But just because your ESC light turns on while you’re driving doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a problem. It is not safe to drive with an ESC light on. To this day, I still don’t know how or why it happened – but double-check the battery. The vehicle still started, but it kicked up issues in the ESC system. I once spent half a day troubleshooting an ESC system that errantly kicked on at high speeds only to discover the problem was a battery with a dead cell. While this is a little more on the rare side, it can happen, especially near the wheel speed sensors where the wiring is exposed.įinally, always verify the power and the battery when checking these sensors. The sensors themselves might be working perfectly fine, but if there’s a break in the wiring between the sensor and the ECM, nothing is going to work correctly. This is completely normal, but without the steering angle sensor telling the ECM what’s happening, it’s going to look like one side of your wheels is slipping while the other side has perfect traction. That’s because as you turn, the outside wheels are going to spin faster than the inside wheels. This sensor works in tandem with the wheel speed sensors to ensure that each wheel is spinning at an appropriate speed according to the direction you’re going. Faulty Steering Angle SensorĪnother sensor that controls your ESC system is the steering angle sensor. Verify that each wheel speed sensor is working correctly by hooking up a scan tool and monitoring each sensor’s speed readings while driving. Your vehicle’s ESC system works by monitoring each wheel speed sensor, and then adjusting the brakes to fit any discrepancies that it notices.īut if one of the wheel speed sensors is completely offline or giving errant readings, then your ESC system will have problems. If there is a problem within the system, it almost always comes down to a faulty wheel speed sensor. You’d be surprised how many times this fixes the problem and prevents unnecessary headaches. And when you turn the ESC system off, the ESC light turns on.īefore you take your vehicle to the repair shop, look up how to turn the system on and off and give it a try. System Is Turned Offĭid you know that in most vehicles, you can turn the stability control system off? While you don’t want to do this unless you’re trying to drift, it is something you can do. Below, we have highlighted the four most common reasons why your vehicle’s ESC light may be on. It can also be caused by a bad steering angle sensor or a wiring issue.īut while those are the most common causes of an ESC light, they’re not the only things you need to look out for. The most common cause of an ESC light is either that the system is turned off by mistake or a faulty wheel speed sensor. Some type of electronic stability control is required for all modern vehicles, however the type of ESC system the car uses depends on the car manufacturer. If there’s a problem in the system, the light will stay on, and you’re not likely to notice anything – although it’s possible the system could kick on at any point depending on the fault. You’ll feel your vehicle applying the brakes to individual wheels, and the light is going to flash on and off, but it won’t stay on. If it is working as it should, you’re going to notice. When this happens, it either means that there’s a problem somewhere in the system, or everything is working as it should, and it’s keeping you from skidding across the road. The ESC light is there to alert you when there is a problem in the electronic stability control circuit, or to tell you that your stability control system is currently in use.
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