Radar Cruise control not available - clean sensor

Apologies if this has been answered but recently I have been getting a cruise control not working and shutting down mid cruise saying the sensor needs to be cleaned. Grill plate and windshield are both clean. Took it to the dealer and they found no faults when hooked up to the computer. Drove home, worked for a bit then shut down and sent the same message. “Radar Cruise Control not available- clean sensor”. Any ideas?

 

The radar cruise control sensor is not in the grill, it’s in the windshield. Look in the top center of your windshield. Make sure it is clean and unobstructed.

I never use the radar cruise, I use the old school cruise; which you can also use by pressing and holding the cruise button for 5 seconds.

 

Thank you Borracho Loco. I will try that!

 

I think it's in both? Because when I drove through a snow storm last year the "plate" right above the bumper was covered with snow and lights showed up on my instrument cluster saying radar cruise was not available (I was still able to use regular cruise after holding the button). Once the snow stopped, I cleared the "plate" and radar cruise worked again

 

is your 4R stock, or do you have any lift, modified bumper, etc...?

Mods can mess with the sensor that would need to be recalibrated. Usually a lift and bigger tires are fine without calibration but if you changed anything I would look at getting it recalibrated if it's acting up

 

No modifications at all. Gonna try this cleaning up of the windshield and bumper plate and see how that works. Going to also start using the standard cruise as Borracho suggested. I hate the adaptive thing anyway.

 

I got similar errors for no apparent reason.

 

you say it was on a sunny day. Was it in the summer or on a hot day?

When my truck has been sitting all day long facing the scorching AZ sun in 115 F+, I've had 2-3 times the radar cruise not functioning despite nothing covering it. After driving for a couple minutes on the freeway it worked again. My assumption was the sensor overheats which prevents from functioning safely, and when cooling it down as the truck is moving, it is safe to operate so it works again (same thing has happened with other car brands).

I dont think this is OP's issue though since he said it happened recently and we are in the winter

 

I checked the video again to see the temp. It was Sep 2, 2024. It was showing 84°F on dash when the issue first started.

 

Yes, both the forward facing camera on the windshield and the radar sensor on the grill are needed for the radar cruise, lane departure warning, and the collision avoidance braking systems to work.

That said, every time I’ve had the “clean sensor” warning, it was due to snow buildup on the front sensor.

 

Back when I owned my 21' Tacoma, I had this issue happen I think two or maybe three times. Each time that it happened, it was raining really hard and the grille sensor got very dirty or very wet. I wiped it dry with my hand and the issue went away. There was no "real" issue, just the false positive notification on the dashboard.

 

Same here, heavy rain or snow shuts down the system. It makes sense though, from what I understand the camera sees in the visible-light spectrum, just like our eyes. If our eyes have can’t make anything out, neither can the camera. I’m also pretty sure, the “radar” sensor on the grill uses a frequency that cant penetrate heavy rain or snow either.

 

I've had mine act up for no apparent reason 2 times....

Took it in, could not find any reason.

Too much tech is taking too much time out of our lives, just sayin'