ACC & Front Assist: No sensor view?

What does the error message mean “ACC no sensor vision” or “ACC and Front Assist not available“? It is usually called this in vehicles from the VW Group (Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, etc.) and means that it is currently not possible to drive with the adaptive cruise control “ACC”. The reason for the error message is usually simple:

Most often the error appears because of the frozen radar sensor on. If you drive in snow or freezing rain, the radiator grille and the radar sensor can quickly ice up. The radar then no longer provides any plausible data and the ACC is better deactivated for safety reasons. Unfortunately, you can then also no longer activate the cruise control.

Solution: Simply de-ice the radar sensor

This error message is almost always temporary. As soon as there is no more ice on the radar sensor, the ACC works normally again and the error disappears. The radar sensor is located on most vehicles in the middle of the grille. At Volkswagen it is almost always under the VW emblem, which you would then simply have to remove from the ice. In our sample photo below, the ACC radar sensor is behind the icy Seat logo. With Seat or Skoda, the radar sensor (in older models) is sometimes visible at the bottom of the radiator grille. So that you don’t have to stop every 20 kilometers on long journeys, it has also proven useful at usn to spray the sensor with a high-quality(!) window de-icer and thus protect it from re-icing for a little longer.

Frozen radar sensor on a Seat Ateca

Radar sensor sometimes without visibility even in heavy rain

Too much water on the sensor also interferes with the radar. Unfortunately, there is no other option than to simply wait until the heavy rains subside. But sometimes it just helps restart the engine, so that the error message disappears.

Attention: Even without an error message, the ACC can fail when it snows!

In our experience, the ACC is in heavy rain, snowfall and especially fog but even then leave when the human eye can no longer see much! But beware: During our last test of the Mazda6 in heavy snowfall, despite the activated ACC, it drove ever closer to the vehicle in front – without any error message. The sensor was iced up, the radar sensor no longer recognized any vehicles ahead. It happened here no error message. In some cases, of course, this can be fatal. With the exception of Mazda, all iced-up sensors only have the ACC with a clear error message switched off.

Radar sensor on Skoda Octavia (2014)