2018 Pre-Collision Instrument Panel Light

Probably too early to get much group feedback on this. I have drive my 2018 TRD Sport DCSB less than 400 miles since picking it up on Thursday evening. Last night during a couple hour highway drive, about 2/3 through the trip to indicator light on the instrument panel came on to indicate that the pre-collision system was off. I hadn't changed any settings while driving...

After getting home, shut down and restarted and the light remained unlit and settings indicated the PCS system was on. It has stayed off during various trips today.

Since the warning light is now off, I don't think I have anything concrete to bring back to the dealer yet.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Dave

 

You can always call the Dealer and explain what happened to see what they recommend

 

snowing or misting? if the sensor gets dirty with road grime or blocked it shuts off until the lens is cleared and the truck is restarted

 

It was lightly snowing. Some salt grime on the lense most likely. I haven't had a day yet that was nice weather.

 

Next commute in the snow happened this morning. The pre-collision system went off about 15 miles in to the trip. This time I did see a message flash by on the display that said the system was disabled and the sensor needed to be cleaned. The message cleared by itself, so maybe I missed the message the previous time. The message was about 5 miles after the dash indicator light indicated that the system was off.

Much more apparent sensor blockage with the storm this morning.

 

You'd think Toyota would have built in a defroster to that unit...!! That's totally unacceptable for northern climates.... Like my T/G camera.... It is totally dysfunctional for 7 months of the year... Cause it's dirty.... Can't they put a "lens washer" in the T/Gate..?? And when they do that, they should also put a washer system for your forward radar as well...!!

 

Nothing unusual about this. My wife's rav4 does the same thing in the same conditions.

 

Wow... I think this is ridiculous. I understand the issue, but quite unacceptable.

Hey, let’s get out on the interstate and clean the front our a close to $40K truck and get hit on the side of the road... I don’t think so.

Hypothetical yes, but somebody out there like the OP probably cares of this tech stuff actually works and it obviously has some issues that r completely unrealistic to keep working properly. U don’t have to live in the North for your truck to get a snow/ice build up like that. A few inches of snow and a little driving around could do that.

I can’t believe they don’t have a better more reliable system. Sorry OP, I just think that if it’s an issue such as just being dirty, this is ridiculous and wasn’t a well thought out add on for the 18’s. Hope this somehow gets resolved for u.

 

This seems to be common sense. If a sensor is blocked, in order to prevent faulty values, they automatically turn it off. For all those crying about, would you rather be dead from it braking and you sliding off the road or drive carefully and rely on you ability to assess situations?

 

Hey, there are cars worth 70K+, Tesla, Mercedes and Lexus, that shit the same when the sensors are blocked
This is totally normal, this sensor is here to help you, not drive for you.

 

Exactly why I don't care for this kind of tech. You can't tell me people aren't going to pull over on the side of a freeway or hop out at intersection to clear it and cause a pile up.

 

Well I wouldn’t expect it to drive for me, but I would hope it would perform without my intervention.

Sad to hear that other manufacturers have the same issue as well.

I say, it looks like someone could strike it rich if they can come up with a long term solution.

Either way, I still think it’s BS to buy any vehicle and something that is designed to keep u and others safe is handicapped by the weather. Oh well, just shows not all tech is good tech. Hope the OP can fix this issue without having to move to FL. Lol.

 

I don’t anyone is crying persay, but I think we hate that someone is buying a vehicle and not getting the satisfaction of constant performance. Let’s b realistic, weather is unpredictable and can have severe consequences just by being distracted looking at the stupid warnings.

 

It's not just Toyota, it's every manufacturer. For all those that want to put on a "defroster" or "wiper" or such, don't you think the engineers have already thought of that and discounted it? Why did they do that? Because, even if your "lens" (the Toyota emblem) is wiped or heated to make it clear, what about the snow or ice in the air rushing towards you at 70 mph? What about the lane markings being obscured by heavy snow, rain or road construction? Making sure the grille area is clear is just one of the challenges to full sensor functionality.

This is also one of the huge challenges to self driving cars. Sure, it works on a warm clear night in Florida, but what about a snowstorm in Minnesota? It has to be able to work both places. Personally, I would rather the sensor get dirty or icy and turn itself off (and gave me a warning light) than have it malfunction with me thinking everything was working correctly and smack into the back of a vehicle in a snowstorm.

They will figure it out but so far, nobody has yet.

 

I drive a Volvo semi with a similar system in it. If it’s raining or there is any snow on the road it will occasionally shut the system down. I’ve had it do it with exesive salt buildup too.

 

Were you alive when cell phones first came out? Same thing. New tech, only worked part time because they didn't have the network populated with towers. Everyone still wanted the tech and used it, but as soon as you left a population center it quit working.

It's always like this with new tech.

 

I hear ya, but cell phones aside from calling 911 in an emergency, didn’t put your life in jeopardy.

Obviously this has been out for a few years now with mentions of Tesla, Volvo, etc., but I believe the choice of placement is the issue.

U can’t stop the weather, but u can figure out a better area to place these sensors to help with dirt, grime, snow/salt build up. It’s not rocket science, but if it’s not working... It’s not working. Some people buy vehicles based on these safety feature. Also, it is a discount on most insurances due to the safety value. If it’s not consistently working that is a problem. I do understand what u mean, but it’s still a flawed safety premise apparently by multiple manufacturers.

 

Nothing unacceptable about it. We still have to rely on the humans from time to time. Technology isn’t always going to be able to step in. Mine has done it due to frost as well. It’s just something you have to get used to. Dodge, Toyota, Mercedes, whatever. They all do it when a blockage occurs.

 

I will mention one more thing, if this is as big of a known issue as people r claiming (which I do believe, since I don’t have any of these said brands), I say that self driving car potential would have extremely diminished chances of success if these sensors r so untrustworthy. I could b wrong but these “self driving” vehicles depend on this for safe travel.

 

Self driving car = Disaster..!!