Adaptive Cruise Control Not Available... but I'm using normal cruise control?

[SlicerOnSteam]

Main reason I've seen that ACC/BC gets cancelled is sunlight hitting the lidar/front-facing-camera sensor at just the right angle to overwhelm the sensor.

Citation needed that Mach-E has any lidar whatsoever because they don't according to this:
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/insights/lidar-now-high-automotive-industry-radar/#:~:text=While a few companies, like,AD in upcoming car models.

No personal offense intended here but forums like this are another huge part of Ford's problem. Know-it-alls throw out all sorts of fancy jargon to justify Ford's outrageously overpriced offerings. This creates even higher expectations.

And also, just on a basic human level of thoroughly seeing the car operate, I'm 100% sure it obviously has a bare minimum of fancy tech in it. It's the exact same sensor systems and error messages you can find on any other non-EV Ford on youtube.

I had to ask. I've run into too many people in my career in IT who insisted on calling something the wrong name, or conflated something with something else...

Indeed. front-facing camera != lidar

I must add here that Ford's software is so shit that it is entirely possible that this "3rd form" of ACC with autosteer doesn't exist and we somehow got Blue Cruise by accident even though we never paid for it. But as best as I can remember from our nightmare of Mach-E ownership, there is a separate toggle for autosteer in the cruise settings which also distinguishes it clearly from Blue Cruise.

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[SlicerOnSteam]

I'm late to the party but I might actually be able to help with the OP's title question. You might still be able to operate normal cruise if you turn off BOTH adaptive cruise AND emergency braking.

The catch there is that emergency braking will turn itself back on every time you start up the car.

If that works I might be able to explain the logical disconnect. A faulty front camera or radar sensor will always block adaptive cruise. But a radar error will also block normal cruise. If you manually turn off emergency braking, normal cruise might then bypass the radar check and operate.

The front camera fault and radar error went hand-in-hand together for months on our MME. After service the camera error would still come up less often but not the radar error. Then we started getting errors that "lane-keeping system" was unavailable! During this time I did finally drive the car for a couple weeks with emergency braking actually turned on and had no further phantom braking issues. Cruise would still cancel at random times with "front camera error" and then work fine again 30 seconds later. This was the first window of opportunity I got to begin to distinguish front-camera errors from all of the other times that adaptive cruise simply drops because its tracking system just sucks. Even with no camera errors, Ford's auto cruise drops at almost everything but a flat freshly painted clean lane. Like I say, it is an absolute joke compared to a 2020 Kia Niro and Tesla is still lightyears beyond that.

 

[hack-e]

I don't have BlueCruise on my vehicle. I only use normal cruise control, which is why I'm confused that 'Adaptive Cruise Control Unavailable' is taking out my normal cruise control (which doesn't need/use the camera to keep distance).

Sounds like Ford software engineers screwed up once again...

This sounds similar to my current situation. I am coming at this from a different angle as I use BlueCruise, auto steer, and ACC usually. However, since a few months back while on a trip, I started getting the From Camera Fault and Pre-collision Assist Not Available messages intermittently, but I could always eventually get everything to work again after just waiting. I expect it's the known coax cable issue

Well, now on a really long trip, the Front Camera Fault and Pre-collision Assist Not Available messages are persistent...won't clear. So I figured I would just use Normal Cruise Control which shouldn't need the camera. But the car refuses to let me use Normal Cruise Control. I've turned off all the auto steer, lane keep, AEB, pre-collision warning and the car simply refuses to allow the use of Normal Cruise Control. Maybe here is a reason behind this, but I cannot see how the front amera problem could prevent closing the loop on speed. This has to be a bug.

I take it you never found a solution?

 

[4sallypat]

After getting her back from service for TSB 23-2155, today I got the Adaptive Cruise Control not functioning message.

Is this related to the TSB or something different ?

 

[Sally]

My 2021 Mach E was in the shop for two weeks in June - for the camera fault, no cruise control or collision alert available issue.
It was "fixed" but by late July I started getting the same error messages. For a while, I could turn off the cruise control and then it would come back when I turned it back on.
By early September, it wasn't working at all.
The weirdest part of the story is that it would ALWAYS turn off with the fault messages when I drove past a former Navy Airbase that is on my way to work. North or South, I'd reach that point on the highway and the error message would pop up and the cruise control would disappear.
The dealer techs thought I was crazy until they thought they'd fixed the problem and took her for a test drive on that section of the road (which is ironically right where the dealership is located). Now they believe me. The car was in the shop from mid-September until December 20th when they gave it back to me because my loaner was a rear wheel drive car and I wanted my snow tires and all wheel drive over the holidays.
Now it's back in the shop again going on month four.
Does anyone know if there is a Lemon Law option for a car that has spent 3+ months in the shop?
Fortunately, we bought the extended warranty so I haven't had to pay for any repairs (or lack of repairs) yet but I need my car.

 

[Rocky29670]

I was having similar problems on here and it "fixed" itself when I thoroughly cleaned the cameras on my car. The car itself wasn't that dirty, or at least I didn't think so, but the cameras must be pretty sensitive.

 

[4sallypat]

My 2021 Mach E was in the shop for two weeks in June - for the camera fault, no cruise control or collision alert available issue.
It was "fixed" but by late July I started getting the same error messages. For a while, I could turn off the cruise control and then it would come back when I turned it back on.
By early September, it wasn't working at all.
The weirdest part of the story is that it would ALWAYS turn off with the fault messages when I drove past a former Navy Airbase that is on my way to work. North or South, I'd reach that point on the highway and the error message would pop up and the cruise control would disappear.
The dealer techs thought I was crazy until they thought they'd fixed the problem and took her for a test drive on that section of the road (which is ironically right where the dealership is located). Now they believe me. The car was in the shop from mid-September until December 20th when they gave it back to me because my loaner was a rear wheel drive car and I wanted my snow tires and all wheel drive over the holidays.
Now it's back in the shop again going on month four.
Does anyone know if there is a Lemon Law option for a car that has spent 3+ months in the shop?
Fortunately, we bought the extended warranty so I haven't had to pay for any repairs (or lack of repairs) yet but I need my car.

Lemon laws vary by state.

You will have to consult with an attorney that specializes in this.

 

[Sally]

I was having similar problems on here and it "fixed" itself when I thoroughly cleaned the cameras on my car. The car itself wasn't that dirty, or at least I didn't think so, but the cameras must be pretty sensitive.

If only it were that easy! Mine is definitely an issue with the cameras communicating with the computers.
They've been looking for broken or crossed wires for months.

 

[4sallypat]

If only it were that easy! Mine is definitely an issue with the cameras communicating with the computers.
They've been looking for broken or crossed wires for months.

You need to have your dealer check if TSB 23-2155 applies.

Mine was fixed and finally working perfectly.

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