What Does Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) On/Off Indicator Mean?

Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) is a vehicle stability system. It keeps your vehicle under control by either adding braking to the wheels or by adding power. For the most part, VDC systems — VDC is used primarily on Nissan vehicles — is working when the light is turned off, not on. If the VDC light appears, then the system is off and you have to restart it. To restart it, you simply put the vehicle through an on-off cycle and the VDC comes back on.

I would suspect that there’s a lot more going on on your Subaru that the recall is showing. I don’t know the fine details of the recall but I would be willing to bet that if you looked at the circuits and their wiring, you would find that something is grounding out.
By and large, I have found that when an error like this happens, you have a wire that may have been working against an exposed screw head or the base of a fastener that has become worn and so it shorts or grounds out.

It is also possible that the recalled parts may not be installed quite correctly — the dealer could be still new in dealing with the error — and something may be installed incorrectly or it may not have been torqued home enough to complete the circuit and thus the error.

That’s my thinking on that error.

Normally, the VDC system helps to keep your car stable in slippery conditions. It transfers power between wheels to keep them turning steadily. Or it may increase the braking pressure to one wheel, while also reducing the power so the wheels turn steadily and your car remains in control.

Generally, you will find that if the little car light on the dash is flashing, the road may be slippery and the system is working to keep you in control.

If, however, the system goes offline, the little light comes on indicating a fault. Though it may be indicating a fault, the system still has a bit of life in it as it will try to maintain a steady state between wheels even if the light is on. If turning the ignition on and off doesn’t clear things then you have major problem that a dealer has to check.