I bought a 2013 RAV4 LE and purchased a second set of wheels, tires and TPMS sensors (OEM type) back in 2016.
This worked fine and Costco (where I bought both sets of tires) would reprogram them when they swapped out wheels.
When the batteries on my original TPMS sensors started failing I decided to get a cloneable set from Autel so I wouldn't have to mess with reprogramming twice a year.
I purchased 4 MX type sensors and the MaxiTPMS PAD from Amazon back in April 2022 (about $200) and have been trying to get them to work ever since.
The PAD is supposed to be able to program sensors via entered ID number or clone from an existing sensor either loose or on a wheel.
Since I had the winter sensor IDs recorded I just programmed the new MX sensors directly then installed them in the summer set which were already on the car.
The default option said "hex" and I was not sure so I called and waited forever to talk to an Autel rep who didn't seem to know what I was talking about but kept saying "use the default". No work. So I tried programming them with the non-hex selection. Still no work.
I took it down to Costco who was willing to reprogram them for me. They could read the sensors but not upload them to the vehicle system. Their recommendation at that point was to take it to the dealer but I knew all they would tell me is I should buy the OEM sensors.
At this point I figured I had better try a direct clone process.
Dealing with the sensors while in the vehicle is tricky. You have a laptop connected to this USB pad and it tends to pick up sensors on other wheels.
So after messing about with it and getting frustrated I decided to remove each wheel, remove the MX sensor from the wheel, and clone each independently to the winter wheels a good distance away from and vehicles. What a pain but I finally got that done. I tried Costco to get them programmed again but they had the same error as before.
So I put the winter wheels inside the car and had Costco program the winter wheels.
That looked like it was going to work but after a bit of driving the blinking light came on again (I suspect it never worked and failed when it first tried to verify)
I called Autel tech support and waited again forever on the phone and finally got somebody on the line.
He listened to my story and then suggested I get an Autel ODBII programming tool and give that a try. I was not about to go buy another tool that may or may not fix the problem.
I asked for a refund. When I told him I bought the products through Amazon he said there was nothing they would do because Amazon was not an authorized retailer.
I have had good luck with Autel products in the past but I am certainly not impressed with their customer service.
Not sure about next steps. For those who say "just ignore the light" if this car was still mine I would probably do that but my daughter drives it now and I want TPMS to work because I can't check the pressure often.
This worked fine and Costco (where I bought both sets of tires) would reprogram them when they swapped out wheels.
When the batteries on my original TPMS sensors started failing I decided to get a cloneable set from Autel so I wouldn't have to mess with reprogramming twice a year.
I purchased 4 MX type sensors and the MaxiTPMS PAD from Amazon back in April 2022 (about $200) and have been trying to get them to work ever since.
The PAD is supposed to be able to program sensors via entered ID number or clone from an existing sensor either loose or on a wheel.
Since I had the winter sensor IDs recorded I just programmed the new MX sensors directly then installed them in the summer set which were already on the car.
The default option said "hex" and I was not sure so I called and waited forever to talk to an Autel rep who didn't seem to know what I was talking about but kept saying "use the default". No work. So I tried programming them with the non-hex selection. Still no work.
I took it down to Costco who was willing to reprogram them for me. They could read the sensors but not upload them to the vehicle system. Their recommendation at that point was to take it to the dealer but I knew all they would tell me is I should buy the OEM sensors.
At this point I figured I had better try a direct clone process.
Dealing with the sensors while in the vehicle is tricky. You have a laptop connected to this USB pad and it tends to pick up sensors on other wheels.
So after messing about with it and getting frustrated I decided to remove each wheel, remove the MX sensor from the wheel, and clone each independently to the winter wheels a good distance away from and vehicles. What a pain but I finally got that done. I tried Costco to get them programmed again but they had the same error as before.
So I put the winter wheels inside the car and had Costco program the winter wheels.
That looked like it was going to work but after a bit of driving the blinking light came on again (I suspect it never worked and failed when it first tried to verify)
I called Autel tech support and waited again forever on the phone and finally got somebody on the line.
He listened to my story and then suggested I get an Autel ODBII programming tool and give that a try. I was not about to go buy another tool that may or may not fix the problem.
I asked for a refund. When I told him I bought the products through Amazon he said there was nothing they would do because Amazon was not an authorized retailer.
I have had good luck with Autel products in the past but I am certainly not impressed with their customer service.
Not sure about next steps. For those who say "just ignore the light" if this car was still mine I would probably do that but my daughter drives it now and I want TPMS to work because I can't check the pressure often.
