Front Camera Fault & Pre-Collision Assist Not Available Errors

Gigi_3

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After 7 tries over three dealerships and 9 months with this problem, I believe my 2021 Mach-E is now finally fixed. Not all dealerships are created equally - they are really just franchises after all, and full of humans with all the various trappings that entails.

As mentioned on this thread and others, I agree that in most cases, this problem seems to be caused by poor design in the way the coax cable is routed to the camera in the wiring harness. Coax cable is not really designed to be subjected to sharp bends. It may have been an issue waiting to happen, or as I suspect, the problem was created or exacerbated during the windshield replacement after the recall for the adhesive. Over multiple visits, typically the car would spend time at the dealership, and then I'd pick it up, in most cases having the problem reoccur sometime on the drive home. Most times, but not all, it would be in reaction to a bump in the road. Some people here have been able to recreate the issue by pressing on the headliner near the camera itself, but not me. It could last for seconds, or up to 10 minutes. At one point it became permanent as there are a finite number of times it can be reported before it sticks. After that module was reset, it went back to being intermittent.

The fault would of course never show up for the dealerships, who seemingly on principle would ignore my suggestion/request to look at the wiring to the camera itself, instead wasting lots of time reprogramming or replacing modules that didn't need it. Much time was spent waiting for components to arrive.

As I had been dealing with the issues for so long, with the car spending almost as much time on dealership lots as my driveway, the car was in for its last time before the buyback procedure would have started. That was when a Ford tech eventually gave the dealership the go-ahead to replace the wiring harness. The wrong part arrived twice, but after installing the 3rd one, I've had no recurrence in almost one month and 1000 miles. I'm hoping this continues, but at least now I'm able to go back to the same dealer and tech to replicate their previous fix if it happens again. Hopefully, Ford will redesign this aspect of the car for the future as it seems to be a weak spot for a number of people reporting this.

Ford customer service is very busy but were helpful to me with rentals etc.

Happy to relate further details of my experience to anyone suffering with this.

Have you had any more issues with your car since you made this post? I've been having the same issue for months with my 2021 Premium. I've been to the dealership 3 times (total of ~30 days). The techs have been following the same protocols and have even attempted to replace the camera. I'm not sure they're having luck figuring it out just yet but if this is the fix that would be great news!
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dtbaker61

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I purchased a coax cable for the camera located at top of windshield. Part number was LJ8Z-14D202-U and retailed for $40.17

When I popped off the cover to the camera assembly....I noticed the cable was routed in such a way that creates a sharp bend right at the connector.....which happens to be a swivel connection. So, before changing out to a new cable, I decided to swivel the cable so it isn't such a sharp bend.
Might not make any difference but I'll give it a few weeks and see if the faults return.

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this is exactly what I did about 2 months ago.... just swivelled the cable connector around so there was less strain on the connection. no errors since.
 

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this is exactly what I did about 2 months ago.... just swivelled the cable connector around so there was less strain on the connection. no errors since.

This might be a dumb question, but is popping off that piece relatively easy? Looking at @SnBGC pictures, it looks like it may only be a couple clips?
 

dtbaker61

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This might be a dumb question, but is popping off that piece relatively easy? Looking at @SnBGC pictures, it looks like it may only be a couple clips?
easy
5 clips.... pry perpendicular to windsheild
 

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Yep. Coax with 90 degree swivel connector. It just needs to be routed without that sharp bend. I am 200 miles so far without a repeat fault. It I go 5000 miles then I will declare success.
The random reproduced are the worst and like crying wolf. Hoping you are fixed. The cause sounds logical and think you may have a fighting chance.

Did it start for most only after the windshield fix? Have not got that one done yet.

@SnBGC is it actual coax cable with one center copper wire in a plastic sheath that is bent around like that? I see the connectors are not the tried and tested screw on crimps we already have along with the tools for crimping and a mile of cable. 🤷‍♂️
 


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This might be a dumb question, but is popping off that piece relatively easy? Looking at @SnBGC pictures, it looks like it may only be a couple clips?
Pretty easy. 5 clips.
 

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this is exactly what I did about 2 months ago.... just swivelled the cable connector around so there was less strain on the connection. no errors since.
Awesome! Same here. No issues since but only been less than 3 weeks but I drive lot so maybe???
 

