PapaMookie

I will preface this by saying codes and explaination are either 3rd hand from my wife or from a call to the tech after my wife showed me the estimate.

Months ago, wife gave someone a jump and the dash lit up like a Christmas tree. Poles may or may not have been reversed. She won't cop to it and it is a sore subject around here, so Im not going to focus on it. Tried neg terminal disconnect, went over all fuses and everything I could find on the forum that may have been related. No dice.

Finally gave up and had her take it to the dealer.

Long story short, I got a call from a very unhappy wife saying repair would be $3500 or so. Yeah, not excited about it. Would have been covered under ext warranty, but not the standard 3/36k for this part. Crap.

Called the tech and got a breakdown of what all was involved in this $3.5k repair, was told that the actuator for the VSC (where the problem seems to be) has a hard code and the ECU for that assembly will not accept anything else, so BOTH parts have to be replaced - you cant just swap out one or the other. That seems a little whacky to me, but I am ignorant of such things so Im asking for help.

The dealer did say that the car is safe to drive with it not working, but I'd like to have the car run as it should. Ive got my family in there.

So -

1) Does this seem plausible? It is rediculous to me that a repair to an OPTIONAL system would cost about 1/5 of what the car cost new.

2) Anyone have any actual experience with this?

3) If they do need to be replaced in tandem, what about pulling a set from a junked box or finding some online?

I am beyond bummed and really dont need this hanging over my head right now.

Longing for the days when a car had a transmission, an engine block and a carburator. Boo.

frogbox

If you can find a box in the recycle bin ( wrecking yard) I would try pulling the needed items and install myself, they look to be pretty much plug and play but , the ecu keeps the info for your car would be sketchy.

If you can find both try the sensor( I think it is the Yaw control box) first , then matching ecu ( if this works may be able to return ECU for you cash back)

And a word of advice , don't jump anything with the box if the key is on , had trouble with a couple others when the system shorted out like yours. Even when they were connected the proper way. That is why I keep a jumper box in back for calls.

Reactor

This is by far not the first time i read about this problem. You give someone a jump and something burns up inside the ABS/VSC unit. Finding a unit from wrecking yard may be cheaper but it has to be the same part number and should be replaced by a pro. It's a standard equipment by the way, not an option.