I had a sensor issue and it took a test drive for them to confirm there was an issue with it. You'll have to have them drive and reproduce the error. Consult did not detect this in my case. Even on the "furthest" distance setting, my car would rear end the car ahead of me if I did not intervene.
I hope you're still under warranty or that the repair is covered under insurance due to the collision. A new sensor itself is $2200 IIRC. Mine was just out of warranty and I had to call Consumer Relations. They agreed to pay for the part and i had to cover $200 for labor.
Here's the thread that I started a couple years ago:
adaptive-cruise-control-t594512.html