Blind Spot Monitor Unavailable (1 Viewer)

[Specialeyes]

Anyone with a late model 200 run into this issue before? I picked up another 200 yesterday (which I plan to do a write up/comparison on to my previous one) however it is already in the shop due the BSM and RCA not working. I did not notice this when driving off the lot yesterday until I spent about an hour on the road and noticed they were not working so I toggle over to them in the menu, turn BSM on and immediately was met with a yellow trouble light and "Blind Spot Monitor Unavailable" message. My local dealer checked the easy things such as fuses and did a software reset to no avail. Next step is a trip to their body shop to remove the bumper cover and see if something was knocked loose, disconnected, or replaced and not recalibrated properly. I'm worried they are going tell me it was in a rear end collision. Carfax shows to be a clean, 1 owner, southern truck which seems to mean less and less these days.

Adding insult to injury I'm also having to have the front driver seat pulled because I dropped one of the key fobs in between the seat and center console and it managed to fall into this small slit in the carpet. I tried like hell to fish it out and ended up just cutting my fingers on fasteners and metal bits.

 

[Madtiger]

Anyone with a late model 200 run into this issue before? I picked up another 200 yesterday (which I plan to do a write up/comparison on to my previous one) however it is already in the shop due the BSM and RCA not working. I did not notice this when driving off the lot yesterday until I spent about an hour on the road and noticed they were not working so I toggle over to them in the menu, turn BSM on and immediately was met with a yellow trouble light and "Blind Spot Monitor Unavailable" message. My local dealer checked the easy things such as fuses and did a software reset to no avail. Next step is a trip to their body shop to remove the bumper cover and see if something was knocked loose, disconnected, or replaced and not recalibrated properly. I'm worried they are going tell me it was in a rear end collision. Carfax shows to be a clean, 1 owner, southern truck which seems to mean less and less these days.

Adding insult to injury I'm also having to have the front driver seat pulled because I dropped one of the key fobs in between the seat and center console and it managed to fall into this small slit in the carpet. I tried like hell to fish it out and ended up just cutting my fingers on fasteners and metal bits.

What year? How many miles?

 

[Specialeyes]

What year? How many miles?

‘21 12,500

 

[ZetheGSD]

Being it’s that new I would suspect damage. It would be easier to diagnose if we knew what codes were being thrown.

Mostly what I see in the field is someone backed into something or a vehicle rear ended and tweaked the bracket for the BSM. Unless the sensor is damaged usually the bracket needs tweaking and recalibrated.

 

[Sandroad]

Anyone with a late model 200 run into this issue before? I picked up another 200 yesterday (which I plan to do a write up/comparison on to my previous one) however it is already in the shop due the BSM and RCA not working. I did not notice this when driving off the lot yesterday until I spent about an hour on the road and noticed they were not working so I toggle over to them in the menu, turn BSM on and immediately was met with a yellow trouble light and "Blind Spot Monitor Unavailable" message. My local dealer checked the easy things such as fuses and did a software reset to no avail. Next step is a trip to their body shop to remove the bumper cover and see if something was knocked loose, disconnected, or replaced and not recalibrated properly. I'm worried they are going tell me it was in a rear end collision. Carfax shows to be a clean, 1 owner, southern truck which seems to mean less and less these days.

Adding insult to injury I'm also having to have the front driver seat pulled because I dropped one of the key fobs in between the seat and center console and it managed to fall into this small slit in the carpet. I tried like hell to fish it out and ended up just cutting my fingers on fasteners and metal bits.

I don’t remember any reports on here of those functions not working unless there has been damage. Carfax can only report what they find in publicly available info and not everything is.

 

[Madtiger]

‘21 12,500

Not to sound pessimistic.......but now you know why someone sold their 2021 HE with 12,500 miles....

 

[Specialeyes]

Not to sound pessimistic.....

Task failed successfully lol

A bit of optimism... My long time service advisor called me yesterday afternoon and according to their body shop there are no signs of paint blending on the bumper or quarter panels and no overspray underneath so if it was in some sort of rear end collision it was either a very minor bump or previous owner found a very good shop for the repairs and paid cash to keep it off the history report.

