jakepdx

Hi All,

Yesterday I was driving in some pretty heavy snow and all of a sudden the parking proximity sensor lit up with the single red bar on my MID which should only happen if something is <1 foot from my front bumper. I turned off the sensor, waited about 10 seconds, and turned it back on and it started doing the same thing. I waited about 10-15 minutes and turned it on again and this time it was fine.

I have 2 questions:

1. Has anyone else had this happen?
2. Could this have caused any serious issues, such as the car slamming on the brakes or (I doubt) deploying airbags?

2014 ES 300h

yardie876

Clear off the sensor then see if it still happens.

jakepdx

Maybe you didn't read my whole message, but it's already fixed.

yardie876

Oh.... Guess I was too eager to post. Well only cars equipped with PCS would ever apply the brakes on their own. The airbags will never deploy proactively. They're purely reactive and will only deploy during a collision.

Mike728

Yes, I see this all the time when it's snowing heavily. I just turn the sensor off and wait for the snow to stop.

jakepdx

Great - thanks, Mike!

Tpcorr

Hey Jake, I've had the same exact issue with my '09. It surprised me at first, because those sensors are so accurate and consistent.

Tom

jonmanch

I experience this also when there is a lot of slush and wet snow. The snow and slush cover the front sensors for the parking assist and that is what sets off the sensors. You need to stop and clean off the front bumper or turn off the parking assist. IF you have the adaptive cruise control it turns it off if the sensor is covered, too.

mspearl95

this happened to me just yesterday, driving in heavy snow. happened with both the front and rear sensors, at different times.

mackbuck12

[QUOTE=jakepdx;8368619]Hi All,

Yesterday I was driving in some pretty heavy snow and all of a sudden the parking proximity sensor lit up with the single red bar on my MID which should only happen if something is <1 foot from my front bumper. I turned off the sensor, waited about 10 seconds, and turned it back on and it started doing the same thing. I waited about 10-15 minutes and turned it on again and this time it was fine.

I have 2 questions:

1. Has anyone else had this happen?
2. Could this have caused any serious issues, such as the car slamming on the brakes or (I doubt) deploying airbags?

2014 ES 300h[/QUOTE

Same thing happened to me except that it was ice not snow and it was very hard to get off without damaging the car.

lesz

I know that it isn't a big deal if the park assist sensors falsely detect an object because they are blocked with snow or ice, but I was wondering, for those with the collision avoidance system, is there a similar potential for its sensors to falsely detect that the car is about to strike something and, therefore, to apply the brakes automatically?

amphipri0n

I've read about two conditions on the CL forums that have caused false positives with the PCS: driving over an iron bridge and when passing someone aggressively (getting right behind them before switching lanes). There is another scenario listed in the manual that if there is a metal object large enough on the road it may activate, but I haven't heard anyone relate that experience.

I've experienced Pre Collision kick in three times... All of them only at the Alert stage. Once was a false positive driving around a curve with traffic coming the other way which had never triggered before, the only difference was the car had just been washed... ? The other two times, it has actually helped avoid potential collisions.

Poppa

Yes sir... I have a 2013 es 350... was driving home a couple of nights ago ( car was covered in ice ) and the parking sensor sounded.... it shut off quickly, then did it again about 10 minutes later... I shut the sensor off, parked in the garage.. next day when the ice melted, turned the sensor back on and so far, no more false alarms....

Poppa