Cause
Failed pedestrian alert speaker
The speaker that produces an electric vehicle's low-speed warning sound has failed, or its wiring has.
It sits behind the front bumper or in a wheel arch, which is the worst place on the car to put anything electrical — road spray, salt, kerb strikes and pressure washers all reach it. Corrosion at the connector accounts for most failures, and a corroded connector reads as an open circuit, which is why the high variant of these codes is the common one.
The reason to fix it is not in the car. The driver notices nothing, and neither does anybody who can see the vehicle coming. The system exists because an electric car at walking pace is close to silent, and pedestrians — blind and partially sighted people especially — judge traffic by ear. It is required by UN Regulation 138 and FMVSS 141 below roughly 20 km/h for exactly that reason.
It is usually a cheap repair, often just the connector, and in jurisdictions that test for it an inoperative system fails inspection.
Typically specialist work. Needs equipment or training most home workshops do not have.
Codes this can cause (3)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
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