Cause
Front-end impact damage to sensor
A sensor at the front of the vehicle damaged by impact — a stone, road debris, or a minor collision. Ambient temperature and pressure sensors sit behind the grille by design, because that is where the air they measure actually is, and it is also where everything the road throws forward arrives.
The damage is often to the housing or the harness rather than the element, so the sensor reads plausibly and intermittently rather than failing outright. A cracked housing lets water in, which produces a reading that changes with weather and washing — the classic intermittent that resists every static test.
Timing and location are what identify it. A code appearing after a motorway journey, a winter of gritted roads, or minor front-end damage, on a component mounted ahead of the radiator, is worth inspecting physically before anything is measured. Look at the sensor and its connector directly — the damage is usually visible, and it is far quicker to see than to diagnose electrically.
Typically an easy fix. Often worth checking before paying anyone to look.
Codes this can cause (3)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
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