Watching your car is fundamental in these modern times, indeed, if you do not do the minimum maintenance of it, or if you do not take into account signals of abnormality, you strongly risk to observe your car getting in bad conditions. This is exactly the topic we are going to talk about in this article, one of the symptoms that most perturbs car owners is the ABS warning light on Mazda 3. 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 Mazda 3?.

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What does the ABS light on Mazda 3 indicate?

We will commence our article with the meaning of an ABS warning light on Mazda 3, for this, in first, we will discover what an ABS is, and soon after, why the ABS light on your car lights up.

What is the ABS on Mazda 3?

To begin with, it is vital to explain to you what the ABS of your Mazda 3 is utilized for so that you can understand the remaining of this guideline. The ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) is a system that prevents the wheels of your car from locking during braking. The aim 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 Mazda 3 is made up of several parts, here they are:

  • Speed sensors on each wheel, which will review 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 Mazda 3

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In fact, you can simply experience 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 behaviour that ABS allows, it will optimise braking to the maximum by linking 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 Mazda 3

Now we move on to the section that you are certainly more interested in, meaning of an ABS warning light on a Mazda 3? Firstly, it is an orange light, so if it is on it suggest that your ABS system is defective. You should be aware that as soon as the ABS warning light is on, the ABS will be put into security mode, so you should adapt your driving and not take any risks. Here are the different problems that the ABS warning light on your Mazda 3 can signal:

  • It could be a simple short circuit, a damaged wiring harness, a defective relay or fuse. Use a pressure gauge to check it.
  • A malfunctioning ABS sensor: A breakdown of one of them causes the ABS light on your Mazda 3 to turn on
  • The ABS hydraulic block of your Mazda 3: 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 run your ABS, the light will undoubtedly turn on.

What if the ABS light activate on my Mazda 3?

We will now move on 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 Mazda 3?. The solutions will depend on the failure you are going through. Firstly, pass your Mazda 3 to the diagnostic tool, if you don’t know how to read a fault code on Mazda 3, don’t be reluctant to read our guideline which explains the steps to take. Once you have located the origin of your issue, here are the steps to take to solve it and turn off the ABS light on your Mazda 3:

  • Issue 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 identified an electrical issue with your manometer, if it’s only a fuse or a relay, count around 10€ maximum, in any other case you’ll have to repair the wiring harness.
  • A defective sensor: Occasionally a simple cleaning of the sensors will be enough to fix the issue, in any other case changing a sensor can cost up to a few hundred euros.

If you want more guides on the Mazda 3, go to our Mazda 3 category.