Tire pressure sensor malfunction detection method and system

A tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) pressure sensor malfunction detection method consists of checking that, when the vehicle is in motion, the pressure values measured by the pressure sensor include small variations or oscillations, such that the value of a measured pressure data parameter is larger than a threshold corresponding to the regular noise of the pressure transducer. A system to detect malfunction of the pressure sensor includes, besides the pressure sensor and other standard components of a TMPS, a motion sensor, a motion data processing, a pressure data processing and analysis unit, a malfunction decision possibly a wheel localization unit and a malfunction warning signal transmitter. Among others, a particular embodiment of the invention discloses a TPMS wheel unit that is self diagnosing its pressure sensor malfunction.