U0244: Lost Communication With Running Board Control Module A
What to do
The car drives normally, but the powered step will have stopped working. Which position it is stuck in decides how much this matters.
If it is stuck retracted, the main risk is somebody stepping out expecting a step that is not there. Warn passengers — particularly children, older passengers and anyone with limited mobility, who are exactly the people this feature is for.
If it is stuck extended, take more care. The board adds several inches to the width of the vehicle on that side, so it will catch kerbs, bollards, car park pillars and other cars. It is also something to trip over when parked. Drive accordingly and be careful in tight spaces.
The cause is usually corrosion or damage rather than electronics. This module hangs under the sill, lower than anything else on the vehicle, in the direct path of road spray, salt and stones. Ask for the mechanism and its wiring to be cleaned and inspected — and if it has seized before, ask what is being done to stop it happening again, because a replacement in the same conditions will go the same way.
What this code means
The first running board control module has stopped being heard from. See U0200 for the block's framing.
A powered running board is a step that extends when a door opens and retracts when it closes, fitted to tall vehicles — pickups, large SUVs, some vans — where the sill is too high to climb into comfortably. It matters more than a convenience feature because the people who need it most are the least able to manage without it, and because of how it fails.
The two failure positions are not equally serious, and this is the practical content of the page.
Stuck retracted is an inconvenience and an access problem: a high step, awkward for children, shorter adults and anybody with limited mobility. Worth knowing before somebody attempts to climb in expecting a step that is not there — which is a genuine fall risk for exactly the people the feature exists for.
Stuck extended is the one with consequences beyond access. A board left out adds several inches to the vehicle's width on that side. It will strike kerbs, bollards, parking structure pillars and adjacent cars, and on a vehicle already close to lane width that is a real hazard rather than a theoretical one. It also becomes a trip hazard when the vehicle is parked.
So the first question is which position it is stuck in, and the advice follows from the answer.
Physically this is the harshest-mounted module in the whole block. It hangs under the sill, below the lowest point of the body, directly in the path of everything the wheels throw up — water, road salt, grit and stones — and the mechanism itself is a moving joint down there. Corrosion and mechanical damage are the expected findings, and a module or motor replaced without addressing why the last one died will follow it.
Likely causes
Start here
- Water ingress into the module connector · moderate
- Corroded or loose connector · easy
- Physical damage from road debris · moderate
- Damaged wiring harness · moderate
Less common
- Failed power or earth supply to the module · moderate
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.
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