My wife has been driving our xD recently, and yesterday, she found that most of the dash warning lights were suddenly on. They were off (normal, expected) in the morning, but several indicator lights were inexplicably on for her commute home in the afternoon:
Brake, traction control, VSC (flashing), and TPMS. (Note - the TPMS light is usually on, since 2 of the snow tires currently on don't have the sensors...) We've tried wiggling the parking brake lever, toggling the VSC-Off button, and stopping/restarting the car, but all these lights remain on.
(There are some lights that are still off - cruise, high-beams, seatbelt warning, etc act normally).
It also might be correlated with the especially cold weather, but it started during the day after the first very cold night (single digits), and they didn't go off even when the engine warmed up completely.

Any thoughts? Anyone have this happen before? Any reason we shouldn't continue driving it until we can get it in to the dealership? (Still under warranty, at least for the next 10K mi...)

Thanks for any shared experience or advice,
Andy

 

Take it in to Auto Zone or such and have 'em read the codes for ya.

 

I have a scan tool - forgot about checking that. Will try tomorrow (when it's a little warmer!) and see what comes out.
Thanks!
Andy

 

a scan tool most likely won't read codes from what you explained. You need to take it into the dealership. Worse comes to worse - at least it's still under warranty

 

it still wouldn't hurt to try it with a scan tool

 

actually it sounds like a short somewhere. i had a TSI and that happend to me, all my lights whent on. but still just take it to the dealer

 

If you're still under warranty, take it in. They will check it for you and inform you of the problem.

It sounds like either a speed sensor malfunction (oddly enough, that combo comes on) or the fuel cap wasn't tightened properly (also odd... that combo comes on). The warning lights associated with VSC will always be a mystery to me...

 

You have a problem with the Brake/ABS/TRAC/VSC system. Take it in.

 

So I took it in to the dealership this morning, and they said it's a defect in some sort of sensor in a rear wheel. Parts are on order, and everything is covered by warranty (except two mornings off work... ).
They said it's driveable until the parts come in, but I'm without traction control, VSC, and ABS. Makes me appreciate them when they work! They've definitely gotten a workout this winter. I'm just hoping this part isn't something that will cut out again as soon as the warranty expires!

Andy

 

Uh... why not refuse to drive the car seeing as how those three things are valuable in your area? I would at least ask for a rental car for the time being. :?

 

I'm getting in a little late on this... but I agree with ChelsDS -- I'd have pushed for a loaner since it is affecting four safety systems on your car: ABS, Trac, VSC, and Brake Assist. Would they let you drive away without airbags? Seat belts?

 

I had this happen to mine a week ago. My 16 year old drove her friend home in a light snow. Apparently if you over spin and the VSC is having to lock up the rear wheels too much to correct for that, it can cause a fault at the Rear sensor. My VSC was flashing, the Off light next to the VSC was on, the ABS light was on and the Brake light was on. I took it for a test drive on low travelled side streets. The VSC definitely would not work, but the brakes and ABS actually were functioning normally in spite of the lights. I took it to the dealer the next morning. Needless to say, the lights all shut off about 1 minute before I pulled into the Toyota service center! I pressed them on the issue, and they did check it out for codes, even while driving and finally were able to retrieve the same rear wheel code you are speaking of. They replaced that sensor, even though it had re-set itself. It has also been very cold here as well, being in Minnesota, so that may have something to do with the issue as well. If you are in doubt about the safety of the vehicle, you should ask for a loaner. Mine, was fine, but same code does not mean the problem is exactly the same. My gut instinct however, is that if it would endanger you in anyway, the dealer would not have allowed you to drive it off the lot as their liability if something happened would be huge. Good luck, and enjoy your xD!

 

WK - thanks for the info! I guess I'm glad my xD isn't the only one, but I sure hope this doesn't mean it will be a recurring problem.

I'm wondering about the sensor resetting itself - were you doing anything in particular when it reset? Or did they say anything about how to reset it? I drove it for a few days after the lights came on, but mine stayed on. Oh, well, I hope the new sensor takes care of the problem.
Thanks again,
Andy

BTW, I don't feel unsafe in the car - our other car (Vibe) doesn't have VSC or even ABS, and I feel fine driving that. Snow tires on both, which I think is the biggest thing.

 

Actually I was just simply driving it, and as some mechanical issues happen to go, it just re-set itself as I was pulling into the dealership. No issues since or before and I have a bit over 18K on mine. I did install snow tires on my factory rims, just run the 17" Konigs in the nice weather. I agree, hopefully this isn't the beginning of a pattern, but if it is, Toyota is very good about taking care of issues like that.

 

Update - my wife reported that the warning lights were off as of this morning, and VSC/ABS were working normally. Weird. I'm still going to have them install the new sensor, hoping it will work better or last longer than the current one. Seems wrong that the sensor tends to cut out when the feature is actually working?

 

Conspiracy theory: there are special transmitters/receivers in the cars and dealerships. As soon as the car pulls into the service center, a code instructs all malfunctioning sensors to reset.

 

The Borg is everywhere! Oh and watch out for Zombies!

 

Since then they went on again, then off, then on, then off... Seems like a switch is thrown randomly every time the car is started.
Glad I'm getting the dumb thing replaced! (If they ever get the part in and call me...)

Andy

 

I think I've finally figured this out, and wanted to post here in case it's helpful to anyone else.

Basically, all the ABS-related warning lights kept coming on intermittently - sometimes they'd be on for 10 minutes, sometimes for 10 days. Whenever I'd take it in somewhere, the lights would of course be off, so they couldn't read codes or do anything. Whenever the lights were on, the ABS etc wouldn't work, so I really wanted to get it fixed before winter.
I did a bunch of research, on this forum and others, and found reports of similar problems on the xB and other Toyotas. Some of these reports said they had the whole sensor replaced (and since it's integrated with the rear hub in the xD, that's not cheap), and the problem was not fixed. Some of the reports said it was due to damage to the ABS sensor wire, and some said it was due to a bad connection or corrosion in the wiring harness.
So I jacked up the car and carefully traced the rear ABS wires as far as I could, and didn't see any damage at all. So I unclipped the ABS wiring harness (note that there's a plastic shield that clamps around the harness) and cleaned both sides out as well as I could with electrical contact cleaner. Sprayed it thoroughly, swabbed it out with a Q-tip, etc. Then I gooped it full of di-electric grease and put it back together. Finally, I carefully wrapped the whole harness with silicone tape to keep it sealed up (the plastic shield keeps it clipped together, but does nothing to actually seal it against moisture/salt/etc.). I did this for both sides. It wasn't too difficult - the cramped working quarters were the only hard part, so removing the rear wheels made it a little easier. Probably an hour of work, since I wasn't in much of a hurry.
Anyway, cleaning, re-greasing, and sealing the wiring harness appears to have fixed my problem! The warning lights have only been on once since I did this, and that was for a few seconds after the VSC kicked on when I almost slid on some gravel. Otherwise, the ABS and everything else seems to work fine - it's DEFINITELY an improvement over the previous "consistently intermittent" pattern of these warning lights. I'll report back on the performance in snow - IF we ever get snow this winter!

Hope this is helpful to someone else - and hope it can save you the cost of a new ABS sensor!
Andy

 

Nice, couldn't help but notice that it's been two years since your last post, did you continue having this problem for two years straight?