Advanced safety systems
Help the helpers
Advanced driving assist and safety systems require maintenance to stay reliable in monitoring your safety. These are not set-it-and-forget-it features.
SENSORS ARE SENSITIVE
Blind-spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control rely on radar to keep track of traffic around your vehicle. Lane-keep assist technology uses cameras to scan the lines on the road. Some systems blend the two and add ultrasonic distance sensors.
Your vehicle has sensors all over it. Some are well protected–behind the windshield–while others are in more vulnerable areas such as bumpers, side mirrors, trunks, tailgates, and grilles.
KEEP A CLEAN MACHINE
The most important action to keep your vehicle’s driving assistance technologies operating properly is to ensure that the sensors are kept as clean as possible.
Wash your vehicle regularly, making sure you access every nook and cranny. In the winter, snow and ice must be cleared from each sensor prior to driving or they will be useless, and accumulated road salt can also cancel out their functionalities.