TheVirtualTim
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Tim
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2020
- Threads
- 26
- Messages
- 1,366
- Reaction score
- 2,469
- Location
- Dearborn, MI
- Vehicles
- ‘21 Mach-E First Edition, ‘23 Mach-E GT Performance
- Thread starter
- #1
We had snow yesterday with temps in the low 30°F's. @AEtherScythe and I had to drive down to his parents house for his brother's birthday. When we left the house it was a steady snowfall and 32°F.
I'm driving and the snow seems to be melting as soon as it hits any surfaces ... so the roads were wet but nothing to worry about.
Anyway, I noticed the adaptive cruise is letting me get a little close to the car in front of me. I glance at the driver display and notice that the image of the bubble around our car does NOT show the icon for a car ahead of us and I realize our car isn't seeing that car. I disengage cruise and take over (another reason why drivers should be paying attention).
A few moments later I get a warning on the driver display "Pre-Collision Assist Not Available". Just as a test I try to re-engage cruise and the car gives me another warning that it thinks the sensor is blocked. I'm a little baffled because it looks like the snow is melting as soon as it hits anything. I check the temp and the sensor in the car reads 32°F exactly.
We had to stop at a store on the way to see his brother. I step out, look at the front of the car, and see this:
Ahhhh.... so THAT explains it! The sensor was, in fact, actually blocked (for those unaware, the forward facing radar is the flat spot between the active grille louvers). I reached down to check it and it was about 1/2" thick of basically slush (which tells me that the temperature sensor is bang-on accurate because in physics, slush is *exactly* at the freezing point for water. It cannot get warmer unless it completely melts and it cannot get colder unless it completely freezes.)
On the drive back home the temperature was up to 36°F ... nothing accumulated on the car so it was happy.
I expect this is really only an issue when having that "wet" snowfall ... temps very close to 32°F. When it's much colder, the snow is dry and doesn't really stick to surfaces as easily and any warmer and it just melts.
The ice scraper and window squeegee/brush are now in the back hatch. <sigh>
I'm driving and the snow seems to be melting as soon as it hits any surfaces ... so the roads were wet but nothing to worry about.
Anyway, I noticed the adaptive cruise is letting me get a little close to the car in front of me. I glance at the driver display and notice that the image of the bubble around our car does NOT show the icon for a car ahead of us and I realize our car isn't seeing that car. I disengage cruise and take over (another reason why drivers should be paying attention).
A few moments later I get a warning on the driver display "Pre-Collision Assist Not Available". Just as a test I try to re-engage cruise and the car gives me another warning that it thinks the sensor is blocked. I'm a little baffled because it looks like the snow is melting as soon as it hits anything. I check the temp and the sensor in the car reads 32°F exactly.
We had to stop at a store on the way to see his brother. I step out, look at the front of the car, and see this:
Ahhhh.... so THAT explains it! The sensor was, in fact, actually blocked (for those unaware, the forward facing radar is the flat spot between the active grille louvers). I reached down to check it and it was about 1/2" thick of basically slush (which tells me that the temperature sensor is bang-on accurate because in physics, slush is *exactly* at the freezing point for water. It cannot get warmer unless it completely melts and it cannot get colder unless it completely freezes.)
On the drive back home the temperature was up to 36°F ... nothing accumulated on the car so it was happy.
I expect this is really only an issue when having that "wet" snowfall ... temps very close to 32°F. When it's much colder, the snow is dry and doesn't really stick to surfaces as easily and any warmer and it just melts.
The ice scraper and window squeegee/brush are now in the back hatch. <sigh>
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