I took my 4-year-old Forester XT to a Subaru dealer on
Wednesday to have the bearings for the right rear wheel
replaced under warranty (because of excessive noises).
When I called on Thursday afternoon a service manager
said that the bearings had already been replaced but the
mechanic was still checking on the ABS. He told me that
it's a standard practice to do this. I wanted to tell him to
leave it alone because the ABS light had never come on
but decided not to say this because I thought it wouldn't
be a nice thing to say.

Then the service manager called me back and said that
the ABS sensor was bad and must be replaced. He said
that it would take several days to get a new one for me
but I could keep driving the car until then.

I went to pick up the car on Friday and noticed that the
ABS light was on even before I started driving. I asked
the service manager about this and he said that it won't
go off until I get the sensor replaced.

This light is so bright that I find it distracting even during
the day while I'm looking at the road in front of me.

Since my 3-year warranty has expired and this sensor
is not covered by the 5-year powertrain warranty I can't
help but wonder what the mechanic could have done to
cause this light to come on.

So if anybody happens to know about ABS sensors
please tell me what you think could have happened.

1. The sensor is located close to the bearings and got
   damaged during the replacement of the bearings.

2. The sensor got damaged during its inspection.

3. The sensor was already bad before I took my car
   to the dealer but the ABS light had failed to come on
   so the mechanic just turned it on for me.

BTW, my car has about 28,000 (mostly freeway) miles.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.