Front Camera Fault Errors - Issue fixed! DIY How-to

[GT-Papa]

I've been battling an increasing level of Front Camera Fault errors on my 21 GTPE. I tried moving the coax cable to different positions with little-to-no success.

While playing around with the camera and cables, I noticed that the left side of the camera was loose. I could push on the left side of the camera body and it would freely move up and down about .050". The mounting method for the left side of the camera is a tab into a slot: where the camera body casting is a metal tab and it fits into a plastic slot on the plastic "dish" that's glued to the windshield. The right side of the camera is a metal post that slides into a spring-loaded clip.

I decided to unclip the camera and remove it just to have a look. Eureka! In the top of the slot, above where the camera tab slides in, there is a spring meant to push the camera tab down against the bottom of the slot holding it firmly in position. I my case, the spring was completely collapsed and not supplying any tension on the camera tab, allowing it to vibrate. With a small screwdriver, I bent the spring downward so that the tab is now held very tightly in the slot. Doing this completely eliminated my front camera faults. For me anyway, it turns out that the coax cable is not the problem, but camera vibration is.

For the mechanical engineers among us, this makes perfect sense. I used to be a quality engineer and worked with mechanical engineers to do vibration testing on mechanical structures to the point of failure. My theory with this small/lightweight camera and a sloppy tab-in-slot arrangement is that high frequency road noise (think: crossing 5 sets of train tracks at a crossing at speed) caused the camera to vibrate wildly and screw up the video signal. I have just such a RR crossing near my home and this used to cause a camera fault 2 out of 3 times that I crossed it. Now... nothing. Simply by nailing down the left side of the camera, the problem has completely gone away.

For those of you who have not pulled the trim piece off of the camera mount, I've attached a few pictures. First picture - on the right side of the picture is the left side of camera (tab), and then the plastic slot that it slides into, and the spring above that is supposed to provide spring-loaded tension to the camera tab.

Second picture - the right side of the camera body (post) and the spring clip that it clips into.

Some other random pics of the area.

If you're having this issue, pull off the trim piece above your rear-view mirror (5 clips total). First check to see if the left side of you camera has any slop in it . It should have none. If it does, carefully pull the right side of the camera down to slide the post out of the spring clip, then slide the entire camera slightly to the right to pull it out of the left slot. Using a small screwdriver, bend the spring down so that it will push down on the metal camera tab when it is reinstalled. Fairly tight.

Reassemble: Slide the left-side tab back into the slot, push the right-side post back into the spring clip. Before you reinstall the trim piece, take the car out for a spin to that favorite place or yours where the front camera always faults. Lemme know if this fixes the issue for you.

I used to get multiple camera faults per day. I made this fix on March 2nd and have not had a single fault since.

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[Mach-Lee]

Wow, good find. This is worthy of being a a TSB. Yes, the camera must be rigidly mounted to the vehicle. It cannot be loose at all, even a tiny amount of movement will wreak havoc on the vision system.

This also begs the question of how did the spring clip lose its tension? Was the camera reinstalled multiple times? Did somebody bend it to make installation easier?

 

[GT-Papa]

Not sure, but...
I've had my windshield replaced 2x. I saw a replacement video on YouTube and apparently when you buy a new windshield, the plastic mounting dish where the camera mounts is already glued to the new windshield. Is this right? My new glass is not a Ford windshield and so probably the plastic dish is also not a Ford product. My camera fault issues started happening some time after the new was installed. I'm thinking it probably was just never tensioned correctly.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Not sure, but...
I've had my windshield replaced 2x. I saw a replacement video on YouTube and apparently when you buy a new windshield, the plastic mounting dish where the camera mounts is already glued to the new windshield. Is this right? My new glass is not a Ford windshield and so probably the plastic dish is also not a Ford product. My camera fault issues started happening some time after the new was installed. I'm thinking it probably was just never tensioned correctly.

Yes, the plastic bracket comes pre-glued to the new windshield. So I guess this would be an aftermarket parts quality issue.

 

[TheSeg]

Great catch!

I've been seeing similar alerts of past triggers and not currently present when manually checking my DTCs via ForSCAN for months now. Never got an error while driving… until yesterday. I hit a bump in the road, and got full-on alerts as the OP described. While still driving, 5 minutes after the alerts cleared up on their own.

I have nothing "after-market" for the front glass. I did have the Windshield Glass Recall 21C22 recall done way back in the day. It was given to a third party glass shop as the dealership I was working with at the time didn't do glass in-house.

It's going to be two weeks or so before I take a look, but I'll be following the thread and reporting back once I take a look.

 

[geeklifer]

Definitely interesting. I've only seen the fault once, and it was after going over some railroad tracks. I've also had my windshield replaced twice (only once instance - the first windshield had a weird hairline mark between layers).

 

[Max Power]

I've been battling an increasing level of Front Camera Fault errors on my 21 GTPE. I tried moving the coax cable to different positions with little-to-no success.

While playing around with the camera and cables, I noticed that the left side of the camera was loose. I could push on the left side of the camera body and it would freely move up and down about .050". The mounting method for the left side of the camera is a tab into a slot: where the camera body casting is a metal tab and it fits into a plastic slot on the plastic "dish" that's glued to the windshield. The right side of the camera is a metal post that slides into a spring-loaded clip.

