No radar in the snow

[Husky]

Well, we just had our first snow storm here in New England yesterday. Heavy, wet snow. I had to go out to do our curb-side grocery pickup. I didn't get more than three miles before I got the warning light that the frontal radar wasn't working. It gets covered in snow and slush very quickly. I cleaned it off at the store, but just a few miles after leaving it came on again. Then stopped for gas and cleaned it off again, but just a few miles later the warning light came on yet again. That plastic radar cover on the grill is like a damn snow magnet! This has never happened on my wife's CX-5, which we drive in the winter just as much. Maybe because it's higher off the road? It's really too bad that Genesis didn't engineer a way to heat that thing a bit in the winter. The feature is totally useless if it's snowing, or you're driving on a road with snow on it behind other vehicles.
On the plus side, I was reminded of how well the car drives in the snow, even with half-worn all season tires. So much better than my 335xi was (which had dedicated snows).

 

[PMCErnie]

Do you really need to use
Cruise Control in that kind of weather?

 

[EdP]

Well, we just had our first snow storm here in New England yesterday. Heavy, wet snow. I had to go out to do our curb-side grocery pickup. I didn't get more than three miles before I got the warning light that the frontal radar wasn't working. It gets covered in snow and slush very quickly. I cleaned it off at the store, but just a few miles after leaving it came on again. Then stopped for gas and cleaned it off again, but just a few miles later the warning light came on yet again. That plastic radar cover on the grill is like a damn snow magnet! This has never happened on my wife's CX-5, which we drive in the winter just as much. Maybe because it's higher off the road? It's really too bad that Genesis didn't engineer a way to heat that thing a bit in the winter. The feature is totally useless if it's snowing, or you're driving on a road with snow on it behind other vehicles.
On the plus side, I was reminded of how well the car drives in the snow, even with half-worn all season tires. So much better than my 335xi was (which had dedicated snows).

Yes, happens to all of us. Not really a problem. If you are driving in snow conditions that relies on the AEB you are driving too fast and following too close.

 

[Husky]

Still a bad design.

 

[Husky]

In my case yesterday, it was 33 degrees out and the roads were simply wet, not icy or slippery, but the snow coming down stuck to the front of the sensor like glue, rendering it useless.
I wasn't trying to use the adaptive cruise (nor would I in bad conditions), or driving too fast or tailgating. My point is that an otherwise useful and normally effective safety system is too easily defeated by some snowfall. This wasn't some terrible blizzard.
As a retired engineer, I think they should have designed it to work all year round, in various climates. After all, cars have heated side view mirrors and heated wipers, why not this?

 

[Husky]

I'm wondering if some spray silicone would be beneficial?

 

[EdP]

In my case yesterday, it was 33 degrees out and the roads were simply wet, not icy or slippery, but the snow coming down stuck to the front of the sensor like glue, rendering it useless.
I wasn't trying to use the adaptive cruise (nor would I in bad conditions), or driving too fast or tailgating. My point is that an otherwise useful and normally effective safety system is too easily defeated by some snowfall. This wasn't some terrible blizzard.
As a retired engineer, I think they should have designed it to work all year round, in various climates. After all, cars have heated side view mirrors and heated wipers, why not this?

It would be an added expense and not needed. It is a nice safety device but in the conditions where it is not working the conditions also preclude the need for it.
You need wipers, you need mirrors, you should not be using the front sensor. In a way, it may be a safety device to NOT be in service by a careless driver. I can see the idiot arguing, that it was icy, snowing, low visibility and my auto cruise control did not stop me in time from 80 mph.

 

[pulsar]

I'm wondering if some spray silicone would be beneficial?

Maybe try some Rain-x or similar on the plastic radar lens. When I rode Harley’s I had some single use wipes I was given while at Sturgis that Harley was giving away to use on windshields and my helmet visor. Whatever chemical it was nothing stuck to my windshield for a while and if riding thru rain both my windshield and my visor shed water like mad. Water just wicked and ran off. Would think snow might do the same thing maybe.

 

[Husky]

It would be an added expense and not needed. It is a nice safety device but in the conditions where it is not working the conditions also preclude the need for it.
You need wipers, you need mirrors, you should not be using the front sensor. In a way, it may be a safety device to NOT be in service by a careless driver. I can see the idiot arguing, that it was icy, snowing, low visibility and my auto cruise control did not stop me in time from 80 mph.

Ed, you must have been in marketing. The whole thing is an added expense that you could argue is unnecessary; "Weren't you watching where you were going?" Like so many other features, we went for decades without it. I say if you're going to have it, do it right with a more robust design. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

[EdP]

Ed, you must have been in marketing. The whole thing is an added expense that you could argue is unnecessary; "Weren't you watching where you were going?" Like so many other features, we went for decades without it. I say if you're going to have it, do it right with a more robust design. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

I'm happy to pay for it as it makes cruise control much better, plus it adds a layer of safety in other situations. I just don't see the need to pay to make it work when it is not safe to use. I guess we'll just disagree.

