Hi All, I have a 1.2 Fiesta 16 plate, just recently I have got a error on the display Tyre sensors not detected check manual. I know the tyres have not got the sensors inside. I have plugged a fault finder into the car and no errors? What i have noticed though is after I have parked up at, when I get back in the warning has gone off. Also i have noticed that it takes roughly 15 to 20 mins motorway driving for it to come back on again? Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

If it was a generic OBD2 reader then it won't pick up anything that doesn't trigger the engine warning light. Need Forscan to check for non-engine related codes.

Have you owned the car for long? How do you know the tyres don't have sensors inside?

Hi Tom,

Firstly, apologies for the late reply. The Fiesta has been in the family for a few years now. My son owned the car before we had it off him, he is a mechanic and knows his stuff, he said it does not have the sensors in the tyres and it works off the ABS. I have checked the the tyre pressures, reset the tyre pressure setting on the display, even tried driving at a constant speed to recalibrate them to no avail? What i find confusing is that if the warning light and message comes on and I reset it, after roughly about 8 miles every time the warning comes back on?

54 minutes ago, Paul Saxton said:

Hi Tom,

Firstly, apologies for the late reply. The Fiesta has been in the family for a few years now. My son owned the car before we had it off him, he is a mechanic and knows his stuff, he said it does not have the sensors in the tyres and it works off the ABS. I have checked the the tyre pressures, reset the tyre pressure setting on the display, even tried driving at a constant speed to recalibrate them to no avail? What i find confusing is that if the warning light and message comes on and I reset it, after roughly about 8 miles every time the warning comes back on?

Thank you for the extra information.

The car certainly thinks there are sensors for hat message to come up. And 2016 seems late for a Fiesta not to have sensors.

The only suggestion I can offer is to use Forscan to check which type is enabled, DDS or TPMS. If it's set to TPMS then changing to DDS should prevent the message from coming up. Though we wouldn't usually expect it to change, unless there had been any replacement modules fitted lately.

Could it be a dirty tone ring or absence sensor? Or possibly a dragging brake which would cause 1 wheel to heat up? 1.2 zetec bog standard so I would not have thought it would have the sensors in tyres?

1 hour ago, Paul Saxton said:

Could it be a dirty tone ring or absence sensor? Or possibly a dragging brake which would cause 1 wheel to heat up? 1.2 zetec bog standard so I would not have thought it would have the sensors in tyres?

No, it can't be any of those things otherwise the ABS warning light would be on.

Tyre sensors became standard on Fiestas from around 2015.

Tbh m8 they are pain turn them off with forscan

Had any new tyres fitted ? Son had 4 tyres put on his car, he noticed the error come up on his dash, after resetting it came back on, he later found the tyre garage had clumsily damaged one of the valves, caused by the steel tyre lever.

On 2/2/2026 at 10:32 PM, Paul Saxton said:

Hi All, I have a 1.2 Fiesta 16 plate, just recently I have got a error on the display Tyre sensors not detected check manual. I know the tyres have not got the sensors inside. I have plugged a fault finder into the car and no errors? What i have noticed though is after I have parked up at, when I get back in the warning has gone off. Also i have noticed that it takes roughly 15 to 20 mins motorway driving for it to come back on again? Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

fiesta 2016 definitely come with tpms sensors. batteries are dieing on most 2016-2018 ford cars.

Hello Paul did you ever solve this ? My son has a 2014 Focus ...which definitely has dds and no tyre pressure sensors. The same warning has started coming on ........ interested to see if you have found the cause. Thanks

On the Focus MK3 TPMS became standard from production date 05-05-2014.

So if the car was manufactured before 05-05-2014 is has te (optional on most trim levels) DDS tyre deflation detection system. If the car was manufactured on or after 05-05-2014 is has TPMS as standard on all trim levels.

Many thanks for your interest. The car is a 1.6 duratorq TDCI.

The issue is a puzzle to us. The car is a 64 plate and from memory was first registered Dec 2014 ( although would need to double check). So it is about the age at which the batteries for tpms sensors would be u/s. But the dashboard display does not indicate tyre pressure. It displays a warning that a sensor has failed. The handbook in the car ( I assume is original) definitely says it has DDS/ABS. I understand that if it is TPMS there should be a TPMS receiver/controller installed somewhere to receive the radio signals ..... any idea where it would be ? (If it is DDS then presumably it won't have one) .... Many thanks in anticipation

The Focus MK3/MK3.5 does not display the tyre pressures measured by the TPMS sensors. It only generates a warning if the pressure inside one of the wheels becomes lower as the treshold value. It also does not indicate which wheel/sensor is triggering the warning.

The functionality of the DDS and TPMS systems on the Focus MK3/MK3.5 is basically identical. It only differs in the measurement method (ABS sensors VS TPMS sensors).


The MK3/MK3.5 TPMS system does not have a separate receiver for the signal. This functionality is fully integrated into the BCM.

Many thanks for your time in replying ...... so what you are saying is that the drivers handbook supplied with car is incorrect ..... ( I will ask my son to look at the print date ).

So the BCM for the DDS and TPMS are v likely to be different unless Ford developed one that could handle both ?? Any idea how I can find out which BCM is which type ?? By model no ? If so, where is the BCM located ?? Is there any other way I can find out whether the car thinks it has DDS or TDMS ...... the software used would be different.

The warning indication was coming on a few months before the car developed a puncture ..... which overrode the sensor missing message and was indicated correctly by the system .......

Again many thanks for your time

The later MK3/MK3.5 BCM that supports TPMS does also still support DDS.

If the car has TPMS and the sensors are on their way out, you can just disable TPMS and enable DDS in the vehicle configuration.

Again many thanks .... the inevitable question .....How does one disable the TPMS and enable the DDS ( if it isn't already ??) and if it is a OBD reader job can you recommend one ( not too expensive) that will access/ read / change the BCM ??