Front Camera Fault & Pre-Collision Assist Not Available Errors

[rhougey]

I wonder if there will be a SA / TSB / Recall sent out? Or will we just have to keep bringing in for service and hope that our dealer contacts Ford for the magical fix?

I wonder if Ford will redesign the harness or harnesses with a more robust coaxial cable. Does anyone know how many individual sections between the front camera and IPMA in the back? And how many junctions?

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[Carlos J. Marrero]

I wonder if Ford will redesign the harness or harnesses with a more robust coaxial cable. Does anyone know how many individual sections between the front camera and IPMA in the back? And how many junctions?

This may help you.

 

[Jonnybignote]

I'm sure I won't be surprising anyone with anything that hasn't been said before. 2021 Select, purchased in late summer 2021.

The car was perfect until around April of this year when the windshield recall was performed, and when they updated various modules including the BC etc, so I have no way of knowing if it's hardware, software, or both.

The car has been in I believe 5 times, across 3 different Southern California dealerships, and on two of those occasions, was there for a month waiting for parts, or scheduling. Therefore, the car has spent almost as much time parked at those places as on my drive.

I see no reason to believe it's weather or heat related as it can trigger at any time day or night, and it does seem to happen mainly as a result of bumps in the road. In all cases except the last, the error would of course not show for the dealers themselves, who would do what they thought would fix it, then drive it 15 miles or so with no issues. I'd then pick it up and hit a bump and the issue would show up typically on my way home.

I've been dealing with a Ford Customer Service rep since the first instance who has been very helpful, but even for her, just getting dealers to respond to a phone call is the first hurdle. Sometime in mid-October, the camera fault became permanent as a lot of folks have experienced. So, this latest appointment was the first time someone actually saw it in action, not just as a picture on my phone.

They replaced the IPMA module and felt very pleased with themselves, as did I. Around an hour later I heard that god awful bell tolling and I'm now back to the intermittent error.
I will most likely let it go in one more time.

I don't see the buyback procedure being a great deal, what with usage being deducted and the now increased finance rates. As CA has a fairly robust Lemon Law in place, I could see how retaining legal advice might be a better option.

I'd be interested to know exactly how many users have been affected by this, and how far Ford is from a class-action suit.

 

[MissBossJenay]

my fault messages started long before i took it in for the glass/blue cruise recalls. i don't get the faults pressing on the part of the roof/windshield area you guys are talking about, it just randomly popped up my entire drive. It went from randomly popping up to coming on as soon as i start the car then remaining in the left bottom corner when i push "ok". i dropped it back off to ford yesterday morning....im sad but hopeful that they will fix it this time...

 

[Tugboat2060]

14D202H in the picture is the part.

 

[TheSteelRider]

14D202H in the picture is the part.

Is that the _only_ part that might have potential issues? E.g., this post

They are not all in the same location, some are further towards the rear along the harness

Seems to hint there are downstream locations as well.

And, I'm also super curious how IPMA / IPMB replacements and "TSB 22-2295" software reset sequences seem to change from perma-fault to occasional-fault?

 

[Tugboat2060]

After the fault happens a certain amount of times it will set code U3000:49 in IPMA, when it sets that code you will have the warning lights on all the time. The module needs to be reset with the diag software and driven to relearn the camera. It will clear the code out and it will be good till it happens a certain number of times again. As for the location there has been at least 2 people saying that hitting the headliner caused the faults. The cable could be damaged somewhere else but the fault I found it on the 14D202H, i removed the side panels and checked the harness and cable all the way to the back of the car. I’ve driven almost 300 miles and not a single problem since I replaced the cable. The software hasn’t had an update for awhile now, so if your car has been in for the issue within the last 6 months it should be up to date. I doubt if you have the masters software it’s going to be a software issue. I’ve been dealing with the problem for some time on my car and I think it is finally fixed.

