The manual says to both clean the emblem AND ALL radar sensors. How the heck do I gain access to the radar sensors to clean them and HOW do I clean them? I cannot find this tidbit in the manual. Thanks!
Well the manual does say "clean with a soft cloth". The front one is somewhat easy to get to - just open the hood. I'm not sure how you'd access the BSM/RCTA radar sensors. I would hope they're better sealed.
Your blind spot detection sensors are the little round thingies located on the rear bumper and the sides, and the close proximity sensors are also the little round thingies located on the front bumper and on the sides and on the rear bumper, so, clean the toyota emblem front center on the bumper, and clean all the little round thingies, the rear ones get covered with snow if you drive in the snow, they don't signal an alarm untill you stop and restart, then you get an exclamation symbol on the dash, clean them and the dash warning goes away.
Although one might like to put a light coating of RainX or wax on the emblem, sensor areas, or windshield so they don't get easily spooged, I suspect that is not a truly wonderful idea.
I think they suggest not putting anything on - if anything I'd use a non-silicone wax, as it will come off easily. RainX won't come off.
I was thinking that the Blind Spot Detection Sensors were separate and distinct from the round thingies — that is to say they are invisible from outside of the car. On several occasions I have has the parking sensors ice up and received the failure warning, but — if memory serves — the BSM still worked.
That's correct. ICS and BSM/RCTA are two different entities. BSM/RCTA use radars mounted behind the rear bumper. The sonar sensors that are visible on the bumper are ICS (well 8 of them are for ICS, 4 are for IPA)
It's fine. I've never cleaned the radar sensor behind the bumper on mine and I've driven in dust, mud and snow (Prairie living for ya). Just the emblem is enough for me (and even then, I've never seen the "CLEAN RADAR" message - the Gen 3 system is different from the Gen 4 Prius though... I've noticed you guys have reported seeing it more often so Toyota must've changed the parameters)
It happened to me twice this winter : ICS Not availabe with a message asking me to clean the sensors ... went outside , the emblem is clean , all the proximity sensors is clean .. i had no idea why but it went away eventually. It happened again this morning but this time i noticed something : A bit of fog or condensation inside of the housing of the camera behind the rear view mirror - now things add up in my head , i remember to have used the front defroster both times then this must surely magnify the condensation problem. .. this camera housing needs to be sealed and its part of the ICS, Correct ? i will have that checked by the dealer when ill bring in my car in to swap my winter tires.
