Tacoma BSM problems?

Hey TW,

Drove up to Mt. Bachelor for the 1st time with the Tacoma. Great time snowboarding.The car washes up in Bend, OR must make a killing with all the salt and sand they throw on the roads.

The temps were about 15 to 30 degrees, the 2nd day of being there I got an error message. "Blind Spot Monitoring not working". It just stopped working while driving. I figured maybe something froze and would thaw out when I got home to the mild coastal temperatures.

Got home, still the horrible loud beep with warning on dash. Took it to the dealer, he told me they ran diagnostics, BSM calibrated fine and couldn't find anything wrong with it. They "reset it" and away the error message goes. And i'm out $100 for them to just look at it.

Is this odd? Do Taco Bro's who live in cold climates have constant problems with BSM?

 

Are you outside the warranty?

 

Common problem crap gets built up under rear bumper. You have to power wash/rinse around sensors well. Sometimes it takes a few miles on road for it to clear error message. some have had to drive down HWY for it to clear.

 

I had mine go out in cold temps while driving up to the snow in Tahoe. I turned it off. I too live by the coast. Got home a day later, washed truck, turned it back on but the it still wasn't working. A couple more days go by, I'm leaving the house and decide to wiggle and lightly tap on the black BSM housing on the drivers side bumper, hop in truck and turn on BSM. Voila. It works. Been about two weeks and has been working without a problem. Been up to Tahoe twice more with LOTS of snow and very cold temps. Not sure what that hiccup was but it seems to have gone away.

I expect to have these fancy electronics fail at some point. Especially for a vehicle that sees it's fair share of adventure time. Its only a matter of time. I'll either pony up $$$ to have it fixed or go high clearance rear and say goodbye to the feature.

I really like having the extra warning for those times when you just don't see what you don't see.

 

This, I've long since ditched my BSM but you can unscrew the modules themselves from the bumper and clean them and in between the bumper to ensure they're not being obstructed. There is a reason none of the aftermarket bumpers out there have BSM support, the modules do not work very well through the stock bumper, let alone steel/aluminum.

 

Just hit above 36,000 so not anymore. And get this interaction. Service guy is really nice so don't get the impression i'm hating on him personally.

ME- "I did purchase the extended warranty so I would hope if the BSM failed that it would be covered."

Service guy- "Oh ok. But did you purchase the comprehensive extended warranty?"

Me-

 

It’s just dirty, totally normal.

 

just came from dealer, my BSM quit working 3 weeks ago, 26000 miles, they ordered both sensors and a switch just so they have all the patrs when i come back,, no dirt, or corrosion, main sensor is probably bad, i think he said the right sensor has the controller in it,, will go back when parts come in, no charge, they pulled the bumper cover and said everything look good, so probably main sensor went bad, did not pull bumper as they are hard to get back to original position.. so im glad they did not pull it..

 

That seems the best logical explanation. I am not familiar with how BSM works or set up. I thought TRD would have secured them in a water tight setup.

 

Yeah I live here and mountain/wheeling trips typically shut down my bsm until it thaws in the garage

 

It’s works best if you are blind or at least shitfaced when backing into a wall at high speed.

 

Mine gave me the same error and I got RAV4 mirrors. The headache of removing your rear bumper end caps to clean it off to maybe fix the problem was worth the price of mirrors.

$100 is cheap too.. I believe they charge 3x+ to recalibrate them.

 

does anyone know where the bsm sensors are?

 

Believe this is like page 238 in your owners manual.

 

I haven't looked yet but I wonder if TRD made them easily accessible so that you can clean them. Now that I am outside 36,000 warranty, time to start learning how to do some more things myself!

 

Your paperwork from the dealer will state the mileage of vehicle at the time of service...if it’s less than 36k send it to Toyota they will cut you a check.

 

You’re too nice. The only extended warranty worth a shit is one provided by the factory. See if you can cash yours back in as it’s obviously worthless, or the dealer is just screwing you.

 

Wha wha whaaaat? Are you saying we can replace the tacoma mirrors with the RAV4 ones and it'll move the BSM sensors to the side mirrors?

 

I wish.

They’re just different pieces of glass that has a separate piece on the far edge that acts similar to the bubbles you put on standard mirrors, but it’s one solid piece and is heated.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2016-rav4-convex-mirrors.468473/

 

Oh. I was hopeful. But now am disappointed. Still nice mod.