U0475: Invalid Data Received From Restraints System Sensor E
What to do
The airbag warning light is on and the car's crash sensing is not working properly. It drives normally; it should not be left.
A car with this many crash sensors usually has a system most owners have never heard of: pedestrian protection. A row of sensors across the front bumper works out whether the car has struck a person rather than an object, and if it decides it has, it lifts the back of the bonnet by several centimetres to put a crushable gap between the panel and the engine underneath — or on some cars fires an airbag across the bottom of the windscreen.
Two things that follow are worth knowing. It can fire at speeds low enough that the impact felt minor. And once fired, the bonnet does not go back down — those are single-use devices like an airbag and must be replaced. If anyone ever suggests simply pushing the bonnet back into place, do not let them: it leaves the bonnet insecure at speed.
For this fault, the thing to mention is the front bumper. These sensors live in it, and bumpers get replaced for parking knocks all the time. A bumper refitted with the sensor wiring trapped, routed wrongly, or left off altogether is the commonest cause of this code — so any front-end work, however cosmetic, is worth telling the garage about.
What this code means
A restraints system sensor is reporting a value that cannot be accepted as true. See U0471 for the family's framing and U0452 for the safety rules.
Once a vehicle has this many crash sensors it is likely to be doing something beyond protecting its own occupants, and the system worth knowing about is pedestrian protection.
A row of sensors along the front bumper beam — usually a pressure tube or a set of accelerometers — exists to distinguish a person from a bollard. When it decides the object struck was a pedestrian, the vehicle fires actuators that lift the rear of the bonnet by several centimetres, putting a crushable gap between the panel and the hard engine components underneath, or on some vehicles deploys an airbag across the base of the windscreen and the A-pillars.
Three things follow that most owners and many workshops do not know.
- The system fires on impacts the driver may barely register. A low-speed strike is enough, and the bonnet does not return by itself.
- A deployed bonnet lifter is a single-use pyrotechnic device, like an airbag, and must be replaced rather than reset.
- A vehicle whose bonnet lifters have fired is not repaired by pushing the bonnet back down, which is occasionally attempted and leaves the bonnet unlatched at speed.
For this code specifically, the practical content is that the sensors live in the bumper, which is the most frequently replaced panel on any vehicle. Bumper covers, beams and foam are changed for parking damage constantly, and the sensor tube or sensors must be transferred, refitted correctly and not pinched. A bumper fitted with the sensor loom trapped, mis-routed, or omitted entirely is the commonest reason for this family of codes on the front of the car.
Likely causes
Start here
- Impact sensor disturbed during body repair · moderate
- Physical damage from road debris · moderate
- Corroded or loose connector · easy
- Water ingress into connector · moderate
Less common
- Damaged wiring harness · moderate
- Faulty restraints 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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