Blind spot monitor nonsense

So I took my truck in to the service department today to finally get my blind spot monitor checked since it stopped working suddenly a few weeks ago. Tech calls and said that there's mud caked up in the bumper which is what's causing a misalignment and now it needs to be recalibrated. He said they ran a diagnostic and it's coming back with no faulty sensor codes just needs to be recalibrated. All fine and dandy but they want to charge me $375 to recalibrate and its not covered under warranty. Has anyone ran into this sort of problem and if so what was the end result?

 

Wtf? I'd take it to another dealer or call them to see what they have to say at the minimum. I'd settle with a non working blind spot monitor if it meant saving $400. That's ridiculous.

 

I've had 1/4' sized pebbles and crap built up inside my rear bumper support and the end caps before along with about 4" of mud slung in there. I had some issues, but not an error. I just cleaned all of it out and it was fine again after a few on-off cycles. I had to pull the bumper caps off also to clear all that stuff rattling around. Mostly that basalt granulated stuff from driving in the snow.
I just found this article since your post reminded me of what happened on mine, but no error code for me.
Maybe you can try this.
http://www.thegeekpub.com/5008/check-blind-spot-monitor-system-toyota/

 

Mine quit working from time to time. But they'll usually come back to life after a restart.

When it doesn't I just hit that area at the car was and it goes away for a while.

 

thats garbage. i would take it back without letting them do anything, clean the mud and test it myself. See where it trips and if it really does need to be "recalibrated". If its way off I'd check to see if any of the sensors have been dislodged. If not and I couldn't come up with anything else to do I would take it to another dealership and never mention the mud or your visit to this other dealership. Unfortunately they may be able to see records of your visit to the other dealership but worth a try atleast

 

Toyota... trying to find ways out of paying for their vehicle issues

Reminds me of the leaf springs squeaking they tried to tell me stop taking my TRD OR off road.

 

Hi tech car technology doesn't always translate well into a 4 x 4 Application

 

Well they know their true demographic is mall crawlers. So they aren't completely wrong

 

Haha wow what a rip off... I'd just not get them recalibrated for that amount of money...

 

Funny thing...mine only happened once it started snowing and got salty. No issues ever from off roading.

 

So I picked up my truck from the dealer and he showed me the report from them running the diagnostics and it said that it's a misalignment. I no some people had issues with water damaging the unit and it shorting out but he said there where no other codes popping up just a misalignment. Took it home cleaned out all the dirt and junk and the BSM is still not available. Here's the thing and maybe you guys could help or know any information....if they run a diagnostic on the sensor would 2 different faults show up? For example a misalignment and ground short? Or does one just override the other???

 

Mine stopped working during a hard freeze up but started backing working after it warmed up.

 

Go through your warranty manual. This should be covered. If you encounter resistance from a service advisor politely request to speak with the service manager. If they can't explain it to you logically and you still feel it should be covered based on the situation, let them know you intend to file a claim with corporate. It takes a few minutes.

Sometimes service advisors get weird about jobs they think may not be covered by Toyota for warranty work and/or a slight power trip has them bill customers for stuff that is more paperwork for them. There are almost always other ways for them to write and successfully bill warranty work - especially on jobs that don't require them to send in the defective component to corporate afterwards.

 

Blind spot monitoring lol........... Guess people have trouble looking in the mirror and doing a simple head turn

 

It's an added safety feature. Doesn't replace using the mirrors. It's nice when a car is sitting in your blind spot.

 

Hey! It's tough to turn your head when you've got your cell phone pressed to your ear.

BSM doesn't do anything for me, but the associated cross-traffic alert has been handy when backing out of parking spots where some gargantuan vehicle is blocking my view.

 

Just my opinion, but if your mirrors are adjusted properly you don't really have a blind spot big enough for a car to sit in.... I can see the nose in direct view before the tail leaves the side mirror.

 

Agreed. My first experience with BSM is in a new Volvo. I can't put my trust in it as it does not work 100% of the time largely due to when the sensor gets dirty or if the guy enters my blind spot at a high rate of speed.

I would rather rely on mirrors. If you can't adjust them to see all blind spots then gen a convex insert and you will have not problems.

 

Speaking solely for myself -- I've not yet owned a vehicle that I couldn't properly adjust the mirrors.

Yes it can be disconcerting to not have the "anchor" of viewing the side of your car in your side mirrors... but it's unnecessary and creates the blind spot by being set that way.

 

100% agree, CTA is a very handy device, but sometimes confuses the hell out of me. Especially when it picks up someone walking one row away in the parking lot.