Sensor Messages in Snow Driving

[FNP90]

This is what they sent me when I contacted them. I haven’t dug any further into it.

 

[Bajacruzzer]

I am finding when I drive in snowy conditions the various sensors, parking, lane monitoring, collision, etc. get covered in snow and the warning messages sensor won't work start on the central dash incessantly, non-stop. I dismiss them with he back arrow key (ok key doesn't nothing) and literally they come back in ten seconds. They DO NOT STOP! Its is beyond annoying. The senor light also lights up on the display panel which is more than enough. Does anyone know how to make these messages STOP or turn them OFF? I cannot find any warning message options in car settings. Help please. This is among the most annoying things I've experiences in any car I've owned. Thanks!

If you’re in the snow, turn the sensors off, they will drive you crazy. Same thing if you go through a car wash…

 

[PapaSmurf]

It would seem turning off the features removed features I would like to have when it’s not snowing and toggling on and off is not the way to go. I’d like to keep my features on and have the warning message stop flashing appropriately. Herein lies the rub. This is this car’s first winter and clearly Toyota missed this issue. I have already spoken Texas HQ folks now about how this has been missed and needs some corrective programming action.

What did they say?

 

[Bajacruzzer]

I am finding when I drive in snowy conditions the various sensors, parking, lane monitoring, collision, etc. get covered in snow and the warning messages sensor won't work start on the central dash incessantly, non-stop. I dismiss them with he back arrow key (ok key doesn't nothing) and literally they come back in ten seconds. They DO NOT STOP! Its is beyond annoying. The senor light also lights up on the display panel which is more than enough. Does anyone know how to make these messages STOP or turn them OFF? I cannot find any warning message options in car settings. Help please. This is among the most annoying things I've experiences in any car I've owned. Thanks!

The first thing I do with a new ride is turn off all of that stuff. I’ve been driving for over 55 years. I don’t need the dash lighting up to tell me what’s going on. I bought 1958 for off-road adventures not creature features.

 

[dato6966]

I was on a long trip at night in a snowstorm and the front iced up almost immediately when starting out. The warning on the dash is more than distracting driving at night when you can't turn it off nor is it possible to stop on a highway in a storm and clean the snow off every couple of minutes. Holding the back button only cancels it for less than a minute. Fortunately I had some tape and just covered that part of the display. Saw the dealer the next day as I was more than annoyed. Bottom line is there is no way to turn it off & Toyota is well aware of these complaints but as far as they know there won't be a fix. This is a safety issue for distracted driving.

Other issue on the same trip was I was pulling a snow machine and the trailer wiring plug became coated in a ball of ice. There was no way I could unplug it so I could drop the trailer. It's a terrible location for the trailer wiring plugs. Ended up at a car wash to melt the ice so I could uncouple the trailer. Seems to me the location of the trailer wire connection was an after thought by Toyota. I'm not looking forward to laying in the mud to connect my travel trailer this summer.

 

[Meteor]

Other issue on the same trip was I was pulling a snow machine and the trailer wiring plug became coated in a ball of ice. There was no way I could unplug it so I could drop the trailer. It's a terrible location for the trailer wiring plugs. Ended up at a car wash to melt the ice so I could uncouple the trailer. Seems to me the location of the trailer wire connection was an after thought by Toyota. I'm not looking forward to laying in the mud to connect my travel trailer this summer.

Off-topic but maybe this would help: Nilight - 50050R 7-Way Trailer Plug Socket Extension Cable
I haven't used a trailer in years, since owning a 4Runner, but something like that might help if you're connecting/disconnecting often. Mounting the extension-end would be the trick.

On-topic: it seems these sensors should include a heater since this is a common issue, similar to pitot heat on airplanes. Yeah, good luck getting Toyota to add that to their costs, but heaters are used in windshield wiper nozzles by some manufacturers, so maybe. In their defense, these nags & warnings are just Toyota covering their ass as we live in a litigious world, i.e. we're sue-happy and people will us any excuses to do so.

 

[PDundon]

This is only one data point but the same thing happened to me driving in the snow yesterday here in Colorado. I got annoyed at the constant messages and just held down the reverse arrow button (that gets rid of the message for a bit) for about a minute and the messages did not show up again. Your results may vary.

What do you mean by The reverse arrow button? Is it the "back" button on the left?

 

[PDundon]

If you go off-road and use any of the off-road modes, or 4 LO, the same thing happens. You get a pop up message that certain safety systems are disabled, and you can only make it go away for about 3 seconds at a time. While it's up some of the buttons on the steering wheel don't work until you dismiss it. It seems like a bug, it's a safety hazard since it's continually trying to get you to take your eyes off the road.

@Markarian421 , have you found a solution to the annoying pop-up messages in 4 Lo? They are driving me mad!

 

[Markarian421]

@Markarian421 , have you found a solution to the annoying pop-up messages in 4 Lo? They are driving me mad!

No. I filed a complaint with the NHTSA but never heard back. I should complain to Toyota as well but their system seems focused on asking your local dealer to fix the problem.

 

[Dr. W]

This is what they sent me when I contacted them. I haven’t dug any further into it.

View attachment 24023

I followed these steps and it’s wrong. Pages 651-653 in the manual refer to options that can be altered through the digital instrument cluster. There is a “Pop-Up Display” option. Navigating to it from Settings->Meter Settings->Pop-Up Display, it’s gives you the option to Enable or Disable the following popups only:

• TbT (turn by turn) Navigation
• Telephone
• Audio Operation
• Volume Operation
• Voice Control.

It does not give you the option to disable the types of popups that occur when the sensors are blocked by snow. Does anybody know if there are other options that can be enabled/disabled to prevent the dangerous and distracting warnings that occur when the sensors are continually blocked or when driving in 4Lo?

 

[dato6966]

This is a known issue, which I view as not only an annoyance but also a safety issue. Toyota is well aware of it, as being in Canada we have this problem for 4 - 5 months of the year. I've complained to the dealer who says many LC owners have complained. Wrote an email to Toyota Canada last winter - no response. Wrote an email to Transport Canada outlining the issue. What prompted my anger was I started out on a 450 km trip in the evening in the dead of winter in a light snow. After about 20km the warning popped up as well as a bright orange symbol on the instrument cluster. That bright symbol was very very distracting in the dark so after about 40 more km found an open filling station pulled in and got a piece of cardboard to cover the instrument cluster as there's no way to turn any of this nonsense off and drove the rest of the trip without any instrument cluster. The snow got very heavy shortly after that stop so followed a truck convoy for the rest of the trip & stopped when they did to clean off the front of the LC & ice buildup on the wipers. New vehicles use LED headlights so no warmth in them to melt the ice & snow off the lights so headlights were reduced to the brightness of a dim candle - also a safety issue. The trucks were also having light issues except some had halogen light bars which would melt the ice but they stopped the convoy about every 45 minutes to clean lights etc. I think we were almost the only vehicles on the road that night as oncoming traffic was almost Nil. About an hour away from destination the snow was as high as the front bumper if you got out of the truck tracks.

 

[EOD Guy]

It would be ideal, once silenced/acknowledged by the driver, that it remained that way until the next key cycle.