On my T6 I am greeted with "Front Assist unavailable" daily since I got the van. OBDEleven shows ACC sensor misadjusted. I can clear / reset and ACC works as expected but the fault comes back. I note that the little radar box in the front bumper is loose / moves at the bottom, pretty certain that keeps throwing it out. Either way it looks like I need to get this re-calibrated. My local garage points me to a main dealer, they don't have the equipment. Bognor Motors cannot help on this occasion either for the same reason. I have had mixed experience with main dealerships, I do know that some independent garages do have the right equipment. Is there anybody in the West Sussex area who has had ACC recalibrated and could recommend a place please? Cheers - Martin
ACC recalibration
- Thread starter mri_ice
- Start date
-
- Tags
- acc front assist sussex
Donttouchthevanmate
New Member
This is no help what so ever, but my sensor has been in the glove box for 3yrs and the van hasn’t got a clue it’s missing. As I changed the radiator myself ( After a crash for cash got me) VW say I’ve damaged the loom and the warranty is void. Bunch of c***s. Told you it was no help. I’ve finally got all the bits and was going to shove it all back on. If anyone does know the set up process I would be interested in that too.
I had to have the sensor recalibrated on our Touareg after I knocked it out of alignment on a sand dune and one if the adjustment clips broke. It had to go to the dealer to be done as first they have to do a 4 wheel alignment and then calibration.
SMG Cowfold would be my suggestion?
SMG Cowfold would be my suggestion?
Donttouchthevanmate
New Member
Thanks Loz. I’m really off with dealers. How much did that cost. I’m on my fifth van, so over the years I’ve experienced a lot of bull, poor service and overcharging from VW. I don’t get the 4 wheel alignment. Did they say why? Problem is, mines primarily a work van. 1 day it could be empty, with the rear suspension as high as a kite and the next day it could be fully loaded with tools, cable etc. and as low as legally possible. So I’m thinking, how does that little sensor know which angle it’s pointing at from 1 day to the next? Which I my eyes, makes calibration a load of tosh. I use technical terms like tosh as I’m an electrician. If anyone has any more info about setting up this little sensor, which not forgetting, is in my glovebox at the moment and the van has no idea it’s missing, I’d love to here.
I would not have taken it to the dealer if I could have done it myself.
the sensor uses the steering angle sensor to know what region of the area to look for other vehicles, it’s quite sophisticated and requires the car to be properly aligned to be accurate. Was £400 on the Touareg for repair and alignment and calibration.
the sensor uses the steering angle sensor to know what region of the area to look for other vehicles, it’s quite sophisticated and requires the car to be properly aligned to be accurate. Was £400 on the Touareg for repair and alignment and calibration.
Donttouchthevanmate
New Member
Thanks Loz. Oh dear. £400. I’ll bung it on and hope it works then.
Did you ever get this sorted?
Mine has thrown up ACC unavailable and the sensor seems loose, which I will take a look at shortly, but wondered if you'd managed to get yours sorted?
Annoyingly, the ACC being unavailable means you loose your cruise control and city assist.
Donttouchthevanmate
New Member
I’m no help again, but I replaced all the brackets around the sensor, Glued the 1 side to the front rail as it had ripped the stud off, fitted new grill, got a square plug off eBay for the wires, plug came with new crimps, as I said before, bunged it on and no response from the van at all. I’ve drove towards head on traffic a few times to test it, but nothing other than frightened faces coming the other way my cruise control has always worked, even when the sensor was in the glove box for 3 yrs. told you I was no help. Sorry.
Not followed up on this yet. I still plan to make sure the sensor is in securely and then reset one more time but haven't had the chance yet.
Normal non-adaptive cruise control is still working for me!
Daveoliver51
Member
I have an obd eleven and it allows you to view your alignment angle a vertical deajustment in live data. They should be 0.0 or as close as + or - 0.6 before it triggers the fault. I managed to align mine by adjusting the sensor, resetting the alignment angle then clearing the fault codes. Take for a 30 min drive and check live data again until you get it within the tolerances. It’s taken me a few days but I got there in the end. My alignment is now 0.2 horizontal and 0.34 vertical deajustment which is well within the tollerances. Hope this helps someone else
There is a little bit quicker way to get your radar realigned.
