Help guide
Tire pressure light on? What it means and what to do
Updated October 8, 2026
A solid tire pressure light means at least one tire is low on air, usually 25 percent or more below what your car calls for. Pull over somewhere safe, look at all four tires, and add air soon. It is not a light to drive around with for a week.
Call (307) 365-2527Solid light or blinking light?
| What the light does | What it means |
|---|---|
| Comes on and stays on | A tire is low. Check the pressure in all four and add air. |
| Blinks for a minute or so at start-up, then stays on | The warning system itself has a fault. A tire may be fine, but the system cannot watch them. Have a shop look at it. |
| Comes on in the morning and goes off after you drive | The cold dropped your pressure overnight. The tires warmed up and the pressure came back. They are still low. Add air. |
Why it comes on when the weather turns cold
Air shrinks when it gets cold. A tire loses about 1 PSI for every 10 degrees the temperature drops. So a tire that was set right on a 70 degree day can be 4 PSI low on a 30 degree morning with nothing wrong with it.
That is why so many of these lights come on in October and November. The first cold nights of the year catch tires that were already a little low.
What to do, step by step
- Look first. Walk around the car. If one tire looks lower than the rest, or you see a nail, that is a leak, not the weather.
- Find the right number. It is on a sticker inside the driver's door, and in the owner's manual. Do not use the number on the side of the tire. That one is the most the tire can hold, not what your car needs.
- Check them cold. Pressure reads right when the car has been parked for about three hours.
- Add air to all four. Gas station air pumps work fine. Set each tire to the number on the door sticker.
- Drive a few miles. On most cars the light goes off on its own once the pressure is right.
How to reset the tire pressure light
On most cars you do not have to. Fix the pressure and the light turns itself off after a short drive. Some cars have a reset button or a menu setting. The owner's manual shows where. If the pressure is right in all four tires and the light is still on after a day, the system needs a shop.
When it is more than the weather
- One tire is much lower than the other three
- The light comes back a day or two after you added air
- You can see a nail or a screw in the tread
- The tire looks flat or the car pulls to one side
Any of these means a leak. A small one in the tread can often be repaired where the car sits. Do not keep driving on a tire that keeps going down. Michelin says even a short distance on a flat tire can ruin it from the inside.
Where these facts come from
Checked on October 8, 2026.
Related help
- Nail in your tire: can you drive on it, and can it be fixed?Found a nail in your tire? Leave it in, check the air, and look at where it went in. A nail in the tread can usually be repaired. One in the sidewall cannot.
- Can you drive on a flat tire?Only far enough to get out of danger. Driving on a flat tire can ruin the tire from the inside and bend the wheel. Here is what to do instead.
- Flat tire repairA repair on the spot when the tire can be saved.