Convert psi and kPa
Type into either field. One psi is exactly 6.894757 kilopascals — kPa is the SI pressure unit, and appears on many import vehicle placards and workshop compressor gauges.
| Typical pressure | kPa | psi | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 180 kPa | 180 | 26.1 | Small car, low placard |
| 220 kPa | 220 | 31.9 | Typical passenger car placard |
| 250 kPa | 250 | 36.3 | Loaded or performance placard |
| 300 kPa | 300 | 43.5 | Light truck / SUV placard |
| 350 kPa | 350 | 50.8 | Heavy load or towing placard |
| 550 kPa | 550 | 79.8 | Light truck sidewall maximum (LT-metric) |
Checking against your vehicle's placard? The full pressure converter covers all five units at once and flags under-inflation against FMVSS 138.
Getting a number you can act on
- 01Type into whichever field you have a reading in
The other field updates immediately, in either direction.
- 02Watch the scale, not just the number
kPa figures are roughly seven times larger than the equivalent psi figure, which is the most common source of a units mistake — 220 looks nothing like 32 at a glance, but they are the same pressure.
- 03Cross-check against the reference table
If a placard reads in kPa and the number looks unusually large or small for a tire, compare it against the common values shown before assuming the gauge or the placard is wrong.
- 04Use the vehicle's placard, not the tire sidewall
The sidewall carries the tire's maximum rating, moulded in by the tire manufacturer. The vehicle's own recommended pressure is on the door jamb placard, and is usually the lower and more relevant figure.
What the calculator is actually doing
Nothing here is proprietary. If you would rather check it by hand, or explain it to someone at a counter, these are the same expressions the tool evaluates.
kPa = psi × 6.89476One psi is exactly 6.89476 kilopascals, by definition of the pascal.
psi = kPa ÷ 6.89476The same relationship reversed.
Why import vehicle placards read in kPa
Kilopascals are the pressure unit SI defines, and manufacturers documenting a vehicle for a global market — built to be sold in dozens of countries from a single specification — tend to default to it rather than maintaining a psi-only figure for one market.
The result is a placard that reads something like 220 kPa front, 230 kPa rear, on a vehicle where a US-market reference might expect to see 32 psi and 33 psi instead. Both describe the same pressure; only the unit differs.
Because the scale is so different from psi — roughly seven kilopascals to one psi — this is one of the pairings where a rough mental conversion goes wrong easily. A gauge reading in psi checked against a kPa placard needs an actual conversion, not an estimate.
PSI to kPa Converter FAQ
How do I convert psi to kPa?+
Multiply by 6.89476. So 32 psi is about 220.6 kPa.
How do I convert kPa to psi?+
Divide by 6.89476. So 220 kPa is about 31.9 psi.
What is 250 kPa in psi?+
About 36.3 psi — a figure that turns up on some SUV and loaded-condition placards.
Why is my placard in kPa instead of psi?+
Because kilopascals are the SI pressure unit, and manufacturers building one specification for a global market commonly default to it rather than a market-specific unit.
Standards and references behind these figures
The arithmetic on this page is fixed, but the boundaries and conventions around it come from published standards and manufacturer guidance. These are the documents they come from, so you can check them rather than take them on trust.
01NHTSA — FMVSS No. 138, Tire Pressure Monitoring SystemsSets the mandatory TPMS warning threshold at 25% below the vehicle placard cold inflation pressure.↗02UN Regulation No. 39 — speedometer and odometer equipmentThe regulation requiring that an indicated speed never falls below true speed, and capping the permitted positive error.↗Convert, then check the tolerance. A converted figure is exact, but the specification it came from was not. Torque specs carry a tolerance and pressure figures are stated cold, so rounding to a value your tool can actually set is normally fine — provided you know which way you rounded and by how much.