The ABS light on dashboard lights up sporadically and then goes off. What does this mean?
My car has 221562 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.
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ABS is the acronym for Anti Lock Braking System. It’s a safety feature that uses computer control to prevent individual wheels from locking up under hard braking. A wheel that is sliding will not steer, so ABS fixes the old problem of folks standing on the brake pedal and sliding straight into the thing they were trying to avoid hitting. When the ABS light is on, it means the computer has detected a fault in the system somewhere and has shut down the ABS system to prevent a dangerous malfunction. It doesn’t mean you don’t have brakes. It just means the anti lock feature will not kick in if you are in a panic stop situation. The controller stores codes to indicate the fault that it saw, and a technician can read the codes using special equipment and uses that information to fix the car. To have that done at your convenience, you can contact Your Mechanic. They can send a technician to your home or office to read the codes in the ABS controller and tell you what it all means.
The ABS light is for the antilock brake system malfunction. The light comes on when the system firsts starts up and then normally goes out. This is a system self check. If after this the light comes on while driving then it means the system has detected a fault and puts light on to warn you there is a problem. The most common cause is a failed wheel speed sensor. In order to find the problem the computer will need to be scanned for ABS codes and then isolate the problem through a pinpoint test for that code. A scanner with ABS capabilities to test the system is needed. Have a mechanic like one from YourMechanic do this test and then a repair can be made.
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