2013 M37x

I always drive with DCA turned on. A few days ago I started randomly hearing a single beep while I was driving. Yesterday I found that it's doing it as I'm turning and the beep is the DCA turning itself off, except there are no other indications besides the beep. The LCD still shows that the DCA is on but it stops detecting vehicles in front of me. If I turn it off and back on, it beeps again and remains off even though the LCD still indicates that it's on. The same thing happens when I try to turn on the cruise control. Usually when the car loses traction or the front sensor loses focus because of sun, rain, or dirt, I hear the same beep and the DCA indicator starts flashing but that's not the case here - only the beep. Any ideas before I take it in for service? I'm thinking the sensor either needs to be realigned or it went bad. The bad thing is I haven't been able to figure out how to duplicate the problem on demand - I just have to wait for it to happen.

that is a new one , sorry i haven't seen that happen on mine . You seem to have enough information although its random.

There are other parts to the DCA besides the radar sensor. There's also a gas pedal actuator, brake actuator, and brake actuator controller, as well as the buzzer, control switch and indicator. From what I've read in other forums, the sensor is sensitive to strong light, like a low sunset/sunrise, etc. and will turn itself off to avoid false alarms. Rain can also affect operation.

DCa would be the first thing I'd disable/toss out--if my car had it. My wife's old 2012 RAV4 was being serviced a while back and we got a 2019 model with all that silly driver assistance crap for a loaner; drove us both crazy...

cliffyk wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 17, 2019 8:28 am

DCa would be the first thing I'd disable/toss out--if my car had it. My wife's old 2012 RAV4 was being serviced a while back and we got a 2019 model with all that silly driver assistance crap for a loaner; drove us both crazy...

Assuming your profile is currentl, you live in St. Augustine. Might not be useful for you due to I presume less gridlock/rush hour traffic. When I lived in NJ for 3 months due to a work contract, it was the best thing since sliced bread. Traffic day and not on the Garden State Parkway or I-78 was brutal. The only thing I wish it did was stop and go and not just stop. Kind of like a Tesla.

armybrat wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 17, 2019 8:20 am

There are other parts to the DCA besides the radar sensor. There's also a gas pedal actuator, brake actuator, and brake actuator controller, as well as the buzzer, control switch and indicator. From what I've read in other forums, the sensor is sensitive to strong light, like a low sunset/sunrise, etc. and will turn itself off to avoid false alarms. Rain can also affect operation.

This is good information. Yesterday I was able to trace it to the gas pedal: fast acceleration causes the problem I described (even if the car is in park - putting the pedal to the floor for 1-2 seconds triggers it). It's different than when rain/dirt/light affect the sensor because the DCA indicator flashes in those cases. With this problem, the indicator stays on but the functionality just stops working. I'm dropping it off for diagnosis on Friday. Hopefully it's relatively quick and easy to find and fix.