The Autel 1-Sensor can be programmed to replace 99% of the vehicle TPMS sensors on the road today.
Every Autel product tackles a specific frustration or challenge faced by automotive shops, and the 1-Sensor stands out as the prime example of this commitment.
Like every good superhero, the 1-Sensor has a rather detailed (no one said boring) origin story. It starts with the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) becoming a mandated feature on passenger vehicles in the United States. Though a few automakers had integrated TPMS into their vehicles earlier, Porsche in the 1980s and Chevrolet in the early 1990s, it was not until Congress passed the TREAD Act of 2000 that TPMS, as they say, went mainstream.
From 2008 onwards, automakers were required to install a system that alerted drivers if tire air pressure dropped below 25% of the OE’s recommendation. To its credit, Congress left the development of this system to the engineers, but as with seemingly all vehicle systems the engineers had different strategies to how best to implement this safety feature in their vehicles. Some early systems (and some still today) employed Indirect monitoring that use the ABS’ wheel speed sensors to measure the rotation for each tire (an underinflated tire with a smaller diameter will rotate faster). Most manufacturers went with direct monitoring.
Direct TPMS use a pressure sensor to gauge the air pressure and communicates that air pressure to the vehicle. Today’s direct sensors are valve stem sensors while older versions were sometimes banded sensors that were clamped to the wheel well. Inside a typical valve stemmed sensor are a pressure sensor, an analog-to-digital converted, microcontroller, a system controller, an oscillator, a low-frequency receiver, a voltage regulator, and a battery.
Autel released its first TPMS tool in 2009 with the MaxiTPMS TS101 that could activate the sensor instrumental to the testing and relearning the sensor to the vehicle. Next up was the TS408 that could activate and read the sensor ID, plus display the relearn procedure for every vehicle. It was a significant efficiency breakthrough to display on tool the relearn procedure because previously technicians had to search (often in a several hundred-page reference manual) for the specific OEM relearn instructions that often differ by model and model year.
The TS408 was a hit with the technicians, but it was the release of the programmable MX-Sensor, available in 315MHz or 433MHz version, and quickly afterwards the release of the dual-frequency 1-Sensor that put smiles on shop owners faces across North America.
This was the TPMS solution they needed. Prior to a programmable sensor, shops had two options: stockpile preprogrammed sensors for every vehicle brand, make model and year or make sure you have your local parts dealers under favorites on your phone hope they have the right sensors in stock and can deliver them quickly.
The Autel 1-Sensor can be programmed to replace 99% of the vehicle TPMS sensors on the road today. And because we develop the programming software, TPMS tools, and programmable sensors, our coverage to aftermarket is the fastest in the industry, and our reliability is unmatched. So, it comes as no surprise that the Autel 1-Sensor is consistently the best-selling TPMS sensor in the aftermarket.
It’s a game changer. I can keep 20 or 40 in stock. If I needed one, it’s there, if I need four, they are there,” says Tom Palermo, co-owner of Philadelphia’s Preferred Automotive. “All the various vehicles we work on—the wide range of vehicles we work on—to be able to have just one sensor to cover all those vehicles, it’s a game changer.”
Today, Autel’s robust TPMS product line featuring an array of tools, tablets, sensors, valves, and tire wear examiners, speaks to its commitment to the tire and rim industry and to every technician that faces their customer asking what that strange looking light on their dash means.
Palmero sums up the main reason he chooses Autel: “One of the most reassuring things about Autel tools is that when I come in in the morning and I see the tools in my technicians’ hands, I know that they have the right tool to do the job. I also know that if we find ourselves in a jam as we do as shop people, I’m probably going to get out of that jam with an Autel tool.”
