On a recent trip, the mechanism that detects if the key is in the ignition got stuck, and now my vehicle is under the impression that the key is always in the ignition. Any way to fix this without replacing the ignition lock?
Try this fix:
Unplugging the the key warning switch, the beeping will stop and functionality will come back. This is not a difficult fix… Take the side panel off, the panel under the steering column (the one that has the dimmer and side mirror control on it), and the panel directly under the steering column. This only takes 3 minutes, and requires a philips head screw driver to unscrew 3 screws. As soon as you take those panels off, the key warning switch is right there. Unplug the 4-wire switch (one of the four is black with a white stripe and one of the four is black with a yellow stripe). Everything will be back to normal. The keyless FOB will work, the headlights turn off when you turn the car off, and the beeping will stop! The beeping is what makes people go crazy!
Order a new switch and try that. It’s only like 15 bucks online.
Hi COROLLAGUY1, thank you for your replay, and I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. It seems the information you gave me is for a different year vehicle, as the descriptions did not match up. It did give me the terminology to search for, and found an excellent guide for 2010-2013 Foresters which worked! Thank you for your direction!
The guide I found: https://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f88/key-alarm-active-even-when-key-out-ignition-124584/
Also uploaded as an attachment incase the link ever disappears in the future. I’ll have to put the image files in separate posts. Hopefully this works!
Just wanted to say thank you for the images in addition to the link!! So many forum posts have what looks like great info, but inevitably turns out to be a dead link. Good lookin’ out.
Did you fix it? Tell us how it turns out.
Hi! Yes, i was able to fix it with the instructuions I found!