Collision Avoidance in 2024 Lariat Seems to Have Stopped Working

[NevadaBob]

When I first got my truck last summer, I had multiple instances where the collision avoidance system kicked in and applied brakes and flashed lights on the dash when it thought I was too close to something. After I'd had it several weeks I got it leveled. Not extreme, just ReadyLift 1.5" which turned out to be closer to 2". Shortly after that I was driving with my brother-in-law and came up on another vehicle really fast - they stopped fast, I wasn't paying attention. My truck didn't do anything. No lights, no braking, nothing. My BIL says "doesn't your truck scream at you when you're about to crash?" .That made me wonder if the leveling affected the collision avoidance system. I took it to the dealer (they installed the level) and they said they recalibrated things and it should be good.
My question is, is there a safe way to test this system? It still hasn't come on again, and the level and recalibration was done in August. Maybe I haven't had any close calls, but it seems odd that it did it several times when I first bought the truck, then after the level it hasn't done it again. Maybe I've become a better driver? I doubt that. Any thoughts?

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[embedded rock]

Find and empty road, place a cardboard box on the road, and drive at it. You'll either stop or hit the box.

 

[ShadowDragon24]

have you also checked the setting on the infotainment? driver aid I think? or vehicle. or somein. you can turn it off, aswell as turn sensitivity down on them

 

[mrmike7189]

Check the on/off settings. I have mine set to alert me "on" and the automatic braking set to "off". I dont trust computers to stop my truck

 

[Reddog99]

Check the on/off settings. I have mine set to alert me "on" and the automatic braking set to "off". I dont trust computers to stop my truck

I don't "trust" the computer to stop me either, but the system has saved my ass once when I got distracted and traffic started slowing when I didn't notice. I also found that the pre-collision assist system makes the brakes EXTREMELY sensitive at that time. It will shave the stopping time very noticeably and make the difference between stopping two feet from someone's bumper or hitting the bumper.

 

[NevadaBob]

Check the on/off settings. I have mine set to alert me "on" and the automatic braking set to "off". I dont trust computers to stop my truck

Checked and everything is on and set to high sensitivity.

 

[NevadaBob]

Follow up on this. Took it back to Ford dealer. Fortunately the guy in accessories is really sharp and great to work with. He installed my level lift. Anyway, he found a coax cable (his word) coming from one of the cameras that are key in pre-collision avoidance that wouldn’t convey a signal, like something was damaged or faulty inside. Unfortunately he didn’t have a new one in stock so I need to wait about a week to get it fixed but at least it seems it may be figured out.

One oddity though is it only one time ever gave me a warning message saying something like “collision avoidance system is not available “. I didn’t pay much attention to that because my 22 Ranger did that randomly for no apparent reason. The tech figured in the case of my 24 I should have seen that message all the time.

Hopefully this cable replacement solves the problem.

 

[NevadaBob]

Follow-up Follow-up: Had the coax cable replaced yesterday, and service tech said they did a full recalibration on all cameras and radar. Not sure how they do that. He also said that I was getting a loss of communications error before, and it's gone now with the new cable install. However, he acknowledged there's no good way to test that everything is working, and said "fingers crossed!".

I've read about this exact same problem on the Maverick forum; apparently it's not that uncommon. Usually you never know if there is a problem until something weird happens, like someone pulls out or stops in front of you but the system does nothing.

I'll report back if I find that it actually does work now. Or doesn't...

 

[superj]

i probably would not notice if mine stopped working. the few times it has lit up the cluster saying whatever it shows, i have been already engaging evasive maneuvers so i didn't get to read what it flashed.

 

[NevadaBob]

The times it did work, before it seemingly stopped working, it scared the crap out of me.

 

[CACTUSGREYFX4]

Put a card board or foam in middle of road and drive fast at it. If it stops it works.

 

[superj]

oh man, that would be crazy to do. imagine if it locked up your brakes and put you into a roll

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