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Automotive vocabulary · Vehicle Electronics and ADAS

Wiring harness

Meaning in automotive, with examples

nounCommon term

In automotive, wiring harness means: A bundle of wires, connectors and terminals, wrapped and routed together, that carries power and signals between the electrical parts of a vehicle.

In Turkish: kablo demeti, elektrik tesisatı, tesisat

How it is used

Technicians repair or replace a wiring harness after chafing, water ingress or rodent damage; engineers design harness routing and connector layouts. People also say loom, especially in British English.

Example sentences

  1. A mouse chewed through the engine wiring harness, so several sensors are offline.

  2. The wiring harness rubs against the bracket here; add a clip to keep it away.

Common collocations

  • engine wiring harness
  • harness connector
  • repair the wiring harness
  • harness routing
  • CAN busThe main in-vehicle network that lets control units share data over a pair of twisted wires (CAN High and CAN Low). CAN stands for Controller Area Network.
  • sensorA component that measures something, such as temperature, pressure, speed or position, and sends it as an electrical signal to a control unit.
  • ECUShort for electronic control unit (or engine control unit): a small computer that reads sensors and controls actuators, for example injection timing in an engine. Modern cars have dozens of them.
  • actuatorA component that turns an electrical command from a control unit into movement, for example a motor that opens the throttle, moves a valve or locks a door.

More terms: Vehicle Electronics and ADAS

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