Paying attention to your vehicle is very important in these modern times, indeed, if you do not do the minimum maintenance of it, or if you do not take into account signs of abnormality, you highly risk to see your car getting in bad conditions. This is precisely the subject we are gonna discuss in this article, one of the symptoms that most disturbs car owners is the ABS warning light on Ford Focus. In an attempt to help you analyze this warning light, we will first take a look at what this ABS warning light corresponds to, then in a second what you can do if the ABS light is on Ford Focus?.

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What does the ABS light on Ford Focus indicate?

We will begin our article content with the meaning of an ABS warning light on Ford Focus, for this, in first, we will see what an ABS is, and next, why the ABS light on your car lights up.

What is the ABS on Ford Focus?

To begin with, it is important to explain to you what the ABS of your Ford Focus is used for so that you can understand the rest of this guideline. The ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) is a system that prevents the wheels of your car from locking during braking. The purpose of this system is to optimise the braking distance of a car by preventing the wheels from locking, sliding on the road and you losing control of your car. The ABS system of your Ford Focus is made from several parts, here they are:

  • Speed sensors on each wheel, which will evaluate if one of the wheels locks up.
  • A hydraulic system and valves that will manage the pressure of the pads on the discs to manage the braking power of the car
  • A computer that is the control center of your entire ABS system as well as the ABS light of your Ford Focus

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In reality, you can with ease feel how your car’s ABS works. If you have to steer, you will find that your car will brake by pawing, this is exactly the actions that ABS enables, it will optimise braking to the maximum by relating the phases of pressure on the brake discs and the phases of discharge to prevent the wheels from locking up.

Meaning of an ABS light on Ford Focus

Now we go forward to the section that you are most certainly more interested in, meaning of an ABS warning light on a Ford Focus? First of all, it is an orange light, so if it is on it shows that your ABS system is defective. You should be conscious that as soon as the ABS warning light is on, the ABS will be put into safety mode, so you should change your driving and not take any risks. Here are the different problems that the ABS warning light on your Ford Focus can signal:

  • It could be a simple short circuit, a broken wiring harness, a defective relay or fuse. Use a pressure gauge to verify it.
  • A malfunctioning ABS sensor: A breakdown of one of them triggers the ABS light on your Ford Focus to come on
  • The ABS hydraulic block of your Ford Focus: If it is defective it is possible that the indicator light will occur and you will no longer be able to use your ABS.
  • The ABS computer: If the computer has a trouble, being the center of all decisions made to operate your ABS, the light will obviously come on.

What if the ABS light activate on my Ford Focus?

We will now go forward to the section where we will try to give you some solutions to shut off this light, and thus answer the following question, what to do if the ABS light is on on my Ford Focus?. The solutions will depend on the deficiencies you are enduring. First of all, pass your Ford Focus to the diagnostic tool, if you don’t know how to read a fault code on Ford Focus, don’t be reluctant to examine our guideline which explains the steps to take. Once you have uncovered the cause of your issue, here are the steps to take to solve it and turn off the ABS light on your Ford Focus:

  • Problem of the ECU or the hydraulic block: It can only be altered, and in this case, you will have to go through a specialist, but if it’s dead, it could cost you around 1000€ to change the ECU and 1500 to 2000€ if you have to change both of them.
  • Electrical issue: Once you’ve spotted an electrical issue with your manometer, if it’s only a fuse or a relay, count around 10€ maximum, otherwise you’ll have to repair the wiring harness.
  • A defective sensor: Sometimes a simple cleaning of the sensors will be enough to remedy the issue, otherwise changing a sensor can cost up to a few hundred euros.

If perhaps you have any additional questions about the Ford Focus, do not hesitate to consult our Ford Focus category.