Terrible experience fixing a flat. Why is this a thing?

[Guyfromthenorth]

So I picked up a screw in my rear passenger tire. No biggie, I'll plug it for now as there are no tire shops in town. I was pleased to see a nice well defined jack point on the rear axle now btw. So I pull the tire, pull the screw, plug it, and grab my 12v inflator and fire it up (truck engaged to accessory to activate the 12v socket).

So after a few minutes I hear my truck honk 3x quickly. Almost like a "friendly" honkhonkhonk. I also see my 4ways are now on. Ok. Maybe the inflator is hauling enough battery that there's a warning sounding so i don't run it low. I go around and see no error messages on the dash other than the tire is now reading 0bar of course. So I start the engine and walk back around the truck to keep inflating.

Honkhonkhonk! Wtf? OK. The key is in my pocket maybe it doesn't like that. I toss the key on the console and note there are no new messages on the cluster.

Honkhonkhonk.......HONKHONKHONK. 4 ways flashing away. Horn honking like mad. Now people walking by are stopping and asking if everything is OK. Yes it's fine i have no idea why my truck is so mad. HONK HONK HONK. Now a police cruiser has slowed down to watch. Shut up truck just let me fix the flat. I'm parking directly beside the ground floor apartment window and am glad it's not 2am.


HONK HONK HONK.

The entire time I fix the flat. Engine on. Engine off. Doesn't matter.

I get the tire inflated. Installed. No more honk.


1) Can this be disabled?
2) Who is the idiot I can publicly shame for coding this ridiculous idea into the trucks firmware?!

 

[rule18]

Wow. Maybe it's a "TPMS is far away from the receiver" honk? Because you didn't know that already. I have never heard of this, but I'm definitely subscribed.

 

[Travelin Ram]

I’ll be watching to see if anyone knows about a specific cause for this particular situation.

Ten months in I am unimpressed with FCA software. Mine has been fine mechanically but the software glitches abound.

 

[Neil E]

when I bend over with my key in my pocket, my truck does this quite often. I'm pushing the lock button with my leg or jeans, maybe this is what is happening?

 

[Jm91rs]

There is a tire fill assist option in your U-Connect. Mine was turned off by default and I left it that way, but here's what I read about it and I'd guess this is why yours is beeping:

Operation:
• The horn will chirp to let the user know when to stop
filling the tire, when it reaches recommended pressure.
• The horn will chirp three times if the tire is over filled
and will continue to chirp every five seconds if the user
continues to inflate the tire.
• The horn will chirp once again when enough air is let
out to reach proper inflation level.
• The horn will also chirp three times if the tire is then
under-inflated and will continue to chirp every five
seconds if the user continues to deflate the tire

Now why it's going off if still reading 0, I'm not sure. I'd fill it up to whatever you think seems full and drive it a bit to let it get a reading.

 

[rule18]

There is a tire fill assist option in your U-Connect. Mine was turned off by default and I left it that way, but here's what I read about it and I'd guess this is why yours is beeping:

Operation:
• The horn will chirp to let the user know when to stop
filling the tire, when it reaches recommended pressure.
• The horn will chirp three times if the tire is over filled
and will continue to chirp every five seconds if the user
continues to inflate the tire.
• The horn will chirp once again when enough air is let
out to reach proper inflation level.
• The horn will also chirp three times if the tire is then
under-inflated and will continue to chirp every five
seconds if the user continues to deflate the tire

Now why it's going off if still reading 0, I'm not sure. I'd fill it up to whatever you think seems full and drive it a bit to let it get a reading.

Good thing that's not honkhonkhonk annoying..

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Probably, because not many people fix there flat on the vehicle, Instead of using the spare tire, but there should be a way to disable the TPMS when doing this.

 

[yakalong]

Interesting, I guess this weekend if I have time I'm going to have to play with this feature to see how it works.

 

[Guyfromthenorth]

Thanks for some of the ideas here. The reading on TPMS was going up as I refilled the tire, from 0bar to the recommended 2.3-2.4bar. I also thought maybe it was because my door was open the whole time the truck was running and the inflator was going but after I finished inflating the tire and put it on the truck the honking stopped regardless of the door.

