A Car Feature I Would Rather Not Have

My first car was basic.  Radio, single strap seat belts, manual windows, manual mirrors and cigarette lighter.  No A/C nor airbags. The only amenity was automatic transmission. 

There has been a lot of amenity creep since my first car.  Electric windows, electric mirrors, ABS brakes, cruise control,  air bags, CD players, blue tooth, which we have in our newest 2012 car.   While I don't really "need" some of these, I am willing to have then.   We still don't have GPS nor car cameras.

However, one feature we have that I view as unnecessary, because of the cost to replace when it stops work.  That feature is the pressure monitor for tires.  Recently, the warning light went on for low tire pressure.  I checked all four tires and they were at target pressures.   It turns out the battery for one sensor had gone dead.  Cost to replace at the dealer?   $260 for one or $740 for all four, since all are likely to fail soon also.  Huh?  That's almost the coast of replacing 4 tires with top of the line tires.

In all my years of driving, I only had couple times that a tire pressure sensor would have been helpful.  In one case, I drove a couple miles with a flat tire that occurred at my home.  In another case, I had a flat tire in a parking lot and called AAA to change the time, which took about an hour of wait time. Otherwise, I generally have slow leaks due to a nail and I discovered the issue way before it is flat.   

My only other direct experience with a tire pressure sensor was on a rental car that flashed a warning when we drove to a mountain top in Hawaii.  The cold temperatures caused the tire pressure to go down, but the sensor didn't go off immediately when we got back to sea level.  In this instance, it showed which tires were low.  Quite annoying for a few days since we didn't have easy access to capability to put air in the tire.

If I could eliminate this feature on our next new car purchase, I would.  For reference, I did find a less expensive replacement option: Costco will replace the sensor batteries for about $60 dollars a tire and they don't charge for the initial inspection.

Disclosure: I was not compensated by Costco for this post.

For more on Crossing Generations check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor car amenity advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC