Keeping an eye on your car is imperative nowadays, in reality, if you do not do the minimum routine service of it, or if you do not take into account symptoms of abnormality, you strongly risk to see your car getting in bad conditions. This is specifically the theme we are gonna talk about in this article, one of the indicators that most disturbs car owners is the ABS warning light on Subaru Forester. In an attempt to help you analyze this warning light, we will first look at what this ABS warning light corresponds to, then in a second what to do if the ABS light is on Subaru Forester?.

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What does the ABS light on Subaru Forester mean?

We will start our article content with the definition of an ABS warning light on Subaru Forester, for this, in first, we will discover what an ABS is, and next, why the ABS light on your car lights up.

What is the ABS on Subaru Forester?

To start with, it is important to explain to you what the ABS of your Subaru Forester is intended for so that you can understand the rest of this content page. The ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) is a system that prevents the wheels of your car from locking during braking. The objective of this system is to lower 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 Subaru Forester is consisting of several components, 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 Subaru Forester

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The fact is, you can quite easily 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 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 release to prevent the wheels from locking up.

Meaning of an ABS light on Subaru Forester

Now we proceed to the part that you are most certainly more enthusiastic about, meaning of an ABS warning light on a Subaru Forester? To begin with, it is an orange light, so if it is on it suggest that your ABS system is defective. You should be informed that once the ABS warning light is on, the ABS will be put into security mode, so you should change your driving and not take any risks. Here are the different problems that the ABS warning light on your Subaru Forester can indicate:

  • 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 malfunction of one of them causes the ABS light on your Subaru Forester to turn on
  • The ABS hydraulic block of your Subaru Forester: If it is defective it is possible that the indicator light will come on and you will no longer be able to use your ABS.
  • The ABS computer: If the computer has a problem, being the center of all decisions made to run your ABS, the light will inevitably turn on.

What if the ABS light comes on on my Subaru Forester?

We will now proceed to the part where we will try to give you some answers to shut off this light, and thus answer the following question, what to do if the ABS light is on on my Subaru Forester?. The answers will might depend on the failure you are encountering. To begin with, pass your Subaru Forester to the diagnostic tool, if you don’t know how to read a fault code on Subaru Forester, don’t think twice to read our content page which explains the steps to take. Once you have located the origin of your problem, here are the steps to take to solve it and turn off the ABS light on your Subaru Forester:

  • Issue of the ECU or the hydraulic block: It can only be altered, and in this situation, you will have to go through a professional, 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 problem: Once you’ve detected an electrical problem 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 get rid of the problem, otherwise changing a sensor can cost up to a few hundred euros.

If perhaps you have any further questions about the Subaru Forester, do not hesitate to consult our Subaru Forester category.