March 10, 2024

Subaru ABS light, Hill Incline and Traction control trouble lights stuck on fix.

Subaru ABS light, Hill Incline and Traction control trouble lights stuck on fix.

Is your Subaru ABS light stuck on, along with your Traction control and Hill incline? I was on my way home the other night and hit my brakes going down a hill in my 2015 Subaru Impreza and all of a sudden the ABS, Hill Incline and Traction control Impreza trouble lights came on for my dash and stayed on. I ended up stopping at a store and turned the ignition off then back on and the lights went away when I did a test restart of the car. After I went in to the store to do some shopping and after restarting the car, this time they came back on again and never went away.

When I got home I did a quick google search and found others that had this issue, and that it appeared to be an easy fix.  The part needed was a “stop switch” and it is located under the dash behind the brake pedal.

The stop switch:

Here is an amazon link to the part I used to fix the issue. The final price for me was around 25 dollars. You should be able to get this at your local Subaru dealer as well.

Genuine Subaru 83311FJ001 Switch – Stop Lamp for Bulb, 1 Pack  [update , see bottom of post, there was a recall for this switch and you can probably get it replaced for free]

DISCLAIMER: I am not  a professional mechanic. This is not advice for what to do in your situation. This is just explaining how I fixed the issue on my car.  I will not be held responsible for any issues that may arise if you decide to replace yours yourself. There is now a recall on this part from Subaru. This post is for entertainment purposes only. 

Here is what my new one looks like.New Subaru Stop Switch 83311FJ001

 

 

Replacing the old stop switch.

It is located behind the brake pedal under the dashboard. you have to be a bit of a contortionist to twist around to see it.Subaru Stop switch view from under dash

 

 

I watched a video on YouTube I found it looked to be an easy replacement. It just needed to be twisted counter clockwise and pulled out, then unplugged from the harness. I went ahead and inserted my new one and adjusted to about the same depth as the old one and plugged it into the harness. (They made a point of not seating it all the way in on the youtube video, so I followed that advice).  I put it in at the same depth as the old one. I did not need to use any tools to replace the old switch which was nice. If you want to see how to install it just search for that part number in YouTube. There are a few videos on it, you will probably see the same ones I see.

Examining the broken stop switch

I took apart my bad switch after replacing it with the new one. Not really much to it,  and I could not see why this one stopped working. I am going to save it in case the new one goes out. I may try putting this one back in. Maybe it wasn’t adjusted correctly or was just stuck.  In hindsight I wish I would have played around and tried to adjust it before buying a new one. Might have saved myself 25 bucks.Old Subaru stop switch opened up. Subaru ABS light on fixed

I fixed my Subaru ABS light, Hill Incline and Traction control trouble lights and the dash is now clear.

That’s it for my post on this issue. I hope you find this useful if you have your Subaru ABS light, traction control and hill assist lights stuck and wondered what the cause might be.

If your interested in saving money and on your next Oil change check out this post.

UPDATE: Subaru Recall for “Brake Lamp Switch Replacement”

[Update 5/16/19] I just got notice in the mail that Subaru is doing a recall for this “Brake Lamp Switch Replacement”. It was about a year late for me. The recall includes some Crosstreks, Forester, Impreza and WRX models as far back as 2008. My 2015 Impreza was included. Reading another site on the net it mentioned it had something to do with some silicone that could emit a gas that could seep into the brake lamp switch and cut off electrical contact. Not sure how accurate that is, but wish this recall was a year ago. So if your having this issue it may be worth checking to see if your vehicle is on the recall list.