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Yep. Coax with 90 degree swivel connector. It just needs to be routed without that sharp bend. I am 200 miles so far without a repeat fault. It I go 5000 miles then I will declare success.
I was sending camera data to a desktop through USB1 years ago. It is going to the cars computer. My sat receiver still runs coax. Coax seems real old school since we have display port, hdmi and usb3. All should be easier with cabling. 🤷‍♂️

Great find appears it may be working for some đź‘Ť Start with the simple and work your way up. Here is hoping it fixes some.
 

Carlos J. Marrero

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Hi from Puerto Rico to everyone in the thread. It seems that my problem was solved and it was not the dealer who did it. I give you a summary. By the middle of 2022 the fault began to appear more or less weekly for one or two minutes and then it would disappear. Then I did it every two or three days until around October when the failure was permanent. I made an appointment at the dealer and the diagnosis was that the IPMB had to be changed. This was replaced on December 27, 2022. After it was delivered to me, the fault returned on December 29 for about a minute to two and continued like this every two to three days until February 19, 2023. When I saw the @SnBGC post on February 20th made me curious to do the same. Turn the connector of the coaxial cable that is connected to the camera completely to the left and as of today it has been exactly 14 days and 438 miles since then and the fault has not gone away. It would be nice if everyone who has done the same thing as @SnBGC would indicate if they have solved the problem. I have an appointment at the dealership this coming March 27th and I ask the group experts if they recommend me to go to the appointment or simply cancel it. I want the dealer to carry out bulletin 23-2040 to be more sure. I have a 2021 Premium RWD extended battery job 2. Excuse the spelling as I am from Puerto Rico. Thanks to @SnBGC for the advice. suggestions?
 

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Awesome! Same here. No issues since but only been less than 3 weeks but I drive lot so maybe???
I don't know if I'm going to be so lucky. I removed the cover and to my surprise, the cable was already on the left side. I swiveled it a bit to hopefully lessen the bend. Hopefully that'll be it. Let's see if the fault comes back...
 

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I don't know if I'm going to be so lucky. I removed the cover and to my surprise, the cable was already on the left side. I swiveled it a bit to hopefully lessen the bend. Hopefully that'll be it. Let's see if the fault comes back...
What year is your car? Would be good to see if we can pinpoint when they started at least putting the connector in the correct direction lol.
 

kirkus02

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What year is your car? Would be good to see if we can pinpoint when they started at least putting the connector in the correct direction lol.
2021. Jan 20, 21 build date.

Just to be clear, the connector may have been in the correct direction but I received the fault on a regular basis. Still waiting for the fault to return, but I haven't been driving much this week.
 

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2021. Jan 20, 21 build date.

Just to be clear, the connector may have been in the correct direction but I received the fault on a regular basis. Still waiting for the fault to return, but I haven't been driving much this week.
Understood. If yours was already in the correct direction, and being such an early build, I assume it is just random if your car has it in the correct direction or not and doubtful it was something addressed on the line (maybe after the errors started popping up like crazy they addressed it).
 

kirkus02

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I don't know if I'm going to be so lucky. I removed the cover and to my surprise, the cable was already on the left side. I swiveled it a bit to hopefully lessen the bend. Hopefully that'll be it. Let's see if the fault comes back...
At first I thought it might be too early to report back since its only been a week since I opened up the cover and 'loosened' the bend. Again, the cable was already on the left side when i initially opened it up, so I just tried to loosen the bend. I have not had a front camera fault/pre-collision assist not available error since. Prior, I was getting the error what felt like once a day, so this is already a big improvement. I have also been trying to recreate the error by running over small potholes and/or bumps in the roads...lol.
 

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At first I thought it might be too early to report back since its only been a week since I opened up the cover and 'loosened' the bend. Again, the cable was already on the left side when i initially opened it up, so I just tried to loosen the bend. I have not had a front camera fault/pre-collision assist not available error since. Prior, I was getting the error what felt like once a day, so this is already a big improvement. I have also been trying to recreate the error by running over small potholes and/or bumps in the roads...lol.
Don't destroy your suspension trying to make something happen you do not want. ;)
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