Systems fail when on washboard dirt roads.

kodyjade7

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City
Moab
State
UT
Country
United States
What I Drive
2017 VW Golf Alltrack SEL
#1
Hi all,
I have a 2017 Golf Alltrack SEL, which I’ve owned since brand new. When I take it on dirt roads it’s fine and good—but when I get to washboard sections, or anything a little rough, even when I take it slow, I guess you could say the car freaks out a little bit.
I lose many of the technical features like the tire pressure monitoring, adaptive cruise control, lane assist, park pilot/assist, positraction, and gives me the amber exclamation point in the triangle after saying something to effect that driver assist systems are off/failed.
I’ve asked a few different dealerships about it and they haven’t a clue but don’t think it’s normal.
Not a big deal, just kind of a nuisance, as it usually takes several miles or starts for those systems to reset once I’m back on smoother road. Also annoying to have all those dash lights on and not have as much notice as possible that I could have a flat.
I’ve tried the different driver modes like Off-Road(which I think is designed to turn off the positraction and does), but it still happens. Does anyone else experience this? Thanks in advance.
 

Gray Bark

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Messages
18
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2
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
What I Drive
2019 Golf Sportwageen
#2
Hi kodyjade7

I'm just returned home from a trip on some dirt roads. I don't have an SEL, but for the few assist features I do have (front and rear collision alert) I found that dust from dirt roads accumulates on the plastic bumpers, which covers the sensors, disables the features, and generates dashboard warnings. I haven't yet found a correlation with washboard roads (though I spent time on those, too) but whenever I'm at a gas station (between car-washes) I use the windshield stick to take a quick swipe over the sensors, which clears the fault.
If this is happening to you, perhaps the miles on pavement (at higher speed) clears the dust enough to make a difference.
Let me know if this helps.
 
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K

kodyjade7

New member
Messages
2
Reactions
0
City
Moab
State
UT
Country
United States
What I Drive
2017 VW Golf Alltrack SEL
Thread Starter #3
Hi kodyjade7

I'm just returned home from a trip on some dirt roads. I don't have an SEL, but for the few assist features I do have (front and rear collision alert) I found that dust from dirt roads accumulates on the plastic bumpers, which covers the sensors, disables the features, and generates dashboard warnings. I haven't yet found a correlation with washboard roads (though I spent time on those, too) but whenever I'm at a gas station (between car-washes) I use the windshield stick to take a quick swipe over the sensors, which clears the fault.
If this is happening to you, perhaps the miles on pavement (at higher speed) clears the dust enough to make a difference.
Let me know if this helps.
Hi,
Thanks for the post. I’ve had snow foul my adaptive cruise where that sensor is down low, until I clean it. I’ve wondered if the dust trips my systems. Whether it be the cloud or dust collecting on the sensor. I’ve ruled it out in the past because all my systems come back usually after the first restart and with the sensors uncleaned. Also, it doesn’t make sense to me that things like the TPMS and hill hold go out that aren’t proximity related. We’ve even had them go out on a really bumpy paved road, though it’s been a while.
Just incase though, I’ll take it out and when the systems fault, I’ll try cleaning the sensors with it still running and see what happens.
What year is your Alltrack btw?
Thanks again!
 


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