Sensor error while towing

[Lardener]

I had an odd experience while towing my camper. I was towing out of Denver on I-70W. I mention it because it's a pretty steep climb. The camper is about 4500lbs. I've tried the same trailer up the same slope a couple of times without issue and this time the water tanks were empty. Part way up the hill I got an error message about forward collision detection not being available and there was a noticeable drop in power. I had to keep the throttle pinned just to get 30-35mph. Once over the hill I found a place to stop and tried to find anything in the manual that would help, which I did not. I tried starting it again a couple of times but got the same error. After a while of wondering what to do I tried again and everything came up right. I drove without further incident the next 500+ miles. Has anyone had something like that happen? Should I be worried?

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[JDowns]

There could be multiple reasons why the FC stopped working. I think you can bypass this if it happens again by going into the menu system and turning off pre-collision temporarily or adjusting the sensitivity settings.

As to the why? Could be multiple things such as a dirty camera or the area in front of the camera located behind the rear view mirror on the windshield being dirty. Could be as simple as too much bug splatter in that area on the windshield causing the issue. Could be more complicated, in that the camera is not properly calibrated. If it persists I would certainly take it to the dealer to have it diagnosed.

If I recall correctly, if you don't have ACC then the camera handles the duty of pre-collision, if you do have ACC then the speed sensor in the ACC works with the camera on pre-collision. But a Ford tech should be able to answer that definitively.

 

[AdamHarris]

When that camera is obstructed though it give a specific message such as “forward camera blocked, please remove obstruction” or something like that.

 

[Lardener]

I checked my FordPass app and it had a couple of messages relating to this incident. It had the message about the pre-collision assist not being available with suggestions about cleaning the sensors. I did no such thing so I think that's a red herring. It also has a message about a powertrain malfunction but no real suggestion about what to do. It hasn't complained since so I don't know how to feel about the whole thing.

 

[EJH]

Obstructions to the camera (and/or radar sensor) would disable the forward collesion as described. I've had that happen in winter due to stuff on the radar sensor and/or a dirty/foggy windshield. However, it would not result in a loss of power. There is something else going on...

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