Front radar (TSS) sensor error

Not sure if they are officially calling it a recall, but they are aware of an issue. He said the "campaign," was new as of last week. I'll give an update once he tells me what they come up with. With my luck, they will mess with it, the pcs light will go off again, and they will say it's the trd pro grille. So I'm not holding my breath.

 

I have a Chinese trd pro grill and an OEM garnish. No issues for about 6 months until we had a week of rain. Error came on every time after about 2-3 miles of driving. Took it to the dealership today and they are ordering me a new one to be installed on Tuesday. Apparently it is an ongoing problem, service guy told me I’m the third he’s seen.

 

Looks like the dealer replaced my sensor. They didn't have an issue with having the non-oem grille and garnish. They are currently calibrating it now.

 

If you guys can get a copy of the campaign notice and post it that would be helpful to the guys having a problem. Luckily, mine has been flawless so far...

 

As requested:

 

Thanks for posting this, I have a 2018, and the sensor was replaced about 10 months ago. It is acting up again, I will bring this back up when it goes in for a brake recall.

 

Went in today to get my radio replaced and they mentioned this recall.

 

Here is a couple of photos. My Tacoma was built in August 2018, the only thing that holds the cowl on is the 2 plastic fasteners on top and 10 or so plastic tabs on the bottom. Earlier models had a couple of 12mm bolts.

 

I dont understand where u guys are putting the washers. The sensor fastens to the grille with one bolt on each side as shown in post #42. Where is this top bolt your talking about,?

 

There are 2 bolts on the sides & 1 bolt on top kinda off center. The sensor itself has 3 holes that line up with the mounting points. If you are putting the sensor in backwards that top hole won't have anything to line up with

 

Hi guys, I have a Chinese pro grille and garnish and was having TSS error problems. Just did the washer trick and did a 7 mile test drive and everything worked. I have a 2” lift (for anyone trying to compare vehicles). I’m hoping everything’s good, will post an update if anything changes.

 

I’m on the anti-TSS side. I plan on keeping this truck for 10-20 years and I have a feeling this sensor will be one of the first expensive things to go. I don’t know why they would put something in that has so many problems. I had it tell me to brake twice when my truck was completely stock, scared the hell out of me. If you could disable it and turn the light on the dash off permanently I would be happy.

 

Welp, a famous politician "disabled" her cell phones w/ a claw hammer.
Hopefully, we don't let it get that far with our trucks :]

 

The problem with the garnish, OEM or aftermarket is the edges allow water to seep in after washing or raining or even tiny leaves.
Look at your garnish. In stock form , it's protected in the "T" dome on the grill. Only remedy is seal the edges around the garnish. After reading countless problems on the TSS, I went the extra mile to clean any residue on the TSS with glass cleaner and sealed the edge of the garnish. You can find roll of rubber seals to push in around the garnish . Any hardware store carries it. Its black and you can't see it unless you look for it. I'm a bit OCD so off center stuff irritates the shit out of me. This keeps any debris from going in past the garnish. I've had a tiny leaf get stuck between the seal so imagine what can pass and get stuck between the TSS and garnish.
Also, I've had the chance to play with both OEM and China grills. China grills have the front plate plastic melted pegs. OEMs are push in lock washers.
If you need to use the garnish on fake grill, you need to remove the melted plastic so the garnish is flush.
After you put it on , look at it from the front. There should be even spacing around the garnish and grill , not tilted, uneven spacing. THIS IS IMPORTANT.
I know many out there are " in is in " type of people.
You need to properly install it, flushed and the lock washers pushed all the way in. There should be no movement.
I've done both OEM and fake, and have not had a problem. It's been a month now. It rains a lot here and I wash the truck every Sunday.
On a side note, the garnish were OEM for both grills.


Edit: Today had a nasty downpour on freeway and not blip from the TSS. If that didn't trigger the TSS, I'm good.

 

Just did the grille install. China grille, china garnish.

The grille was from Amazon (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07CNJQP5N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), one piece letters insert (no loose letters) held in with 4 screws. Garnish mounts were the OEM style with two flat push-in clips at the bottom corners, two plastic nubs for the push on nuts at top corners and a top center alignment stub. Grille had some plastic mold flash on a few edges which was easily removed with an Olfa knife.

The garnish was from eBay (https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Front-Grill...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649), only $20USD. I hadn't read about the non-OEM garnish issues previously so I went with this.

Install went well, no dremelling or other mods, but the "clean sensor" error occurred within a km or two of driving. Sometimes in town it would be fine until I approached a hill, and it would shut off immediately. I was able to correct the problem (for now anyway): in order to get the push nuts to engage the plastic stubs, the garnish did not sit flush/flat with the grille, the top edge was pushed in about 1/4". I removed the nuts and allowed it to sit flat for a few days with just the bottom clips holding it in, and the errors stopped. The nuts were no longer useable as the stubs were now essentially flush with the back of the grille. So I added a few dabs of high temp hot glue to the 3 tabs to firm it in place, then silicone adhesive squished to the stubs and grille. This appears to be working.

Either way no errors since ensuring the garnish is flat with the grille.

One note on operation: I am finding the set distance during cruise has reduced. The distance at the closest setting previously is more like the middle setting now.

One question: does everyone have a 1/4" or so gap at the top of the garnish? I plan to 3d print an insert to cover that gap then seal it all up as Carrera suggested above.

 

I have what looks to be the same grille although i bought off ebay. I also bought what is supposed to be OEM garnish with the toyota pn and all on the back (however i've read this could be a fake also). I ran into the same problem with the gap being between the garnish and the grill at the top. I installed the clips on the nubs but still the garnish doesn't sit flat. Looking at the front it looks to be flush with the front of grille. I've only drove about 100 miles since the install but I'm getting the error on and off while driving. I feel if i pulling the clips off the nubs and glued flush with the grille it would actually stick out a bit in the front. Is this what yours looks like?

 

this a pic of the front that hopefully shows the installed angle

 

maybe someone here with stock pro can compare or someone with no issues after the install

 

I just changed mine over yesterday. I used a genuine Toyota grill and garnish. Im Having no problems so far.

 

The garnish usually is flush at the bottom but recessed at the top for some reason. I've seen posts of using rubber o-rings to make it more flush on top. Not sure if this is creating your error or not. Also heard of an issue of leaving greasy fingerprints on the front of the sensor can cause errors also.