Electrical connectors are widely used in electrical devices as an interconnect element and their reliability is a critical factor in device performance. However, there are multiple factors that may lead to poor reliability. These include contact failure induced by temperature and humidity, vibration, and atmospheric contamination, which may induce deterioration of the transmitted signal and leakage of electromagnetic energy. In the current work, the contact failure characteristics of a specific connector are investigated through measurement and analysis of high frequency parameters and spectrums. Based on transmission line theory and electrical contact theory, an equivalent model was developed to explore the effect of contact failure on high frequency parameters. Experiments were conducted using a network analyzer, signal generator, signal analyzer, and H‐field probe. The high frequency parameters were measured and compared with the calculated values, with consistent results. The leakage spectrums were measured with an H‐field probe for a variety of input signal amplitudes and frequencies and loose contact conditions. The results indicate that leakage increases with higher frequency and greater input signal amplitude.