A local city proudly mentioned on the news that they had a system that could track TPMS sensors. Pretty much all cars after 2008 uses TPMS sensors that each broadcast a unique identifier to the car. They aren’t hard to remove, and you can buy valve stems that fit your car (0.452 hole) at any auto parts store.

Yeah, a couple problems with that:

You’re going to have a tire pressure light on forever.

There’s a reason these are mandated. They’re critical safety (and efficiency) systems.

As always, these are systems of convenience, and the alternative is to check your tire pressures every day before leaving home.

Older cars use a wheel speed sensor-based TPMS. It’s not as effective or reliable but it also doesn’t emit any signals that can be read by other devices.

I managed to drive cars for 30 years without a TPMS sensor and the only time I ever had a to check the pressure on a tire, was when I knew i had a leak and didn’t have time to fix it. I can also tell by the way my car drives if a tire is soft. I also had an air pump in my car powered by a cigarette lighter adapter that I could fill my tires.

My current car, from 2019 doesn’t have one. I’ve managed to own it 7 years (this week) without needing to check the pressure 2500 times.

The assertion you need to check your pressure everyday without a TPMS system is ridiculous.

The fact that you’ve gotten away with it is not proof that it’s unnecessary. The fact that it was legally mandated is good evidence that it is. These systems save lives, no question about it.

Legal != effective or ethical, that is an unbelievably stupid argument for TPMS.

LOL who said anything about ethics? This is an unbelievably stupid strawman.

indeed, you said this:

The fact that it was legally mandated is good evidence that it is.

but their point was laws are not always made with good intentions and safety in mind. that’s not to say TPMS is required for secret surveillance, but that there being a law for it does not immediately mean there’s good purpose for that law.

indeed, you said this

Indeed, that had nothing to do with ethics.

Do you believe law and ethics are separable? Does your “these systems save lives” not speak to the very reasoning employed to codify an ethical position into the law of the land?