My Fiesta  is 5½ years old and a hardened cynic might speculate that as it’s past the 5 year extended warranty period parts can now fail? I expected better from the UK’s No 1 selling car…

My ABS & ESP lights have been on permanently this past week – but today they light up for a few seconds after starting my morning commute and went out for the remainder of the 30 minute journey?

Just leaving aside that this type of fault could be anything from a fault in the fault light (!) to the nightmare of a replacement ABS sensor at ridiculous FORD dealership replacement part cost and fitting, can anybody throw any light on what the problem might be?

My gut feeling is wheel sensors and/or corroded or broken wiring looms, but has anybody had this problem and what work did you have done by either your Ford dealer or independent garage and how much did it cost?

ABS sensors are cheap for the Mk7... https://www.fordpartsuk.com/shop/ford_fiesta_front_abs_sensor_2008-2012_f_1771552.htm

But if it was fine for 30 mins today I doubt it's a sensor fault.  Can't really say what it is without plugging it in though.

It could be a whole manner of things. Get the fault code(s) read.

I am having the same problem with my mk4 fiesta. They stay on until i get to about 10 mph, and then go out. But when i've been parked for a short while , they sometimes come on and stay on for the duration of the journey home, or don't come on at all after starting up. My brother-in-law did a fault code check, and it came up clear. I'm thinking of servicing the front calipers as the nearside one keeps kicking the ABS in from time to time for no apparent reason. If this clears it then its a cheap fix, and having spare calipers saved from my old mk4 makes servicing easier. I'll do those then replace them with the ones on the car. Keeps me mobile if i have problems.  

Not sure if I am misunderstanding something but I don't see how the calipers themselves can affect the ABS light.

What type of code reader / software was being used?

Not sure if a 1999 car would be readable with the cheap generic type readers that later cars can be read with. 1999 was before it became standardised.