2017 Subaru Forester - C1431 and P0500 Speed Sensor Issues

Question

Driving down the road and my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. ABS, Traction Control, and EyeSight are all disabled. My speedometer started jumping around then dropped to zero, even though I was doing 60.

I scanned it and got C1431 (Wheel Speed Sensor) and P0500 (Vehicle Speed Sensor). I suspect a wheel speed sensor went bad, but would that really kill the speedometer too? I checked the fuses and they all look good. This CVT transmission makes me nervous so I hope it's just a sensor.

RamRunnerRay · Accepted Answer

✅ Confirmed fix: Found a rodent-chewed wiring harness near the rear passenger wheel speed sensor. The Ground wire and Signal wire were shorting together intermittently. I soldered in a new pigtail and heat-shrunk the connection. Once the vehicle saw a consistent speed signal for over 10 MPH, all the systems (ABS, VDC, EyeSight) automatically re-engaged and the speedometer stabilized.

FreightlinerFred · Answer

On Subarus, the ABS module calculates vehicle speed from the average of all four wheel speed sensors and sends that data to the cluster. If the ABS module loses communication or gets garbage data from a primary sensor, it will shut down EyeSight as a safety precaution. Look for a broken tone ring on the rear axles.

2017 Subaru Forester - C1431 and P0500 Speed Sensor Issues

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