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[Mcc]

As a retired engineer, I think they should have designed it to work all year round, in various climates. After all, cars have heated side view mirrors and heated wipers, why not this?

Well you asked so: as an engineer you know that heated mirror function by heating wires through or in back of the mirror and as an engineer you understand that the radar system doesn’t tolerate metal or even wires interfering with its field of view so as an engineer how would you propose that they design it to heat it to work the year round?
btw I live is SoCal and I would not pay a penny extra it have it work in the snow.

 

[Chad86tsi]

The thing is, other cars have heated sensors for this very reason. It's not a new problem, nor an unsolvable one.

 

[Husky]

Really? Didn't you pay for heated mirrors that you don't need? You could play that game forever, "I don't need feature x, so I don't want to pay a penney for it". I don't use lane assist, so maybe I should complain that I had to pay for it. Cars are generally designed to be sold to a wide market, by necessity. Everyone buying a car has to accept the fact that they've paid for some little thing that they don't care about. However, in this case, they could have put it on AWD models only, to ease the pocket books of those living and traveling only in warm climates.
As for the heating, yes I realize the obvious method of using wires (in front of the sensor) would be problematic. However, think out of the box. There are plenty of ways to heat stuff; hot air, hot water, IR, etc.. That's what engineering is all about, solving problems, sometimes in non-obvious ways.
I can't think of another feature of a car (this one or any other that I've owned) that becomes disabled and sets off a warning light and a message every time it snows.

 

[PMCErnie]

Still a bad design.

Look at it this way. It’s a Fail Safe feature to keep you from using the system in bad weather. Works for me.

 

[Husky]

The thing is, other cars have heated sensors for this very reason. It's not a new problem, nor an unsolvable one.

Correct. Volvo puts the sensor behind the windshield, where the wipers keep the area clean, and Audi apparently heats the sensors. I've actually found quite a few articles (and other forum discussions) on the topic.
If the silicone spray doesn't work I'll try the Rain X.

 

[CVODON]

The unit is plastic, be very careful what products you put on it, It could end up etched or turning white. Carnuba wax, Plexus Plastic polish or if you really want it slick use CarPro Dlux which is ceramic coating for plastic. But alcohol products such as Rain-X wll gradually, if used often, degrade the finish. Plastic and Alcohol do not play well together.

 

[MJR]

Really? Didn't you pay for heated mirrors that you don't need? You could play that game forever, "I don't need feature x, so I don't want to pay a penney for it". I don't use lane assist, so maybe I should complain that I had to pay for it. Cars are generally designed to be sold to a wide market, by necessity. Everyone buying a car has to accept the fact that they've paid for some little thing that they don't care about. However, in this case, they could have put it on AWD models only, to ease the pocket books of those living and traveling only in warm climates.
As for the heating, yes I realize the obvious method of using wires (in front of the sensor) would be problematic. However, think out of the box. There are plenty of ways to heat stuff; hot air, hot water, IR, etc.. That's what engineering is all about, solving problems, sometimes in non-obvious ways.
I can't think of another feature of a car (this one or any other that I've owned) that becomes disabled and sets off a warning light and a message every time it snows.

I agree that this is a nuisance. For me, the issue is the front parking sensors. My garage is fairly small and with my G80 in it, I have about 6 inches to spare to the front and back of my car. I use the sensors to tell me when I'm there (when it hits the red warning, I go another inch and I'm good). I'm still in the honeymoon phase with my car so I'm not at the point of being critical BUT I see your point about there being a built in mechanism to combat snow build up. That'd be great in Michigan.

 

[Aquineas]

FYI my wife's Expedition suffered the same problem in slushy conditions, and it's definitely a taller vehicle. We took an unplanned trip in February of this year to New York and hit a bunch of snow, ice, slush along the way (a snow storm tracked with us pretty much the entire ride up- thank goodness I bought the 4WD version which definitely helped as we hit some not-yet-plowed roads on the way). To help alleviate the frozen sensor problem, whenever we'd stop (mostly due kids' bio-breaks), I would clean off all the sensors and cameras with Rain-X and an old rag (Rain-X wasn't any more or less effective than Windex or something else, but it is what I had on hand). It helped for a while, but inevitably they'd get covered again.

 

[Husky]

The unit is plastic, be very careful what products you put on it, It could end up etched or turning white. Carnuba wax, Plexus Plastic polish or if you really want it slick use CarPro Dlux which is ceramic coating for plastic. But alcohol products such as Rain-X wll gradually, if used often, degrade the finish. Plastic and Alcohol do not play well together.

Good point, thanks.

 

[rmod]

I would have gladly paid more if there was a winter package that consisted:

- Headlight and rear camera washer
- Heated fuel door, wiper blades and windshield
- Remote starter on the freakin keyfob

Too much to ask for in a luxury car? I guess the 3D cluster is more important.