I decided to unclip the camera and remove it just to have a look. Eureka! In the top of the slot, above where the camera tab slides in, there is a spring meant to push the camera tab down against the bottom of the slot holding it firmly in position. I my case, the spring was completely collapsed and not supplying any tension on the camera tab, allowing it to vibrate. With a small screwdriver, I bent the spring downward so that the tab is now held very tightly in the slot. Doing this completely eliminated my front camera faults. For me anyway, it turns out that the coax cable is not the problem, but camera vibration is.

For the mechanical engineers among us, this makes perfect sense. I used to be a quality engineer and worked with mechanical engineers to do vibration testing on mechanical structures to the point of failure. My theory with this small/lightweight camera and a sloppy tab-in-slot arrangement is that high frequency road noise (think: crossing 5 sets of train tracks at a crossing at speed) caused the camera to vibrate wildly and screw up the video signal. I have just such a RR crossing near my home and this used to cause a camera fault 2 out of 3 times that I crossed it. Now... nothing. Simply by nailing down the left side of the camera, the problem has completely gone away.

For those of you who have not pulled the trim piece off of the camera mount, I've attached a few pictures. First picture - on the right side of the picture is the left side of camera (tab), and then the plastic slot that it slides into, and the spring above that is supposed to provide spring-loaded tension to the camera tab.

Second picture - the right side of the camera body (post) and the spring clip that it clips into.

Some other random pics of the area.

If you're having this issue, pull off the trim piece above your rear-view mirror (5 clips total). First check to see if the left side of you camera has any slop in it . It should have none. If it does, carefully pull the right side of the camera down to slide the post out of the spring clip, then slide the entire camera slightly to the right to pull it out of the left slot. Using a small screwdriver, bend the spring down so that it will push down on the metal camera tab when it is reinstalled. Fairly tight.

Reassemble: Slide the left-side tab back into the slot, push the right-side post back into the spring clip. Before you reinstall the trim piece, take the car out for a spin to that favorite place or yours where the front camera always faults. Lemme know if this fixes the issue for you.

I used to get multiple camera faults per day. I made this fix on March 2nd and have not had a single fault since.

Thank you for posting this. I to had so many faults and errors. I dreaded having to take it to the dealer out of desperation I pulled the trim off wiggled the cable and pushed it in tighter. Haven't had one issue since. I have read posts on here about entire cameras and cables being replaced by Ford. I wander if this little fix is the answer as opposed to replacement. If anyone is having this issue I highly recommend following the instructions above.

 

[GT-Papa]

As a bonus, I just received the Bluecruise 1.3 update, so now it should work for more than 30 seconds at a time

 

[Vgkfan]

I’ve gotten this error at least 3 times the last week or so, it it’s also accompanied by precollision assist not available and something about lane positioning not working. Seems to clear up in a few seconds. Wondering if all that is due to camera issue or maybe software. I Did have the windshield replaced a few months ago(Oem) but just started seeing this error.

 

[bbulkow]

I've been battling an increasing level of Front Camera Fault errors on my 21 GTPE. I tried moving the coax cable to different positions with little-to-no success.

While playing around with the camera and cables, I noticed that the left side of the camera was loose. I could push on the left side of the camera body and it would freely move up and down about .050". The mounting method for the left side of the camera is a tab into a slot: where the camera body casting is a metal tab and it fits into a plastic slot on the plastic "dish" that's glued to the windshield. The right side of the camera is a metal post that slides into a spring-loaded clip.

I decided to unclip the camera and remove it just to have a look. Eureka! In the top of the slot, above where the camera tab slides in, there is a spring meant to push the camera tab down against the bottom of the slot holding it firmly in position. I my case, the spring was completely collapsed and not supplying any tension on the camera tab, allowing it to vibrate. With a small screwdriver, I bent the spring downward so that the tab is now held very tightly in the slot. Doing this completely eliminated my front camera faults. For me anyway, it turns out that the coax cable is not the problem, but camera vibration is.

For the mechanical engineers among us, this makes perfect sense. I used to be a quality engineer and worked with mechanical engineers to do vibration testing on mechanical structures to the point of failure. My theory with this small/lightweight camera and a sloppy tab-in-slot arrangement is that high frequency road noise (think: crossing 5 sets of train tracks at a crossing at speed) caused the camera to vibrate wildly and screw up the video signal. I have just such a RR crossing near my home and this used to cause a camera fault 2 out of 3 times that I crossed it. Now... nothing. Simply by nailing down the left side of the camera, the problem has completely gone away.

For those of you who have not pulled the trim piece off of the camera mount, I've attached a few pictures. First picture - on the right side of the picture is the left side of camera (tab), and then the plastic slot that it slides into, and the spring above that is supposed to provide spring-loaded tension to the camera tab.

Second picture - the right side of the camera body (post) and the spring clip that it clips into.

Some other random pics of the area.