When I was looking it over before taking delivery I didn’t see any panel gaps or obvious signs of damage. I did crawl underneath but only to check for rust and the frame was clean. Will know more tomorrow. Also, how did you know it’s a HE?

 

[Madtiger]

Task failed successfully lol

Also, how did you know it’s a HE?

sorry my bad. Misread.

 

[rexington14]

‘21 12,500

Still within the 3 year basic warranty period? Although not sure how that would work if it's determined to be caused by damage. Did you buy it used from the Toyota dealership?

 

[Specialeyes]

Still within the 3 year basic warranty period? Although not sure how that would work if it's determined to be caused by damage. Did you buy it used from the Toyota dealership?

The original Toyota 3 year warranty just expired. I bought it used from Landers Toyota in North West Arkansas. They didn’t CPO it which I thought was kinda odd but the price was right. They include short term warranties with all of their pre owned vehicles. (30 days bumper to bumper, 60 days or 2,500 miles power train) so they will foot the bill to get this fixed. I’m just hoping it’s something along the lines of some new sensors and/or simply recalibrating the existing ones. I was told they have to have the bumper cover removed to do the calibration.

Stuff like this is why I prefer to buy new but of course with it being a 200 that’s no longer an option. A one owner, bone stock, HE 2 row, no rust truck, with low miles. It checked literally all my boxes and is in better overall shape than my previous one. Just frustrating having to deal with something like this after handing them one of the biggest checks I’ve ever written and then getting that anxious feeling that I may have bought something that was damaged and covered up. I do feel like the BSM was turned off for this very reason, most likely by the guy that traded it in. Maybe he got a quote for the repairs and said hell to the naw, or maybe he was planning to move on from it anyway and just didn’t see the point in getting it fixed.

 

[rexington14]

Sorry about that man. Hopefully it's just a fluke and not due to damage. You may want to consider an independent inspection at another dealer / shop once you get it back and before the 30 days runs out.

 

[ZetheGSD]

The original Toyota 3 year warranty just expired. I bought it used from Landers Toyota in North West Arkansas. They didn’t CPO it which I thought was kinda odd but the price was right. They include short term warranties with all of their pre owned vehicles. (30 days bumper to bumper, 60 days or 2,500 miles power train) so they will foot the bill to get this fixed. I’m just hoping it’s something along the lines of some new sensors and/or simply recalibrating the existing ones. I was told they have to have the bumper cover removed to do the calibration.

Stuff like this is why I prefer to buy new but of course with it being a 200 that’s no longer an option. A one owner, bone stock, HE 2 row, no rust truck, with low miles. It checked literally all my boxes and is in better overall shape than my previous one. Just frustrating having to deal with something like this after handing them one of the biggest checks I’ve ever written and then getting that anxious feeling that I may have bought something that was damaged and covered up. I do feel like the BSM was turned off for this very reason, most likely by the guy that traded it in. Maybe he got a quote for the repairs and said hell to the naw, or maybe he was planning to move on from it anyway and just didn’t see the point in getting it fixed.

You do not need to remove the bumper to calibrate. I’ve done this many times with great success, UNLESS there is damage and the blind spot module angles are wrong.

I’m not saying this is a bad truck, but I am saying you may want to prepare yourself for hidden damage.

 

[Specialeyes]

I’m wondering how much (or little) of a an impact it would take to knock one of them out of alignment?

I found this video if anyone here can translate Arabic?

 

[Madtiger]

The original Toyota 3 year warranty just expired. I bought it used from Landers Toyota in North West Arkansas. They didn’t CPO it which I thought was kinda odd but the price was right. They include short term warranties with all of their pre owned vehicles. (30 days bumper to bumper, 60 days or 2,500 miles power train) so they will foot the bill to get this fixed. I’m just hoping it’s something along the lines of some new sensors and/or simply recalibrating the existing ones. I was told they have to have the bumper cover removed to do the calibration.

Stuff like this is why I prefer to buy new but of course with it being a 200 that’s no longer an option. A one owner, bone stock, HE 2 row, no rust truck, with low miles. It checked literally all my boxes and is in better overall shape than my previous one. Just frustrating having to deal with something like this after handing them one of the biggest checks I’ve ever written and then getting that anxious feeling that I may have bought something that was damaged and covered up. I do feel like the BSM was turned off for this very reason, most likely by the guy that traded it in. Maybe he got a quote for the repairs and said hell to the naw, or maybe he was planning to move on from it anyway and just didn’t see the point in getting it fixed.

