Warning lights are your car’s method of telling you something’s wrong with its mechanicals. These lights sometimes can confuse you and make you end up with wrong assumptions. Today we’ll talk about the VSA light on your Honda or Acura models, including its causes, symptoms, and fixes.
VSA Light in a Honda: What does it mean?
VSA is the acronym for the Vehicle Stability Assist system for Honda and Acura vehicles. This system plays an integral role in maintaining the stability of your car. VSA ensures that your car doesn’t run into situations that would lead you to oversteer or understeer.
Cars are prone to skidding and sliding if they have tires with bad grip, during harsh weather conditions, or while driving through uneven or loose terrain. This is exactly where the VSA system kicks in, ensuring that your car doesn’t lose control and skid and crash into something.
The VSA system ensures your car’s stability via two means. One is by delivering adequate torque on each wheel by automatically directing the output coming from the engine. The other method is through the application of brakes on individual wheels to ensure maximum control.
Should you be worried about the VSA Light popping up on your Honda?
The VSA light indication doesn’t essentially mean that the system is malfunctioning. The light can keep on blinking or can appear with an exclamation mark when the system is trying to bring the car into control, like in the situations mentioned above.
What causes a Honda VSA light to pop up?
The VSA light in your Honda might turn on due to various reasons, like low tire pressure, a faulty ABS unit, and a damaged steering angle sensor. In addition, this can happen if the VSA button on the dashboard is in the off position. Let’s see the major causes of it in detail.
VSA button in the Off Position
The VSA button on your dashboard sits in a position that is quite susceptible to accidental touches and presses, which can turn it off. Also, drivers often turn the system off for a raw driving experience with minimal interference from the car itself. This makes the VSA light in your Honda or Acura automobiles light up. Turning the button back on can easily solve the issue.
Low Tire Pressure
Tire pressure plays a key role in maintaining the stability of a car. A drop in tire pressure would result in the wheels spinning at different speeds, and this will trigger stability issues following which a VSA light indication on your Honda will pop up. Always top up the air pressure to manufacturer-recommended levels to eliminate this indication.
Faulty ABS Module
The Antilock Braking System prevents your car wheels from locking and ensures that it doesn’t slide away and crash into something. This ultimately aids the vehicle’s stability, which the VSA system takes care of. A failure in the ABS components like an ABS reluctor ring, ABS wheel speed sensor, wiring harness, or an ABS control module can trigger the VSA light to illuminate. Replacing the damaged ABS component can easily solve the issue.
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Tire Issues
Car manufacturers have a specified set of tires to be used on their models. This is to derive maximum output out of the car. A wrong set of tires will cause them to rotate at different speeds, giving rise to traction issues. So, here you have another reason for the VSA light on your Honda to illuminate! Make sure you have the right tire on your car to avoid this.
Also read: VTM-4 Light on Your Honda Pilot: Should You Be Concerned?
Steering Angle Sensor Damage
The steering angle sensor collects and transmits data such as its rate of turn, wheel angle, and other steering inputs that affect the stability of a vehicle. The VSA light on your Honda will illuminate if this sensor is faulty.
Is it okay to drive with the VSA light on your Honda turned on?
It is perfectly okay to drive with the VSA light on your Honda turned on if you’ve voluntarily turned off the VSA system. However, if the system is faulty, you may experience lesser traction and automatic braking, making it difficult to drive. Thus, it is always better to repair or replace the concerned part for a smooth and hassle-free operation of your car.
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