U0160 Moderate Generic / SAE

U0160: Lost Communication With Audible Alert Control Module

Network and Communication Lost Communication

What to do

Until this is fixed, assume the car cannot warn you with a sound, and reverse as though it has no parking sensors.

A warning light that fails is obvious. A warning noise that fails leaves nothing behind at all, so you go on relying on beeps that will never come — the seat belt reminder, the lights-on chime, the parking sensors, and any blind spot or collision alert, most of which are entirely audible.

One check first, because it costs nothing and may point somewhere else entirely. Does the radio still work? Do the dashboard gauges still work?

On most cars the chimes are not made by a separate buzzer — they are played through the stereo's amplifier or generated by the instrument cluster. So if the radio has gone silent too, the stereo is the fault; if the gauges have stopped, the instrument panel is. Either is a different repair from the one this code names, and telling the garage which saves real time.

If your car is electric or a hybrid, raise this as a priority. These cars must make a sound at low speed so pedestrians can hear them, and on some designs the same module produces it. A silent electric car in a car park is a genuine hazard to someone who is listening rather than looking.

What this code means

The audible alert module has stopped being heard from. The general reasoning is at U0100, and U0461 makes the case for taking a silent vehicle seriously — that the failure of the entire audible warning layer leaves no trace by definition.

Everything on that page applies here and does not need repeating. What silence adds is a diagnostic shortcut worth knowing.

On most vehicles the chimes are not made by a dedicated buzzer any more. They are synthesised and played through the audio system's amplifier, or generated by the instrument cluster. So the first question is not about this module at all: does the radio still work, and do the gauges?

Radio dead as well — the fault is the head unit or the amplifier, and U0184 or U0186 is the better page.
Gauges dead as well — the fault is the instrument cluster, and U0155 is the better page.
Both fine and the vehicle merely silent — then this module genuinely is its own unit, which is the less common case.

That check costs nothing and redirects a good share of these codes to a different page entirely.

And the standing instruction from U0461 holds until it is fixed: reverse and manoeuvre as though the vehicle has no sensors, check seat belts and lights by hand, and treat the driver assistance systems as absent rather than working quietly. On an electric or hybrid vehicle raise it as a priority — the low-speed sound required for pedestrians is generated by the same module on some designs, and a silent electric car at walking pace is a hazard to anyone listening rather than looking.

Likely causes

Start here

Less common

Aftermarket head unit fitted in place of the original · moderate
Failed power or earth supply to the module · moderate
Failed instrument cluster · specialist

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

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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.