Just for what it’s worth, BSM on LC is wonky as heck. Unreliable. Sometimes, it gives the wrong side alert especially in early morning or night. And it only lights up if you are going slowly past a car. If you go faster significantly, no alert. Worst BSM of any car I have, including other Toyota!

And my car had been acting that way since day 1.

Cross traffic does work as advertised.

 

[Specialeyes]

Just for what it’s worth, BSM on LC is wonky as heck. Unreliable. Sometimes, it gives the wrong side alert especially in early morning or night. And it only lights up if you are going slowly past a car. If you go faster significantly, no alert. Worst BSM of any car I have, including other Toyota!

And my car had been acting that way since day 1.

Cross traffic does work as advertised.

The only problem I had with it on my previous 200 was it would sometimes pick up my bike tires on either side if I didn’t have it centered in the rack.

 

[rexington14]

You do not need to remove the bumper to calibrate. I’ve done this many times with great success, UNLESS there is damage and the blind spot module angles are wrong.

I’m not saying this is a bad truck, but I am saying you may want to prepare yourself for hidden damage.

View attachment 3661447

That's why I'd strongly be considering an independent inspection at this point. Even if the selling dealer discovers some damage (perhaps it was unknown even to them), they are not likely to be incentivized at all to disclose this to you.

All that said, even if the discovery of damage does turn up, it's questionable what recourse you might have. At a generic used car shop, probably none, but it being a Toyota dealership, perhaps you could take it back.

 

[Madtiger]

The original Toyota 3 year warranty just expired. I bought it used from Landers Toyota in North West Arkansas. They didn’t CPO it which I thought was kinda odd but the price was right. They include short term warranties with all of their pre owned vehicles. (30 days bumper to bumper, 60 days or 2,500 miles power train) so they will foot the bill to get this fixed. I’m just hoping it’s something along the lines of some new sensors and/or simply recalibrating the existing ones. I was told they have to have the bumper cover removed to do the calibration.

Stuff like this is why I prefer to buy new but of course with it being a 200 that’s no longer an option. A one owner, bone stock, HE 2 row, no rust truck, with low miles. It checked literally all my boxes and is in better overall shape than my previous one. Just frustrating having to deal with something like this after handing them one of the biggest checks I’ve ever written and then getting that anxious feeling that I may have bought something that was damaged and covered up. I do feel like the BSM was turned off for this very reason, most likely by the guy that traded it in. Maybe he got a quote for the repairs and said hell to the naw, or maybe he was planning to move on from it anyway and just didn’t see the point in getting it fixed.

How did their 120 point inspection or whatever it is that they do on used cars miss such an issue?!?!

 

[ZetheGSD]

How did their 120 point inspection or whatever it is that they do on used cars miss such an issue?!?!

Because those are basically snake oil. It’s something that the dealer charges you more for and pays the technician basically nothing. It also depends on the tech that did the inspection. Being that this LC has no miles on it I can guarantee the tech checked for leaks and fluid levels and called it good.

 

[ZetheGSD]

I’m wondering how much (or little) of a an impact it would take to knock one of them out of alignment?

I found this video if anyone here can translate Arabic?

I believe the variance with Toyota BSM is around 4 degrees from spec. Some models are 3 and some are almost 5. This variance is a +\- affair. Also the bracket on most Toyotas is only replaceable if you weld in an entirely new 1/4 panel and does not come with the Blind Spot Radar module. This is due to the bracket being welded on.

I have adjusted and calibrated BSM’s on Toyotas only for the body tech to install the bumper and knock it our of spec again and cause issues.

You can’t just clear these codes either. Once a “calibration DTC” is set you must fix the issue and recalibrate said module. This goes for the front radar/windshield camera and BSM’s. Parking sensors usually only require intervention when one is replaced.

 

[Specialeyes]

Just heard back from my local service rep. No damage found. Still no explanation on why the sensors weren’t working but was told it should be ready tomorrow. Will share whatever report I get, I’m just happy to hear those three words.