If you're having this issue, pull off the trim piece above your rear-view mirror (5 clips total). First check to see if the left side of you camera has any slop in it . It should have none. If it does, carefully pull the right side of the camera down to slide the post out of the spring clip, then slide the entire camera slightly to the right to pull it out of the left slot. Using a small screwdriver, bend the spring down so that it will push down on the metal camera tab when it is reinstalled. Fairly tight.

Reassemble: Slide the left-side tab back into the slot, push the right-side post back into the spring clip. Before you reinstall the trim piece, take the car out for a spin to that favorite place or yours where the front camera always faults. Lemme know if this fixes the issue for you.

I used to get multiple camera faults per day. I made this fix on March 2nd and have not had a single fault since.

dang.

This exactly covers the failure modes on my '23 - tended to seem to correlate to potholes and cold weather (cold obviously increases gaps). Like you I had pulled apart the unit fooled with the cable, to no real effect. I also took it to the dealer 4 times, no effect. Software updates maybe in the last 12 months have made the failure *interval* short (recovers in closer to 3 to 5 secs instead of 20 to 30) but the *frequency* hasn't changed much.

Will take mine apart this afternoon and update.

 

[HuntingPudel]

My 2024 vomited up a string of front camera reeked this morning while sitting in the driveway. Once I got them all cleared with the OK button, they did not come back. Maybe this issue brought on by thermal conditions? I will have to pull the camera’s beauty cover and look at it. Thanks for posting this. ??

 

[Vgkfan]

I’m beginning to believe this is being caused by a software glitch, possibly a background update of some sort?

 

[Flint302]

Great find! I had a windshield replaced and have been getting warnings ever since. It's not consistent though. I will hit a New Jersey pothole and loose a filling from my teeth and it will be fine. I roll over a pencil and I get the camera issue. Vibration is the constant. Your work all makes perfect sense--thank you.

 

[bbulkow]

I've been battling an increasing level of Front Camera Fault errors on my 21 GTPE. I tried moving the coax cable to different positions with little-to-no success.

While playing around with the camera and cables, I noticed that the left side of the camera was loose. I could push on the left side of the camera body and it would freely move up and down about .050". The mounting method for the left side of the camera is a tab into a slot: where the camera body casting is a metal tab and it fits into a plastic slot on the plastic "dish" that's glued to the windshield. The right side of the camera is a metal post that slides into a spring-loaded clip.

I decided to unclip the camera and remove it just to have a look. Eureka! In the top of the slot, above where the camera tab slides in, there is a spring meant to push the camera tab down against the bottom of the slot holding it firmly in position. I my case, the spring was completely collapsed and not supplying any tension on the camera tab, allowing it to vibrate. With a small screwdriver, I bent the spring downward so that the tab is now held very tightly in the slot. Doing this completely eliminated my front camera faults. For me anyway, it turns out that the coax cable is not the problem, but camera vibration is.

For the mechanical engineers among us, this makes perfect sense. I used to be a quality engineer and worked with mechanical engineers to do vibration testing on mechanical structures to the point of failure. My theory with this small/lightweight camera and a sloppy tab-in-slot arrangement is that high frequency road noise (think: crossing 5 sets of train tracks at a crossing at speed) caused the camera to vibrate wildly and screw up the video signal. I have just such a RR crossing near my home and this used to cause a camera fault 2 out of 3 times that I crossed it. Now... nothing. Simply by nailing down the left side of the camera, the problem has completely gone away.

For those of you who have not pulled the trim piece off of the camera mount, I've attached a few pictures. First picture - on the right side of the picture is the left side of camera (tab), and then the plastic slot that it slides into, and the spring above that is supposed to provide spring-loaded tension to the camera tab.

Second picture - the right side of the camera body (post) and the spring clip that it clips into.

Some other random pics of the area.

If you're having this issue, pull off the trim piece above your rear-view mirror (5 clips total). First check to see if the left side of you camera has any slop in it . It should have none. If it does, carefully pull the right side of the camera down to slide the post out of the spring clip, then slide the entire camera slightly to the right to pull it out of the left slot. Using a small screwdriver, bend the spring down so that it will push down on the metal camera tab when it is reinstalled. Fairly tight.

Reassemble: Slide the left-side tab back into the slot, push the right-side post back into the spring clip. Before you reinstall the trim piece, take the car out for a spin to that favorite place or yours where the front camera always faults. Lemme know if this fixes the issue for you.

I used to get multiple camera faults per day. I made this fix on March 2nd and have not had a single fault since.

I disassembled and found the clip. I found that side of my camera was *somewhat* loose, as the clip is effective, but what I would consider a modest amount of force causes the camera to move.

It's not obvious how to bend the clip "more" without removing the clip from the housing, so I just bent the downward portion of the clip pretty hard. It didn't move much, but I think it moved *some*.

Is the best way to bend the clip to remove it from the housing?

When I replaced the camera, it seemed to take more force to move it on that side.

We'll see how my faults change!

 

[GT-Papa]

My clip was completely flat and was providing no force at all to the camera. Probably a manufacturing defect. I did not try to remove the spring clip to bend it. I just put a small screwdriver in there and levered down the lower portion so that it bent and applies a good amount of pressure now to the camera tab. Hopefully this will work for you too. Lemme know.

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