 

[TheSteelRider]

After the fault happens a certain amount of times it will set code U3000:49 in IPMA, when it sets that code you will have the warning lights on all the time. The module needs to be reset with the diag software and driven to relearn the camera. It will clear the code out and it will be good till it happens a certain number of times again. As for the location there has been at least 2 people saying that hitting the headliner caused the faults. The cable could be damaged somewhere else but the fault I found it on the 14D202H, i removed the side panels and checked the harness and cable all the way to the back of the car. I’ve driven almost 300 miles and not a single problem since I replaced the cable. The software hasn’t had an update for awhile now, so if your car has been in for the issue within the last 6 months it should be up to date. I doubt if you have the masters software it’s going to be a software issue. I’ve been dealing with the problem for some time on my car and I think it is finally fixed.

Oh I see, that does seem to make a lot of sense and explains the behavior change over time. Yes, mine was in about 1 1/2 months ago and got a full update to all modules via FDRS. I think I might do some experiments based on all this new information. I have previously tried tapping on the camera housing and could not reproduce, but now I am going to try pressing on the headliner on the driver's side and maybe even tap on the A- and B-pillar trim and etc. where it looks like the wires are going in the diagram above and see what happens

 

[Tugboat2060]

The wire runs down the apillar to the floor and goes back along the floor under the mustang trim

 

[Tugboat2060]

Don’t be afraid to hit the headliner with your fist a little from the camera cover to the apillar trim at the windshield edge.

 

[RedStormREHS]

Update: A Ford field engineer finally checked out my car today and instructed my SA to order the FC coaxial cable/harness assembly. I assume it's just the initial headliner/A-pillar run only. I didn't get any more info but did inspect the car myself on Monday and started it up. No faults on the driver IPC. So, this is good news after 30+ days in the shop on repair attempt #3! Uggggggg.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Update: A Ford field engineer finally checked out my car today and instructed my SA to order the FC coaxial cable/harness assembly. I assume it's just the initial headliner/A-pillar run only. I didn't get any more info but did inspect the car myself on Monday and started it up. No faults on the driver IPC. So, this is good news after 30+ days in the shop on repair attempt #3! Uggggggg.

I don't like that cable routing, the connector should come off the camera at the 9 o'clock position instead of the 11 o'clock position so it isn't being bent sharply or touching the windshield. Maybe that's why they want to replace yours now.

For those that don't know, coaxial cables are fragile and should never be bent sharply. All turns should be gradual with a large enough turn radius. Bending a coax cable sharply permanently damages it. That's not a design flaw, that's just how coax cables are. These intermittent cable faults are likely going to be due to improper cable handling or routing at some point in the past, either during assembly or during previous dealer work. Most mechanics have zero clue how to handle a coax or sensitive data cable properly, so it would not surprise me if many were damaged during the glass recalls when the windshield was removed or the headliner dropped.

I also want to reiterate that some pre-collision faults are software related and not hardware related. Cable faults are only one cause of many.

 

[TheSteelRider]

I also want to reiterate that some pre-collision faults are software related and not hardware related. Cable faults are only one cause of many.

Would you have any deeper insight as to the software issues? When were they injected, when will they be fixed, etc.

 

[Tugboat2060]

When was the last time your car was in for the issue.

 

[TheSteelRider]

When was the last time your car was in for the issue.

Are you asking me? If so:

Just got back home from picking the car back up. It's very late in the evening, so I didn't have a chance to detour to a BC-enabled highway. I have a short day-trip coming up soon where I should be able to exercise BC so I'll keep this thread up to date if it seems solved or it comes back. For those following along, here is the invoice. Note the programming issues mentioned by other folks and some reset issues.

On a personal-ish note, for this second round fix I decided to take the car to a different dealership, as I wasn't completely satisfied with the experience from my "primary" dealership. At this new one, I requested to please update all the modules, and I (very nicely) expressed some displeasure at having to take the car in a second time for the same issue. So far, I am really pleased with this second dealership, they really took the time to keep me up to date, and they indeed went through and updated all the modules .. note the BC update, recall, etc. updates they did. Just wanted to share this in case others are having, maybe not a bad experience, but not a stellar experience at their current dealer, don't be afraid to take your business elsewhere.

Here are relevant snippets of the invoice. Note this time, this dealer did reference and go through TSB 22-2295. They replaced the IPMA, then had some programming issues to overcome with the new module (I believe that's been reported elsewhere in the forum as well), and finally re-aligned the camera.

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