filling tires for the eleventybillion customers who come in this time of year stating "there's a funny looking light with an exclamation mark on my dash, why does my brand new car have a light on? WTF is wrong with my new car, what ever it is it better be covered under warranty, I demand to talk to someone in charge!" God forbid anyone actually looks at their manual. At leas having the horn honk is some what entertaining when dealing with the vast number of mouth breathers that drive these things.

• Lee

Teh E36 M3 wrote: Yeah, this is pretty small in the big scheme. Who gives a E36 M3? If two out of ten people now actually put correct air pressure in their tires, I'm happy.

If the details don't matter, we might as well all just drive Nissan Versas. 99% of the posts on here on GRM deal with subject matters that don't matter at all in "the big scheme" of automotive travel.....IDK. It was just an observation.

Tom_Spangler wrote: If a domestic carmaker did this, they'd be getting blasted for being out of touch....

bingo

In 1966, you could get automatic headlights in a Cadillac. Now it's a fairly common feature. Is it dumbing down Americans, or is it simply something that people appreciate because it makes their lives easier? We all benefit from people running around with the correct tire pressure.

corytate wrote: GM did this ten years ago iirc. When resetting the older (ABS based, iirc) tire sensors you would air them up to spec and they would beep. You'd go around the car LF RF RR LR and it would beep when each was right, and the sensors would reassign. That is if I remember right. I know for a fact that they would beep all 4 when resetting without the handheld tool though

Couldn't have been ABS-based if it was beeping when the car wasn't moving. ABS sensors can only measure wheel rotation.

I'm sure we could go back to every feature on our cars and say "well the Model-T had wood-spoked wheels, now aluminum wheels are pretty common"

I'm not against convenience features. I'm just against them being standard. I don't need my 4Runner's rear hatch to have an electric motor to latch it shut for the last inch after I've already shut it. But that's how they come, so I have it. And someday it will break and I'll have to spend money to fix it.

I love how my WRX has manual seats (a 2009 model). Because I can adjust it just fine with three hand levers, rather than have three motors attached to buttons that will inevitably break, weigh more, and cost more (oh, that happened on my Nissan Maxima).

Auto-on headlights? WRX doens't have those either. I'm quite capable of knowing when it is dark in front of my car and I can't see the road, and to flick my finger deftly to turn my headlights on.

Do your Miatas have power vert tops (rhetorical, since I'm sure they all have hardtops :) )? Because that's a convenience feature that I'm betting you aren't interested in having due to the weight/compexity/cost factor, right.

Yeah, that's not a tire pressure sensor beeping the horn, but all these "convenience features" that aren't needed add up in initial costs, repair costs, and the inability of people to do things for themselves. IDK, just my view on things.

irish44j wrote: It's not a problem per se.....it's just the continued dumbing/lazying down of Americans, especially with regard to cars. Which, in turn, dumbs down their owners to the point where they literally can't even do the simplest thing (like check the air in their tires using a gauge).

I agree 100%. I have posted a few rants about the not-so-gradual separation of driver and car. I like my cars cheap and my automotive nannies non-existent. I nearly had a stroke when I read about the 370z and it's built in throttle blip feature...to me things like that only serve to produce more people who drive "flat out".

Can't wait 'till one of the neighbours buys one.

A BB glued into the valve stem cap is awesome.

Stem won't leak when the cap is off. Screw the cap on, BB pushes lightly on the valve core and presto! Instant, confusing slow leak.

My Miatas all have hardtops, yes. And only one even has a softtop installed. I wouldn't own a power hardtop Miata because you can't put a rollbar in one.

But every car I own with automatic headlights has them turned on. And I like ABS. And I like cruise control. I'm okay with simple or clever improvements on cars, or ones that make a big difference like ABS and fuel injection. I know it's not a popular way to be on this forum, which is mostly Luddite in flavor. But programming the computer to let you know when the tires are inflated? There's no reason to get your panties in a wad.

You're all talking about the car. Seems like it was actually worth a full commercial, wasn't it?

I'm still waiting for my car to notify me that I need to do a HPDE.

Keith Tanner wrote: My Miatas all have hardtops, yes. And only one even has a softtop installed. I wouldn't own a power hardtop Miata because you can't put a rollbar in one. But every car I own with automatic headlights has them turned on. And I like ABS. And I like cruise control. I'm okay with simple or clever improvements on cars, or ones that make a big difference like ABS and fuel injection. I know it's not a popular way to be on this forum, which is mostly Luddite in flavor. But programming the computer to let you know when the tires are inflated? There's no reason to get your panties in a wad. You're all talking about the car. Seems like it was actually worth a full commercial, wasn't it?

ABS = something that is improved from what a human can do in the modulation of brakes in a slippery panic stop. Cruise Control = maintains constant speed better than any human can (resulting in better fuel mileage and less speeding tickets) Auto headlights, at very least, could help forgetful people I guess (I drive with my headlights on all the time anyhow, so it's moot for me). Fuel Injection = better fuel delivery precision, tuning, and economy than (most) carb setups. TCS/VSC = though I hate to admit it, they can correct a dangerous panic move better than an unexpecting driver can.

All of these things are an improvement in either performance, safety, or in doing something better than a human can do.

Horn beeping when you have the right tire pressure when filling your tires is not an improvement over the accuracy of a good tire pressure gauge. The end result of this "feature" is exactly, precisely, the same as it would have been 50 years ago. If someone wasn't going to check their air pressure with a gauge, they're not going to check it this way either anyhow.

Power seats are a convenience feature. What if the next Miata offered ONLY power seats? What if the next Miata had electric motors to open the hood and trunk as standard features? Many people would like this. I'm betting you would not. But you'd still have to pay for it, if it was standard equipment.

(then again, you'd probably make a manual hood and trunk retrofit kit and make tons of money on it.....:) )

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it's all academic though. It's not so much the arcane tire pressure beep system that I really care about. Though that would annoy me since my tires are usually above OEM spec so I guess it would have to beep a lot at me.... It's the fact that this is SUCH a big deal in the commercial for the new Altima. Don't worry about the engine, transmission, brakes, or any other feature of the car. IT BEEPS WHEN YOU FILL UP THE TIRES WITH AIR!!! YOU ARE A DUMB AMERICAN AND THIS LITTLE TRINKET IS THE REASON YOU SHOULD BUY THIS CAR.

What they should do is advertise the fact that it looks just like a Maxima, and has the same engine, but costs a lot less.....

oh, and in case you haven't figured it out - it's sunday night. Arguing minutiae is about all I have to do this evening other than watching football.