U0132: Lost Communication With Suspension Control Module A
What to do
If the car has sunk down onto its stops, do not drive it — have it recovered. With no air in the suspension there is no travel at all, so the tyres can catch on the bodywork and every bump goes straight into the structure. It looks alarming and is often just this fault plus a connector, but it still should not be driven in that state.
If it is sitting at full height instead, it will drive, but take it steadily — the handling is affected at speed and the headlights will be aimed too high for oncoming traffic.
One thing worth insisting on: if a compressor is being replaced, ask whether the leak that overworked it has been found. These compressors are sized to top up a system that leaks slowly, and a genuine leak makes one run until it burns out. Fitting a new compressor without fixing the leak means doing the job twice.
What this code means
The ride level control module has stopped being heard from. The general reasoning is at U0100.
This module runs air suspension or self-levelling suspension: a compressor, a reservoir, valves at each corner, and height sensors telling it where the body is sitting. It holds the vehicle level as load changes, and on many vehicles lowers it at speed and raises it for rough ground.
The symptom that surprises people is that the car goes down overnight. Air springs are not perfectly sealed and never have been — they leak slowly, and the system's answer is simply to top them up whenever it notices. Take the module out of the conversation and nothing tops them up, so a vehicle parked in the evening can be sitting on its bump stops by morning. That looks like catastrophic suspension failure and is frequently this code and a connector.
A vehicle that has settled should not be driven. With no air in the springs there is no suspension travel: the body sits on the bump stops, the tyres can foul the arches under any movement, and every bump goes into the body structure. Get it raised before it is moved rather than driving it gently and hoping.
A vehicle stuck at its high setting is a milder problem, but handling and stability are affected at speed and the headlight aim will be wrong.
The compressor deserves a note, because the sequence that destroys one is predictable. A leaking air spring makes the compressor run far more than it was designed to; it overheats and eventually fails, at which point it is replaced — and the leak that killed it is still there, so the new one dies the same way. The leak is the fault, and the compressor is the symptom. That is the same argument the corpus makes about secondary air pumps at P2445 and hydraulic pumps at P0943.
Likely causes
Start here
- Corroded or loose connector · easy
- Damaged data bus wiring · moderate
- Failed power or earth supply to the module · moderate
- Water ingress into connector · moderate
Less common
- Blown fuse or failed supply · easy
- Faulty ride level control module · specialist
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
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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
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- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
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