TPMS on cars and pickups...what the deal?

[Ronald Blue]

The early systems were pretty basic but the later versions are both accurate and tell you specifically what each tire has for pressure. You can monitor manually and visually as well and you should just to verify you have correct pressures. Running a tire under inflated is the fastest way to ruin one. I've not had an issue with any of the vehicles equipped with it in the last 10-15 years. Most tire shops can reprogram if they rotate tires. If they need to but I think most vehicles have the ability to relearn the positions without any external programming required these days.

[Jim Becker]

That's true, Ron. Rotation generally isn't a problem. One difference between various implementations is whether or not the TPMS system only stores four specific devices or automatically recognizes them merely by frequency. The Grand Cherokee I previously drove would accept any wheel with either the OEM TPMS or equivalent without any programming...if it was the correct frequency it just worked. (They changed the frequency in 2016 or 2017 slightly making older TPMS not compatible with newer vehicles and vice versa) Some other vehicles can only store four specific TPMS and if you replace one or more, programming is required. I believe our Subarus are like that, but I could be wrong.

[Lee DeRaud]

Both my 2012 Pilot and 2016 Accord have tpms sensors in the wheels.

The Pilot might (being pre-2013), but I assure you that the Accord does not. It switched to an indirect system starting in 2013, using the ABS wheel-speed sensors to detect slight changes in tire rolling radius.
(It's described on page 475 of the owner's manual, BTW.)