The key was either in my pocket or on the console, neither changed my truck freaking out the entire fix so I wasn't hitting it in my pocket. The honking hasn't returned (and the plug is obviously holding). It just seemed to utterly spastic to me, like my truck was a cartoon character running around screaming that the sky is falling while I'm literally in the process of fixing it. I just don't understand what purpose all the noise could serve in any sense of safety. The chime on the cluster saying my tire was low (when the leak first started) was totally reasonable and not embarassing. Once I began fixing things though ohhhhhh boy. What an event.

 

[OC455]

Honkhonkhonk.......HONKHONKHONK. 4 ways flashing away. Horn honking like mad. Now people walking by are stopping and asking if everything is OK. Yes it's fine i have no idea why my truck is so mad. HONK HONK HONK. Now a police cruiser has slowed down to watch. Shut up truck just let me fix the flat. I'm parking directly beside the ground floor apartment window and am glad it's not 2am.

This is GOLD.

 

[PoMansRam]

That is weird! Must be a 5th gen thing.

I've picked up screws, nails and miscellaneous metal bits in the tires of on my 2017 and 2019 and was able to plug them myself every time, but they always seem to be at such an awkward position on the tread that I pull the wheel to get it done. Both trucks have the spongy, balloon like 17" tires that take some elbow grease to prep and plug.

 

[retired]

Your compressor will work better if you cut the 12v plug and put some alligator clips on it and hook it directly to your battery.

 

[Ricktara]

Just a thought. You said you took the tire off the truck to fill it and did not put it back on until it was full. Maybe wherever you were with it was far enough away from the TPMS receiver to confuse it?

 

[Narg]

Software seems to be the worst part about all trucks these days, no matter who makes it. I used to think the old Silverado I had was possessed.

 

[LemmysDad]

Good of your truck to let you know the wheel was off you might’ve driven away without it.

 

[LarryA]

I read about this in the Wrangler forums - I didn't think it was added to Ram software. The idea is to make life easier for folks who air down on the trail. When they return and start airing their tires back up the Jeep gives three beeps of the horn to let em know they are at correct pressure and can move to the next tire.

It sounds like this was included in the 5th gen software as well. I suspect somewhere in the menu system you can disable this "feature"

 

[rvance]

I really, really wish you had it on video.

 

[mtwofeathers]

Well first thing is it is a notice that vehicle engine is warm with remote
On your uconnect screen, just hit the "controls" icon, then "settings" icon. Look for remote start in the list, u can turn off the horn in there.


But also ya went the wrong way on fixing the flat.

 

[Salty Ram]

So I picked up a screw in my rear passenger tire. No biggie, I'll plug it for now as there are no tire shops in town. I was pleased to see a nice well defined jack point on the rear axle now btw. So I pull the tire, pull the screw, plug it, and grab my 12v inflator and fire it up (truck engaged to accessory to activate the 12v socket).

So after a few minutes I hear my truck honk 3x quickly. Almost like a "friendly" honkhonkhonk. I also see my 4ways are now on. Ok. Maybe the inflator is hauling enough battery that there's a warning sounding so i don't run it low. I go around and see no error messages on the dash other than the tire is now reading 0bar of course. So I start the engine and walk back around the truck to keep inflating.

Honkhonkhonk! Wtf? OK. The key is in my pocket maybe it doesn't like that. I toss the key on the console and note there are no new messages on the cluster.

Honkhonkhonk.......HONKHONKHONK. 4 ways flashing away. Horn honking like mad. Now people walking by are stopping and asking if everything is OK. Yes it's fine i have no idea why my truck is so mad. HONK HONK HONK. Now a police cruiser has slowed down to watch. Shut up truck just let me fix the flat. I'm parking directly beside the ground floor apartment window and am glad it's not 2am.


HONK HONK HONK.

The entire time I fix the flat. Engine on. Engine off. Doesn't matter.

I get the tire inflated. Installed. No more honk.

Man, that is funny (well, not the flat, but the story) and a really good write-up. I had a visual picture in my mind of the whole thing taking place as I read it and just kept laughing. I'm sorry that happened to you, but the read was funny - no kidding! Even now I still have this stupid grin on my face. But, I wasn't aware of that option either and just haven't had an issue that would have warranted that kind of repair. It's never good to have your truck mad at you...

 

[Anthony Kalos]

They should explain this feature in the Owner’s Manual !!!
Oh wait... I believe that they did but nobody ever reads it !