ABS module or sensor failure on the 2004 Subaru Impreza
1 crash 1 of the 3 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When abs module or sensor failure gets reported
There are 3 reports of ABS module or sensor failure on the 2004 Subaru Impreza, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 17,800 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $500–$2,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2001, at a median of 1,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 165,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 45; the 2004 has 3. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Driving south on south dixie highway traveling at 45 MPH. Upon noticing the red light the brakes were applied. When the brakes were applied there was no response from them at all. I had to redirect the course of the car to avoid hitting other cars at a red light. As I turned to the right I came upon a curb and the front left tire as well as the left rear tire hit the curb. The front suspension of the car was damaged. The car was not driveable after the accident. It was towed to bird road subaru in miami. I have been feeling fluttering in the brake pedal for 2 days prior to the episode. *ak
2004 subaru impreza wrx - during braking, if a bump or rough piece of road is encountered, the brake pedal goes limp, drops to the floor, and brakes cease to function until pedal is released and brakes reapplied. Re-application of the brakes resume full functionality. *jb
Hello, I've been having extreme problems with the antilock brake system in my 2004 subaru impreza wrx. It'll kick in at unneeded times, where I will lose control of the car and the car will continue to lurch forward. This can be a frightening experience, especially if there's a car in front of me. In the winter, I have to pull the ABS fuse, which believe it or not, actually helps my braking distance. If I leave the ABS enabled and hit a patch of ice, I'll lose total control of the brakes and continue to glide. In my opinion, this is a huge safety concern, and one that many other subaru owners have complained about to both subaru and your organization. Subaru issued a voluntary recall for the ABS system for models 2003 and under, but the problem is still there for the 2004 model as well. Subaru refuses to do anything to fix my problem. I appreciate any help you can give me in this matter. Sincerely, paul ahern. *nm
Also reported on the 2004 Subaru Impreza
Other fuel system problem
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Overheating
Strut, shock or spring failure
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 3 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does abs module or sensor failure happen on the 2004 Subaru Impreza?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is abs module or sensor failure on the 2004 Subaru Impreza?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed