Please refer to Hyundai Tucson TSB numbers 05-50-014 and 08-SS-005.

I took my Hyundai Tucson into the STealership on Friday morning, October 3, 2008 for a broken valve stem on one of my wheels.

When I called to make the service appointment, the first question that I was asked was if the valve cap that is on the stem is a factory installed valve cap. I thought that is was and answered accordingly. When the service tech inspected the wheel, he found that the valve cap is, in fact, an aftermarket cap.

I was informed that since the cap is aftermarket, the broken stem would not be covered under warranty. The dealer then told me that the new part would be the entire Tire Pressure Monitor Sensor (TPMS) would have to be replaced at a cost to me of $55 for the sensor, one hour labor to install it, and an additional $35 to place the computer scanner on the vehicle to clear the TPMS light on the dash.

I said that I would not pay that. I also said that I have seen the Technical Service Bulletin on this problem and that the valve stem is replaceable without replacing the entire sensor. I was told that is not the way that they do things at that dealership.

The dealer then volunteered to place a standard valve stem in my wheel, minus the sensor, just to get a full size wheel/tire back on the vehicle but the TPMS light would remain on. I agreed to this since I do not fully trust the compact spare tires and the handling of the vehicle is very bad with these. The service manager returned in about one half an hour to say the vehicle was ready and handed me an invoice of $15! I was so infuriated that I could hardly see. $15 for sticking a $2 at most valve in my wheel! I was told that they rebalanced the wheel and that is why the invoice was so high. I paid the invoice just to keep things from getting ugly and demanded that my TPMS sensor and broken valve be returned to me and that I was leaving.

I then went to NAPA Auto Parts, Advance Auto Parts, and Auto Zone. All three stores had a listing for the correct replacement valve stem after being told that they did not have a listing. I ended up purchasing a replacement valve stem from Advance Auto Parts for $12 and went to the closest store belonging to the tire dealer where I purchased my tires.

My tire dealer installed the valve stem and sensor for me but told me that Hyundai has the TPMS system locked and they cannot access it with their computer system to reset it. They charged me $8 to rebalance my wheel and apologized for not being able to reset my light. On my way home, the TPMS light reset itself as the system and wheel sensor started communicating.

All in all, 8 hours total time and $20 to repair my Tucson.

All is well now.

sounds like you should have found another dealership... they wouldnt correct the valve stem because the CAP was "aftermarket"? that's a load of hogwash... you should have just taken the cap off and said "the cap fell off"

thank God my '06 Sonata doesnt have TPMS... more trouble than its worth.. although the wife's '07 Tuc obviously does...

I wish I had another dealer that is closer to me. This one is 45 from my home and the next closest is about an hour and 15 min. from me.

I forgot to put in my previous post that the valve cap bottomed out on the stem and also corroded in place.

I read in the vehicle documentation that the system is supposed to set a pressure warning light after the tire pressure drops 25% from the pressure on the door tag. The tag pressure is 30 psi. 30 divided by four is 7.5. So the light is supposed to come on at 22.5 psi. I have checked the tires before and they would only have 20 psi and no light. I don't believe that the system works.

Here is a pic of the stem components.

Here is a pic of just the valve cap.

Here is another pic of the valve cap looking inside of it.