P0072: Ambient Air Temperature Sensor Circuit A Low
What to do
No driveability impact. Fix at your convenience.
What this code means
The ambient temperature signal is reading low, which for a thermistor circuit normally means a short to ground — and translates to an implausibly hot reported temperature or an implausibly cold one depending on the sensor's polarity. Given the sensor's exposed position, a chafed or crushed wire behind the bumper is at least as likely as a failed element.
Likely causes
Start here
- Wiring shorted to ground · moderate
- Faulty ambient air temperature sensor · easy
Less common
- Front-end impact damage to sensor · easy
- Corroded or loose connector · easy
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Community experience
Be the first to write this up
Nothing posted about this yet. Whatever you found is worth writing down — even a dead end saves someone the same afternoon.
What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
Sign in or create an account to add what you found about P0072.