2013 Fusion Blindspot System Fault

[rotarii]

Hey all I just got a used 2013 Fusion Titanium with BLIS. Everything worked fine and then I noticed the right side blindspot assist would fault and then work again on some drives. Now it doesn't work at all and I get the message that the system is faulted each time I start the car. The bumper is clean and I don't see any issues there, and the cross-traffic alert feature works just fine when I am in reverse.

When I go to the dashboard settings to turn it off the "Blindspot" menu is grayed out, and I can't. I'm wondering is there a way to turn it off? or some way to reset it? I don't think I have a bad sensor if cross-traffic works and the car only has 30k miles. I'd like to avoid the dealer if possible. any ideas?

[Vintre]

When my BLIS was acting up in my Escape, I found out that someone had hit my rear driver corner. Just barely enough to put a scratch in the bumper but enough to knock the sensor out of the bracket, broke the bracket in fact. Luckily, the bracket cost less than $50 because the sensor is $1100!

 

When I looked up under the bumper, I could see it hanging there.

 

Was a bit of a PIA to replace as the bumper had to come off.

 

Good luck.

 

Vin

 

 

[rotarii]

Thanks, I inspected it underneath, but it looked fine and felt firm up there. Maybe I'll try to take the bumper off and see if maybe there's a piece of mud stuck up there obstructing the sensor that I don't see, that's just what a lot of forums are saying can cause the issue. I just have a hard time believing that something like that would make it past the design and test process.

[drolds1]

See here.

[Vintre]

Thanks, I inspected it underneath, but it looked fine and felt firm up there. Maybe I'll try to take the bumper off and see if maybe there's a piece of mud stuck up there obstructing the sensor that I don't see, that's just what a lot of forums are saying can cause the issue. I just have a hard time believing that something like that would make it past the design and test process.

I highly doubt that mud would do that.

 

Like the video posted, could be a faulty sensor or it could have become unplugged somehow.

 

Hope it works out for you. I like that feature on my Escape and miss it on my Fusion.

 

Let us know how it works out for you.

 

Good luck,

 

Vin

[drolds1]

Unless it turns out to be something simple and obvious, I don't think you're going to be able to avoid a professional in this case. If it's the sensor, even if you picked up a used one (a new one is $1G+), it still has to be configured with "as built" data. In order to determine what the problem is a dealer or well-equipped independent shop would be able to pull codes with an IDS tool, which would cost more than the repair.

 

Did you buy the car privately or from a dealer? If the latter, did it come with any kind of warranty?

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Water/grime intrusion into the sensor connector is a common culprit for faults. Mileage is no indicator of service life. As to why the option is grayed out, did you check to see if it was grayed out when there was no fault message displayed? If so, there is likely a module/software issue.

[rotarii]

In order to determine what the problem is a dealer or well-equipped independent shop would be able to pull codes with an IDS tool, which would cost more than the repair.

 

Did you buy the car privately or from a dealer? If the latter, did it come with any kind of warranty?

purchased privately, no warranty attached. I guess what I need is someone with this IDS tool

[rotarii]

As to why the option is grayed out, did you check to see if it was grayed out when there was no fault message displayed? If so, there is likely a module/software issue.

I did check and the option used to be fine.

[cfeyer]

1) The BLIS radar modules are on both sides of the car, not on what I think of as the bumper. They are near the bottom of the vehicle aft of the rear wheels and roughly in line with the fueling port. There are no visible clues on the vehicle of their locations (no lines, bumps, etc.). The owner manual includes a diagram showing their location (at least my 2015's manual does). Ensure these areas are clean.

 

2) My 2015 Fusion consistently reported BLIS and cross-traffic system faults at start-up that wouldn't clear with restarts or in traffic. My orange mirror indicators would not illuminate on either side, and the Sync menu checkboxes to enable/disable BLIS and cross-traffic were grayed out. This problem persisted for a few weeks. Cleaning the sensor areas did not fix the problem (as it had in the past). Ultimately, the problem resolved itself the day after I had a mildly bent rear wheel rim replaced. (Shop reported bend was minor but that wheel would not balance on a road force balancer above 70mph.) I suspect the vibration from the bent rim prevented the radar sensor from generating a steady image the system could be confident in.

[cfeyer]

Looks like my BLIS regaining functionality after fixing the bent/vibrating rim was a fluke. BLIS failed again a couple days later. Dealership identified the BLIS module as faulty, swapped in a new module, and it has been working fine for the few weeks since.