Fletcher Jones MB service advisor confirms it! My car does not have TPMS. Is it good? It depends on how you look at it. Good, simply because it forces me to check my tire pressure every month without relying on this electronic gizmos (which I religiously do, anyway in all my cars) . Bad, because with that kind of money spent, MB should have the system installed...

 

You might be able to get them to activate the passive one. Its better than nothing.

 

You don't want it. It is a waste of money upfront and a waste of money when they fail.

 

Yyeeesssss...I feel much better!

 

I had TPMS in my '04. (Read & displayed actual pressure in each tire). I had many failures of the system & it needed constant attention. (Sometimes it gave "Visit Workshop" Messages, sometimes instead of pressures it would display "---" instead of a numerical tire pressure value. Furthermore, it was a "clunky" system that after resetting took miles & minutes to redisplay the tire pressures. It wasn't a system that required no user input as in American cars) When I ordered the 2004 car I wanted it, but in my '07 it was no longer an option (most than likely because MBUSA was deleting everything in the car that gave problems or garnered poor marks by American consumers.

I'd rather it not be in the car than it be there & give me problems. I'd rather have a car in which everything that's in it works fine, rather than a car loaded with stuff that doesn't work all the time. I used to say back then that if an Airbus 320 was made by MBs parts suppliers, people would be falling out of the sky dead on impact.. thats how undependable some of the electronics and options were.

I'm sure some of the other owners had no problems with it, but NO TPMS system was available in USA bound cars in early '07 for a reason. Later on MB introduced a much simpler system in USA bound cars (which was active on cars bound for Canada) that would simply notify the driver of "Low Tire Pressure", without telling you which tire was low. It used the ABS system to note when a wheel's rotational speed was different than the others due to low tire pressure causing a different tire diameter & rotational speed, so you'd check all of the tire pressures to locate the underinflated one. After a while, this built in option was activated on the USA cars.

I feel that i a tire is that low on air, you will notice decreased stability, a pull, noise or crappy handling, or some other undesireable driving experience, so to me I'm fine with what I have (or don't have). I check TPs every month to 6 weeks. Just looking at the tire side wall/shoulder isn't sufficient.

 

+1. stupid things. have it on our 06 yukon denali with the readouts and the system's given problems twice. however, the system on the yukon is way better than the ones my friends had. one friend had an 06 bmw x5 and it would just show low pressure but not say which one and it broke like 5 times. my other friend has an 07 honda crv and it's always going on and off.

i would so not pay for this option.

 

MB changed from BERU to Siemens, a 2004 would have the Beru system and the 2007 would have a Siemens system. The Beru implementation should have been more advanced, allowing instant warning when ignition is switched on (if there was a tyre issue) while I've understood the new ones need more time.

I had the Beru system on a W211 and it was working great with the original sensors, also with a second set for winter tyres but started to give errors later on. The system appeared to be working fine but still gave a "visit workshop" message even if sensor batteries were supposed to be fine. I don't have experience about the Siemens system and its reliability.

 

I have the Siemens system and it has been reliable for the 1.5 years I have had the car. But, the US system does not display individual tire pressures. I have TPMS on a Chevrolet and it does give individual tire pressures. I see no value in the TPMS unless I can see individual pressures.
Larry

 

I recently installed this aftermarket Hella system.

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/detail.jsp?ID=51

So far, it's great. It gives real-time readings on all 4 wheels with temperature readings as well.

 

Due to the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire fiasco, TPMS became mandatory on all USA sold cars in MY2007 and forward. It was an option on Mercedes prior to that.

It's pretty expensive to deal with, as the sensors on the newer versions are battery powered and hence have a finite service life. In addition, fitting of winter tires on a 2nd set of wheels requires a second set of wheel sensors as well, something that will increase cost of this by up to $400.

Ford Explorers, BTW, were the #1 vehicle turned in under "cash for clunkers," which turned out to be a windfall for those poor owners.

 

M103-W124: Do not feel bad my brother! This system is not what its cracked up to be. To add another potential risk to you all, I had the cable leading from the RH front antenna chewed through by a rodent at some stage. I have reconected the cable and the system is now operative but I dont believe its worth the bucks and the aggro - after all, if you have it you want it to work, and that inevitably means bucks in the long term. Cheers-

 

+1, i agree

i had a cousin that bought a brand new 911 a year back. on the way home from the dealer the cluster gave a message something like brake error visit workshop. he took it back and after looking at the car the service dept realized that rodents got into the car during shipping or something and chewed up a bunch of the electrical wiring