Daveoliver51
Member
Wish I tried your method first. Mine was basic trial and error but at least after 1 year of errors I finally managed to find a way to fix it.
Actually the original idea of this method comes from @dnoermann
As it happens, I just recently went through the same process on my wife's Golf mk7 which has a similar radar, it got knocked out of the mount by some road debris. I followed the instructions here, largely : MK7 ACC radar adjustment without calibration board which sound very similar to what @Daveoliver51 did.
I didn't go for the full forensic approach to the setup, since anecdotally people were saying that they cleared the fault with much simpler methods like parking 120 cm in front of a wall. So I made a simple reflector from stuff I had to hand - a metal plastering board, couple of lengths of wood for a base and some G-clamps to hold it all together. I placed this 120 cm from the front edge of the radar and as perpendicular as possible (just using a tape measure to achieve this). The point here wasn't to accurately and perfectly calibrate it, more to trick the car into thinking it was being calibrated and to get within the ballpark of alignment - because without that I couldn't clear the errors in order to start it re-learning.
I used OBDeleven to start it calibrating, then used the live data to show the horizontal and vertical alignment values - I don't *think* either of these needed a pro licence. I tweaked the screws a bit to get the misalignment within tolerances (knowing fine well that my setup isn't perfect) and was then able to clear the errors. After that I just did my normal driving and commuting for a week and kept an eye on what those numbers were doing as it was re-learning in use - if they were creeping out of range I'd tweak the appropriate screw.
This seemed to work for me and it's been driving fine now with ACC working normally and no errors for over a month now. I only had to re-do the process once, because I didn't realise one of the legs of the mount itself had been damaged which meant the sensor was still able to move out of place. Once that was sorted, I didn't have further problems. Not an overnight fix by any means, but cost me nothing bar the OBDeleven which I'd been procrastinating about getting at some point anyway. I don't think this approach works on the newer golf's as they don't have adjustment screws - and I don't know about the T6 (I have a 6.1) so sorry if this isn't relevant.
I didn't go for the full forensic approach to the setup, since anecdotally people were saying that they cleared the fault with much simpler methods like parking 120 cm in front of a wall. So I made a simple reflector from stuff I had to hand - a metal plastering board, couple of lengths of wood for a base and some G-clamps to hold it all together. I placed this 120 cm from the front edge of the radar and as perpendicular as possible (just using a tape measure to achieve this). The point here wasn't to accurately and perfectly calibrate it, more to trick the car into thinking it was being calibrated and to get within the ballpark of alignment - because without that I couldn't clear the errors in order to start it re-learning.
I used OBDeleven to start it calibrating, then used the live data to show the horizontal and vertical alignment values - I don't *think* either of these needed a pro licence. I tweaked the screws a bit to get the misalignment within tolerances (knowing fine well that my setup isn't perfect) and was then able to clear the errors. After that I just did my normal driving and commuting for a week and kept an eye on what those numbers were doing as it was re-learning in use - if they were creeping out of range I'd tweak the appropriate screw.
This seemed to work for me and it's been driving fine now with ACC working normally and no errors for over a month now. I only had to re-do the process once, because I didn't realise one of the legs of the mount itself had been damaged which meant the sensor was still able to move out of place. Once that was sorted, I didn't have further problems. Not an overnight fix by any means, but cost me nothing bar the OBDeleven which I'd been procrastinating about getting at some point anyway. I don't think this approach works on the newer golf's as they don't have adjustment screws - and I don't know about the T6 (I have a 6.1) so sorry if this isn't relevant.
Daveoliver51
Member
Yes it works on the t6 as that’s what I have! Like you said, not an overnight fix but cost hardly anything. Odb eleven has now coded me a battery and recalibrated my radar.. was well worth the money after all.
