ACC and pre-collision not working

[swaing]

I recently installed an Addictive Desert Design Rock Fighter bumper and had to relocate the ACC sensor using the IAG relocation kit. Since then, I’ve been getting a “pre-collision assist not available” error after about a mile of driving.
Before the system fully faults out, the adaptive cruise control behaves erratically—noticeably jerky.

The sensor face is mounted perpendicular to the ground, so alignment appears correct. As shown in the photos, the placement seems reasonable. The grille does partially cover the sensor, but that appears to be consistent with how the IAG relocation kit is designed.

Has anyone else relocated their ACC and experienced similar issues? I’m trying to determine what could be causing the failure.

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[Ducati1098]

The module alignment is very touchy for these sometimes. The vertical alignment has to be within +/- 3 degrees, and the horizontal alignment can only be done with a scan tool.

 

[BroncoChallenger]

I was just going to say, you might need to have someone with a scan tool go in and re-adjust the calibration on it. It's the most likely cause since it's no longer in the factory location.

 

[swaing]

If it turns out to be an alignment issue, I’m fine taking it to Ford—hopefully that resolves it.

Has anyone successfully mounted the sensor behind the grille, had it properly aligned, and had it function without issues? I’m trying to rule out whether the grille itself could be interfering. I’ve noticed that snow and even heavy frost can disable the ACC on my 2025 Maverick, so I’m wondering if the grille might be causing similar interference.

 

[BroncoChallenger]

If it turns out to be an alignment issue, I’m fine taking it to Ford—hopefully that resolves it.

Has anyone successfully mounted the sensor behind the grille, had it properly aligned, and had it function without issues? I’m trying to rule out whether the grille itself could be interfering. I’ve noticed that snow and even heavy frost can disable the ACC on my 2025 Maverick, so I’m wondering if the grille might be causing similar interference.

Oh for sure, snow/ice buildup can cause issues - it does on my wife's expedition during the winter. Makes me HATE driving it, because I use my cruise control religiously. Lane keeping/collision avoidance I can do without, I can do without ADAPTIVE cruise, but shutting the whole system down is annoying.

Can't say if the grille would cause issues. Depending on its construction, it's possible.

 

[DeathValleyBob]

As a space systems engineer, I am amazed that it works at all in your position!! It is a radar based application-they don’t like looking through media with varying dielectric constants (like a hole-laden grill) Ford rightfully placed in an unobstructed location-it is just the wrong unobstructed spot for a variety of reasons-it’s vulnerability issue near the top of the list. If I were designing it (with the usual space-world unconstrained budgets) I would have integrated it into the grill design in a manner friendly to a radar system. NTL that is where it belongs. It was stupid for ford to place it into the only natural place for a winch. Who woulda thought that a buyer would put a winch on an off-road marketed vehicle. But since they already screwed up that real estate with louvered oil coolers and such-why not throw in a radar to complete a bad design choice? (sarcasm)

 

[DeathValleyBob]

(edited)
As a space systems engineer, I am amazed that it works at all in your position!! It is a radar based application-they don’t like looking through media with varying dielectric constants (like a hole-laden grill) Ford rightfully placed it in an unobstructed location-it is just the wrong unobstructed spot for a variety of reasons-its vulnerability issue near the top of the list. If I were designing it (with the usual space-world unconstrained budgets) I would have integrated it into the grill design in a manner friendly to a radar system. NTL that is where it belongs. It was stupid for ford to place it into the only natural place for a winch. Who woulda thought that a buyer would put a winch on an off-road marketed vehicle. But since they already screwed up that real estate with louvered oil coolers and such-why not throw in a radar to complete a bad design choice? (sarcasm)

 

[dgorsett]

Not to highjack a thread but: I do not Have ACC a find it odd that a third of the intercooler is blocked by the ACC cover. Could I just remove it and improve my intercooler function?

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