Hi,

This is my first post in the forum, I live in Switzerland and drive on the wrong side 😉

Yesterday while driving in a mild snow storm I got complete ACC failure with a message acc sensor impaired, when I did reach my destination I found the crystal face completely covered by snow and after removing the 2 mm thick snow layer it worked again. I’m very surprised that they don’t test this kind of stuff before running into production….Is this happening with non crystal face cars too?

 

Yes, it’s the same on my non-crystal face Enyaq.
 

Any amount of snow causes the sensor in the grill to be blinded, and the forward park assist sensors to keep popping up warnings about them being covered. 

Hi, and welcome.

I don’t have acc or crystal face. I have had a warning triangle and message saying “front assist not available”, and something about travel assist availability during snow/ice but it actually cleared itself, I guess the snow fell off.

If the snow is so bad that the grill is getting covered then the road markings are probably getting obscured so the acc would struggle anyway, you wouldn’t want a sudden steering or braking intervention on icy surfaces.

Luckily in England we get very few really bad weather days.

 

Link to the owners manual:

https://digital-manual.skoda-auto.com/w/en_GB/show/99904436763ed9adac1445257dcfa3ee_5_en_GB?query=acc#ID_f9711c99415377ef0ad95f09469fcfc2-99904436763ed9adac1445257dcfa3ee-en-GB

Edited 2 February, 20224 yr by classic

Used to happen on my VW golf and Tiguan in heavy rain and snow. Other than making it heated you can't do much about it.

59 minutes ago, chopper85 said:

Used to happen on my VW golf and Tiguan in heavy rain and snow. Other than making it heated you can't do much about it.

True - my previous Superb was also

the same. I think the notifications were less annoying though, so I didn’t mind them as much. The binging and bonging every other minute from the parking sensors in the Enyaq drive me nuts when driving in snow. 🤣

It sometimes feels like some cars were designed and engineered without considering the fact that they will be used in snow. On my Kodiaq I occasionally get this warning on some sensors, but after three years it's quite rare.

 

It's annoying enough that it puts systems out of use, but the binging and bonging insufferable.

It happens with the front assist sensor on the octy too.

When I stopped at a service station I found the front of the car covered in a few mm of snow, but once I brushed it all off everything was just fine again.

Yes happens on my non crystal face too- at least it is only with snow, my last car was a Tesla and it used to throw up these errors when it was dark, or when there was low sun, both of which blinded the cameras

 

It's happened on both our Kodiaq and Swift too, each of which have a sensor in the front grille 

48 minutes ago, domhnall said:

 my last car was a Tesla and it used to throw up these errors when it was dark, or when there was low sun, both of which blinded the cameras

 

It happens on my non crystal human face as well, a well known problem called cataracts!

Edited 5 February, 20224 yr by J.R.

The weather / inclement weather / road conditions where drivers can not use CC or ACC are the conditions that are very probably when they should not be using them. 

Take control of the vehicles steering and speeds and braking distances and you are left with some stuff the engineers designed in like ABS / ESP /TC (ASR) etc.

Edited 5 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

13 minutes ago, roottoot said:

The weather / inclement weather / road conditions where drivers can not use CC or ACC are the conditions that are very probably when they should not be using them. 

Take control of the vehicles steering and speeds and braking distances and you are left with some stuff the engineers designed in like ABS / ESP /TC (ASR) etc.

 

Not sure people are talki g about using them in those conditions George...   I don't...   But the warnings and bongs still happen and stay annoyingly regardless which is distracting in those conditions

If they are saying they are not available and the front is snowed / iced up then that must be exactly the conditions they expect them to function in. 

Edited 5 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

On 05/02/2022 at 11:42, roottoot said:

If they are saying they are not available and the front is snowed / iced up then that must be exactly the conditions they expect them to function in. 

 

no. People can be driving quite happily in manual driving just as you describe, and the warnings all kick off so people are rightly woindering is there a fault or is it just because of the conditions.

 

 

Owners / drivers need to keep reporting to dealers and be sure their report is logged at dealerships so that Skoda CZ or UK or wherever can not say ' never heard of this'  or Dealership staff can.  If they say 'they are all like this.' or 'they all do that'.  Then who designed and manufactured in the issue knows very well about it.    Their R&D and pre production had vehicles being driven in winter conditions.  Some head of Skoda signed cars off to get type approval and enter production. 

1 minute ago, roottoot said:

Owners / drivers need to keep reporting to dealers and be sure their report is logged at dealerships so that Skoda CZ or UK or wherever can not say ' never heard of this'  or Dealership staff can.  If they say 'they are all like this.' or 'they all do that'.  Then who designed and manufactured in the issue knows very well about it.    Their R&D and pre production had vehicles being driven in winter conditions.  Some head of Skoda signed cars off to get type approval and enter production. 

 

So just how do you propose the car recognises it's snowing?

I propose that VW group change software to have the message, 'weather or prevailing conditions mean this function is not available.'. If the front being snowed / iced up.  Do not show as a fault'.   If things are actually as they should be.  Sensors not able to sense because of sleet, snow, ice.      Simply clever.   Tell it like it is.  Other manufacturers can.   But then they never took software development in-house.  Ps.  There is rain sensing wipers, ambient temperature sensors, auto lights so really knowing when stuff like when CC / ACC should or is disabled is not difficult.   Skoda have a temp on ICE vehicles when Air conditioning stops functioning.  

Edited 13 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

The thing thats wrong imo is the loud "Bong" sound. Used for many functions, such as ice warning, speed limit exceeded (but that can be turned off) and various fault warnings.

Its an annoying sound, someone at Skoda thinking we need a Boeing or Airbus type  sound, and make it loud too. Ideally a different, less in your face, less intrusive sound should be available, make it selectable, volume adjustable, or even a verbal warning like satnav. Different sounds for different warnings even with a little more plain english text coming up on screen to help people not panic or think "what the hell?".  But English is not Skoda's strong point.

 

If they were mean enough they could even sell it as an option pack.

 

Would a layer of Rain-x help?

 

Thanks, AG Falco

It might, but then a car front highly polished and a windscreen with Rain -X or any other water repellent still gets snowed / iced up.

 

Heating the Front Radar / Sensors to the point of them not freezing but being still able to do their jobs is Simply Clever.

Skoda and even Tesla have yet to get the hang of Fuel / Charger flaps freeing as the rear of cars & KIA / Hyundai, MG, Nissan and other the front Charge point of EV's.

 

 

 

 

Edited 13 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

Heating the sensor cover requires electrickery that wont play well with the radar.

2 hours ago, skomaz said:

 

So just how do you propose the car recognises it's snowing?

 

Thats a very good point! I mean we can't expect the current generation of drivers who value this tech to look up from whatever app they have running on the infotainment to see the weather conditions and make allowances for them.

@xman

Very true, but then people have been to the moon and the South Pole.

 

Heated windscreens have cameras / radar detectors behind them. 

 

 

 

Edited 13 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

5 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

Thats a very good point! I mean we can't expect the current generation of drivers who value this tech to look up from whatever app they have running on the infotainment to see the weather conditions and make allowances for them.

 

I'd love them to pay attention @J.R. and, from the info above, many are - they are just trying to find a way of stopping the relentless messaging that the system is unavailable when the sensor is covered in snow 😉 - which would likely require the car to know it was snowing (or to have some way of turning the bloody warnings off!)

Head for thinking, feet for dancing.