On my previous vehicle ('07 Compass), I kept the alignment up and good care of the tires. However tires age, when they do, they can start loosing air, but other structural problems happen. I kept having to refill the air on my left front tire (which got moved all around the vehicle due to many tire rotations), and I'd use the monitoring system to keep me abreast. I'd check it every few days. Once it got down to 35 PSI, I'd go fill it back to 42 psi. Well, one day I was driving home on the NYS Thruway and my luck had it, that tire blew out. I was doing at-speed with traffic, ~72 mph, and boy, that was a fun run. NOT! I remember trying to keep the vehicle from flipping. Steer axle tire blowouts are not for the faint of heart.
Luckily NO damage to the rim OR vehicle, just needed a new TPMS sensor because it got shredded up. I don't know how I got that lucky, but I did. I pulled over to the side, got my small floor jack and threw my spare on, right as soon as a trooper pulled up. Told him all was good, and I was on my way.
So yes, these sensors are helpful. Dummy me should've been wiser and not let my tires get that old, even though the tread was well within it's acceptable limits.