What occurs if a yaw sensor malfunctions? | Parts Experts

Modern cars require increasing numbers of sensors to ensure accurate, effective, and safe operations. One sensor that facilitates the safe performance of the car is called the yaw sensor or more commonly the yaw rate sensor.

The yaw rate sensor is an important component of the car's traction control systems (TCS) or stability systems. It senses oversteering or understeering, particularly in tight turns, and activates the TCS to compensate for the issue. You will receive warnings like the Check Engine light, stability or traction control light, and OBD2 fault codes when it fails, along with the loss of traction control.

With this guide, you can find out everything that you may want to know about yaw rate sensors and how they work. From there, you will discover what occurs when they go wrong, so you will be able to quickly diagnose and fix the problem.

How Do Yaw Sensors Work?

It is also called your car's yaw sensor and is commonly referred to as the 'yaw rate' sensor. This speed indicator shows the speed with which your car is going around a turn.

Technically, this is done by the sensor taking a measure of the angular speed of your vehicle (i.e., how fast and how far it is rotating). It passes this along to your onboard computer, which then calculates on the basis of this data how wildly the car can act during sharp turns.

Very simply, it senses the amount of wheel rotation that is taking place right now and lets onboard systems know to determine whether the vehicle is demonstrating oversteer, understeer, or is spinning out of control.

The sensor's action is similar to what happens with the respective brand, model, and safety features of your vehicle. For example, when it senses that the automobile has turned too much, thereby tampering with stability, it would be braking automatically, or it will reduce the speed of the engine.

What’s the Location of my Car’s Yaw Sensor?

Your car's yaw rate sensor is usually located somewhere on the floorboard. Usually, it's hidden under either the driver's or the front passenger's seat.

A wire harness connects the sensor to the rest of the car's onboard systems running along the floorboard.

The sensor needs to be placed accurately in a way that it rests at the center of gravity of the vehicle. This way, it is in a better position to know whether the car is turning at an unsafe angle.

What Occurs If a Yaw Rate Sensor Malfunctions?

• Check Engine Lights Turns on: One of the very first indicators that your yaw rate sensor has failed when the Check Engine light is coming on is when it is lit. You may know this, but your car could be suffering from one of the widest ranges of issues to cause that light to be on. It is not very useful for determining which of the devices, your yaw rate sensor or the other, is causing the Check Engine light to turn on. The fact that it brings to your attention a condition that needs your urgent action is still a great first warning. When other symptoms from this list also come and the Check Engine light blinks, you will then know that your yaw rate sensor is to fault.

• Vehicle Stability or Traction Control Light: It's part of either a stability or traction control system of your vehicle that you've heard about, as previously explained. If you see any issue with a yaw sensor, the stability or traction control light comes on. These lights, similar to the Check Engine light, are the first sign of the issue even if they don't specifically refer to the yaw rate sensor. Meanwhile, they appear to identify the traction or stability control system as at least the dominant source of the issue in this case.

• Stability Control Light Flashes Immediately: This is perhaps the most important thing to be remembered: the yaw rate sensor (or any sensor for that matter) doesn't come bad all at once, but may fail to the point of intermittent operation that lasts for a few blocks before failing completely. This would help explain the intermittently blinking Stability Control (SC) light. You should have the yaw sensor inspected by a specialist if you think that the SC light that briefly illuminated when you were driving is indeed the SC light because the light is out now. These intermittent warnings could be a sign that the yaw rate sensor is reaching the end of its service life and is going to fail. Early detection helps you to replace the sensor before the problem gets worse.

• Reduced Stability Control: Unfortunately, you can also learn it the hard way. Remember that the sensor can detect when your car is turning too sharply or too hard and then activates the stability control systems to help you fix the problem. The feature designed to help you in controlling stability is at risk because a broken sensor is not able to detect when that situation occurs. Another sign of a bad sensor is when your automobile leans over quite a bit when you do a sharp turn. In that case, no matter what other symptoms that might or might not develop, you should have the sensor checked immediately.

• Onboard Diagnostics Fault Codes: Finally, a fault in the yaw sensor would result in the generation of OBD-2 fault codes by the onboard diagnostic system. Such faults, when examined using a code scanner or a reader, will surface at the time of such examination. A code reader would be available at the mechanic's shop to check out the codes for you. But, since code readers are so cheap, it would be very easy to buy one and check the car yourself.

Driving Is Possible without a Yaw Sensor?

Taking the yaw sensor out of your vehicle doesn't really affect anything at all in the operation of your car, but it's not very good practice.

Just think of it as a safeguard against those dangerous driving conditions that create fantastic moments like when you go too tight into a bend and find yourself experiencing understeer or oversteering.

Without a functioning sensor, your car is at a much higher risk of spinning out of control.

You should never drive without yaw rate sensors because they really do protect the car. If your sensor is bad, look up Parts Experts for the correct specific part for your vehicle.