Sensors going wild during a snowstorm

Hi All, 23 TRD PRO

We just had a snowstorm, heavy wet sticky snow. Thankfully just had a 5 min drive but 2 min into it, the truck started freaking out. Pre-collision unavailable, then parking auto-brake disabled, every 10 or so seconds showing a different sensor(s) that are disabled.

Was a very short drive so didn't have a chance to play with it. How does one disable all this? No matter how many times you dismiss, the warning keeps showing up on the screen. Snow was extra wet, heavy, and sticky so probably not something you'll encounter every day. I've only driven through one storm in this Tundra before (2k miles on her) and it was all fine.

If it keeps dumping I'll go out tomorrow to test things out but for right now I'm thinking:

1) press the parking auto-brake button to disable
2) go into the screen menu to disable pre-collision warning (is it even possible?)

Hoping someone has an experience with this so I don't have to spend a couple of hours figuring it out for myself. And yes, I've actually read the manual

PS: Headlights got CAKED in snow and I couldn't see anything. must be the shape/angle. But weird, never had this issue on an 18 Taco

 

Need to wipe off the sensors. Once the sensors cant see anything they go mental. As for headlights, LED throw no heat so nothing melts and snow just sticks ....same thing, gotta wipe them off. My wifes 2017 Lexus is a pain in a wet heavy snowfall for the same reasons. I havent drove thru one with my new Tundra but pretty much expect the same.

One thing that majorly helped on the Lexus was a complete ceramic polish /seal. Nothing sticks to the ceramic so it has to be pounding so hard the sensors feel there is an object out front but when in reality its just a snow storm. Wish I had more but the Ceramic was a god send on her car . The Tundra is also Ceramic'd but when its that shitty out I just stay home LOL

 

Nice advice, I plan on getting her ceramic coated in the next few months. But you realize that pulling over and cleaning the sensors every few minutes is not a sustainable solution Good point on LEDs, didn't think about that.

I'll be back in Texas in no time so this worry will go away but still, you would think Toyota would allow you to temporarily dismiss all of these constant warnings - put it in a 'blizzard mode' - for the mountain people. Wish I took a video of my dashboard! It was nuts.

 

All the sensors getting covered in snow and disabling everything and throwing beeps and messages is not acceptable at all. It live where it snows with some frequency.

 

Disable pre collision alert; press the button to the left of the steering wheel that looks like this:



I had similar issues with the headlights this past winter and ended up installing some aftermarket fog lights that took the place of the OEM. They’re much brighter than the OEM and put out enough heat to keep the snow off (kinda) at least to where I can see/be seen in blizzard conditions. Not fun when it’s snowing and you can’t see anything :|

 

Yeah I think you would have to disable all the systems via the MID before driving in snow. I think though that the MID is still going to just default to displaying messages over and over again. Just have to tune it out and accept that you can't view MPG and other stuff from the MID. This is also an issue if you go into 4L offroading its going to constantly let you know all the systems are disabled.

 

Unacceptable.

 

Okay, snow wasn't as bad today as it was yesterday. Parking sensors didn't get caked but the front radar did.

Shutting off PCS in the screen menu got rid of all the warning pop-ups!

 

Wow.
Glad I avoided as much of the nanny nonsense as possible with my '15.

 

It doesn’t disable anything, but it does beep a lot, which is irritating. I am in the state to your south and really the wet spring type snows are the only ones that mess with it. There was an ice storm below zero one that played havoc for a little bit.

Run of the mill cold dry snow doesn’t really stick in those vertical areas.

The part that gets me is pulling in my garage. You would think it was a bomb alert LOL

However, this isn’t just on the Tundra. My in-laws Mercedes is worse believe it or not. Most modern vehicles with the sensors are going to have this difficulty with wet snow.

 

Why not install a heat trace into the sensors? This could help keep the sensors clear of snow or ice. Seems that with so many issues, these could be redesigned by the supplier.

 

It would be okay if the truck gave an alert once, and you can clear it. But since it flashes on the screen every few seconds I accidentally keep looking at the screen instead of the snow covered road. Im sure it'll still be flashing that my parking sensors are covered after im upside down in a ditch from the stupid thing.

 

My capstone would exhibit the same behavior. Any vehicle with adaptive cruise will have it disabled by snow being stuck on the sensors, but my headlights being covered in snow was unacceptable, bad design flaw they don't get hot enough to keep snow off. Had to manually clear them several times during each storm.

 

Others have already tackled the PCS, and yes it's annoying but I had to do it frequently in my MN winter.

As for the snow on the headlights, a trick I learned from my parents was to ruba thin coat of cooking oil on the headlights before driving in the snow. Might be confirmation bias, but it works for me. Had to do it twice this past winter.
I've also done this with my 2004 Ford Fusion, 2016 Kia Sorento, as well as my wife's RAV4 without issues.
We get the heavy sticky snow like you said, but also freezing rain that pretty much coats the vehicle and a little veggie oil works for me