Keeping an eye on your car is fundamental nowadays, in truth, if you do not do the minimum service of it, or if you do not take into account alerts of abnormality, you strongly risk to see your car getting in bad conditions. This is specifically the topic we are gonna talk about in this article, one of the indicators that most disturbs drivers is the ABS warning light on Volkswagen Beetle. In an attempt to help you review this warning light, we will first look at what this ABS warning light corresponds to, then in a second what you can do if the ABS light is on Volkswagen Beetle?.

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What does the ABS light on Volkswagen Beetle signify?

We will start our paper with the definition of an ABS warning light on Volkswagen Beetle, 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 Volkswagen Beetle?

To begin with, it is fundamental to describe to you what the ABS of your Volkswagen Beetle is used for so that you can understand the rest of this article. The ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) is a device 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 Volkswagen Beetle is made from different components, here they are:

  • Speed sensors on each wheel, which will analyze 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 Volkswagen Beetle

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In fact, you can quite easily come to 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 behaviour that ABS allows, 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 Volkswagen Beetle

Now we move on to the section that you are probably more curious about, meaning of an ABS warning light on a Volkswagen Beetle? Firstly, it is an orange light, so if it is on it shows 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 change your driving and not take any risks. Here are the different problems that the ABS warning light on your Volkswagen Beetle can alert:

  • 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 failure of one of them causes the ABS light on your Volkswagen Beetle to turn on
  • The ABS hydraulic block of your Volkswagen Beetle: 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 manage your ABS, the light will inevitably turn on.

What if the ABS light activate on my Volkswagen Beetle?

We will now move on to the section where we will try to give you some solutions to switch off this light, and thus answer the following question, what to do if the ABS light is on on my Volkswagen Beetle?. The solutions will rely upon the failures you are having. Firstly, pass your Volkswagen Beetle to the diagnostic tool, if you don’t know how to read a fault code on Volkswagen Beetle, don’t think twice to go through our article which points out 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 Volkswagen Beetle:

  • Trouble 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 detected 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 resolve the issue, otherwise changing a sensor can cost up to a few hundred euros.

If you wish more tutorials on the Volkswagen Beetle, go to our Volkswagen Beetle category.