There will be times that you leave the door ajar. The word ajar simply means "slightly open." Often, too, it doesn’t take much to compromise the latching in your door. Sometimes just a bit of wayward fabric can lead to your car door not closing properly. Or there could be corrosion in the latching mechanism. If you are in a safe position to stop the vehicle and identify the open door, you should close that door as soon as possible to avoid the door potentially flying open.
Is that always the case, though? Well, no. Here are things that can cause your Door Ajar Light to come on for no apparent reason:
- The door switch could be stuck in the “closed” position.
- The anti-theft system could have shorted out.
- The dome light could have shorted out.
- There could be a short in any of the door switches leading to the indicator light.
- Exposed wires could be causing the light to stay on.
While these options are much less likely, the above reasons may explain why the light is on if you can't identify an open door. But in most cases, the likely cause of your Door Ajar Light being on is that your door is ajar. Is it safe to drive like that?
If you drive with doors ajar, here are a few things that could happen:
You could fall out of your car and into traffic, losing control of your vehicle and causing great harm to yourself and others.
Your passengers could fall out of the vehicle.
The door could fly open at the worst possible moment and hit a pedestrian, a cyclist, or another vehicle.
Obviously, driving with your Door Ajar Light on is not safe, and we can’t say this too often. If you are convinced that your doors are properly closed, though, the issue is most likely a malfunction.
