[vox_alienus]

I have had a petrol Polo since early 2017 and have been satisfied with VW's service in Kolkata. But I was in for a disappointment when I went to the service centre today with the ABS lamp on. I was told that one of the four wheel sensors needed to be replaced, and this could not be done before October 20 as they did not have a replacement in store and the Puja holidays are almost here. This means I will have to go without an important safety feature for at least two weeks during the festive season when I am supposed to be travelling with family and friends!

I was told that the air bags would not work until the defective sensor is replaced. Is this true? Would appreciate some insight into this.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by vox_alienus

I went to the service centre today with the ABS lamp on. I was told that one of the four wheel sensors needed to be replaced

Did Workshop mechanic scan the car? Normally its goes bad one at a time. Not all 4 in one go.

Originally Posted by vox_alienus

I will have to go without an important safety feature for at least two weeks

Only ABS will not be working. Don't drive too fast where you need to do panic braking.

Originally Posted by vox_alienus

I was told that the air bags would not work until the defective sensor is replaced. Is this true?

Never heard it.

With faulty ABS sensor which also works as speed sensor, you may see speedometer fluctuating and auto lock getting triggered even at 1 kmph instead of 15 Kmph.

[vox_alienus]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Did Workshop mechanic scan the car? Normally its goes bad one at a time. Not all 4 in one go.

Yes, they scanned it and found the front left sensor had failed. The other three are ok.

Only ABS will not be working. Don't drive too fast where you need to do panic braking.

Right. They, too, told me not to brake suddenly and hard.

Never heard it.

That's reassuring.

With faulty ABS sensor which also works as speed sensor, you may see speedometer fluctuating and auto lock getting triggered even at 1 kmph instead of 15 Kmph.

Will watch out for these things ... but they are not major issues, so I am not worried.

[Kosfactor]

Airbags will work during a crash as it's designed to do so. ABS sensor failure is common on these vehicles so they are asking you to replace all 4 because the tech thinks the others may as well fail soon and you will need to take your vehicle to the service center repeatedly.

Polo used to come without ABS earlier , brakes will work as usual just that the ABS function is disabled.

[vox_alienus]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Airbags will work during a crash as it's designed to do so. ABS sensor failure is common on these vehicles so they are asking you to replace all 4 because the tech thinks the others may as well fail soon and you will need to take your vehicle to the service center repeatedly.

They did not say all four would be replaced, so I assumed only the defective one would be changed. But they might have meant all four. They said it would cost Rs 4,000-5,000. Does this indicate they were thinking of changing the entire set?

[VW2010]

Yes and No. If the airbag light is on, your air bags are disabled. This error usually throws 3 lights together. Abs, ebd and air bag. In some cases brake light and engine light.

Do check if the dash is only showing abs which means wheel speed sensor is kaput.

This part is easily available even outside VW service centre and is easy to replace. If Chennai I would recommend German tech garage to get this fixed on same day.

No need to change all 4 even if they insist and change only the broken sensor.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by vox_alienus

They did not say all four would be replaced, so I assumed only the defective one would be changed. But they might have meant all four. They said it would cost Rs 4,000-5,000. Does this indicate they were thinking of changing the entire set?

I have replaced 2 sensors, one after the other. They costed 1800-2000 per sensor.

I was asked to change all 4, with logic that - Sir, ek hua to baaki bhi honge.

There seemed no logic to this. Its like saying, if one bulb has gone bad, others in the house will go bad too.

This was more than one year back and everything is working fine so far.

[vox_alienus]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Do check if the dash is only showing abs which means wheel speed sensor is kaput.

Only the ABS light is on.

This part is easily available even outside VW service centre and is easy to replace.

Sounds good. I shall ask around here.

No need to change all 4 even if they insist and change only the broken sensor.

Yes, will change only that one. Thanks!

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by vox_alienus

This means I will have to go without an important safety feature for at least two weeks during the festive season when I am supposed to be travelling with family and friends!

I was told that the air bags would not work until the defective sensor is replaced. Is this true? Would appreciate some insight into this.

Dont trust your life with electronics. Drive sane and you will be fine. No, the Abs and airbags are not connected.

I have been driving a car without ABS for the past 10 years and no sweat, not been a problem at all. I have driven a total of almost 250,000 km in these 10 years.

I drive about 9 or 10 months on bare asphalt and about 2 or 3 months on snow and black ice. I did not want a car with ABS.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by vox_alienus

They did not say all four would be replaced, so I assumed only the defective one would be changed. But they might have meant all four. They said it would cost Rs 4,000-5,000. Does this indicate they were thinking of changing the entire set?

If they were changing all 4 on warranty, then its fine else change only the one that is broken. It would be around 4K each. If your vehicle is out of warranty maybe you can purchase the part from a spare parts shop and get it fitted.

[VW2010]

No, the Abs and airbags are not connected.

It depends on the error. Wheel speed is one of the components for Airbags to deploy in VW. Hence it is important to watch for what error is displayed in the dash or the diagnostic software. If the seat belt light is on (yellow), ABS (Yellow), TCS(yellow) it almost certainly points to the wheel speed sensor. If the yellow light is on, that specific functionality is disabled till the error is fixed. In this case, ABS is disabled but the airbag still may work as there are no errors to disable that function.

The above is based on my experience with Jetta and the broken wheel speed sensor. Check VW forums and you will find most of these errors are fixed with a wheel speed sensor.

[vox_alienus]

Originally Posted by Indian2003

I have been driving a car without ABS for the past 10 years and no sweat, not been a problem at all. I have driven a total of almost 250,000 km in these 10 years.

I drive about 9 or 10 months on bare asphalt and about 2 or 3 months on snow and black ice. I did not want a car with ABS.

In the past I have driven a 1969 Fiat on highways, but feel a little vulnerable now.

[vox_alienus]

Update: Have not found a local garage that can/wants to take on the job, but will continue looking. Meanwhile, VW say October 22 is "tentative ETA" (sic). And they very solicitously say they "understand the urgency from (my) end". I suppose it means that waiting for over two weeks for a safety device is normal and wanting it earlier is a sign of urgency.

I wish I knew ... wish I had researched the service performance of VW ... before buying this car, which IS a fine machine without a doubt.

[vox_alienus]

Originally Posted by Indian2003

I drive about 9 or 10 months on bare asphalt and about 2 or 3 months on snow and black ice. I did not want a car with ABS.

Speaking of snow and ice, for two winters in the USA I drove a 1984 Camry with (I think) 300000 miles (not km) on the odometer in those conditions. I don't think it had ABS. But then (a) that was in a different driving culture, where things on the road are somewhat predictable, and (b) I was much younger, when one feels indestructible.

[GeeTee TSI]

The ABS sensor is almost like a consumable, one or the other may go kaput over the years (IIRC, I recently replaced the third sensor in my 7 year old GT TSI).

To quote my experience, I had given the car for its annual service and planned a 1000 km trip right after that. As luck would have it, nothing was reported nor observed after the service but as I turned on the car on the day of my drive, ABS sensor fault glowed at my face.

Needless to say I did my drive with an uneasy feeling but was uneventful and I managed to get the sensor replaced at my destination. Autobahn Navi Mumbai actually went out of the way to take my car in for unscheduled work before my return drive to Bangalore

It is safe to drive the car however with the knowledge that the safety net of ABS is partly missing, by anticipating more and being extra cautious