Cruise Control Quit Working

[crah]

Have a 2020 View in the new 2019+ VS30 Sprinter chassis. Already made an appointment with sprinter.

Had this problem last year. In the middle of freeway driving, the cruise control will quit, and on the dash errors will flash active distance assist inoperative. It will keep flashing that each time you set cruise again. Once in the blue moon, the cruise will work again (I'm talking hours of driving or even days). I thought I had this taken care of last year as the cause was the radar in the bumper needed replacement (many dealers recalibrate and the problem returns). Curious how many others have experienced this and their solution. This is only for the 2019+Sprinter VS30 chassis. Internet search shows others having this problem.

[Jim_HiTek]

I had a CC intermittent problem in my old Bounder...turned out one day I was driving, CC was on, and to get more comfortable I adjusted the steering wheel. CC went out. OH! So when I got to the next RV park, searched and found that the cable going up into the steering cover with all the controls was too tightly zip tied to the steering column. When I'd move the adjustable wheel, it would slightly tug on the connector at the bottom of the column. The problem had been intermittent as it also seemed to be affected by unicorns flying by on occasion. Still...seemed logical that the cable was too tight.

After cutting those zip ties, giving the cable slack, it didn't happen again.

[rprochnow]

We've had this happen several times in our 21VD.

And, so far, the cruise control has come back - though it may take a while before the system resets and restores function.

This seems to happen when driving in bad weather - heavy rain or snow. When we drove those snow and freezing rain, a block of frozen snow/ice grew on the front by the license plate. This area appears to be where a sensor is located, and if that area is obstructed, the driving assistance features are disabled.

It's also possible something could be impacting the camera located at the top of the windshield behind the rear view mirror (which we just had removed!).

I've seen driver assistance features disabled in our Tesla vehicles - when their AutoPilot sensors get blocked (in bad weather). Though the Tesla system appears to recover much quicker than the MB system...

While it's understandable the system can't operate in bad conditions, the messaging of the problem is very poor. And MB should allow some way to request the system to attempt to reset - and resume cruise control once conditions have improved, instead of waiting what could take hours before the software decides it's safe to use the features again.

Like MB, Tesla also disables cruise control - and neither manufacturer provides a way to fallback to standard cruise control (without using the front sensors to maintain distance from the vehicle in front).

[crah]

Originally Posted by rprochnow

We've had this happen several times in our 21VD.

And, so far, the cruise control has come back - though it may take a while before the system resets and restores function.

This seems to happen when driving in bad weather - heavy rain or snow. When we drove those snow and freezing rain, a block of frozen snow/ice grew on the front by the license plate. This area appears to be where a sensor is located, and if that area is obstructed, the driving assistance features are disabled.

It's also possible something could be impacting the camera located at the top of the windshield behind the rear view mirror (which we just had removed!).

I've seen driver assistance features disabled in our Tesla vehicles - when their AutoPilot sensors get blocked (in bad weather). Though the Tesla system appears to recover much quicker than the MB system...

While it's understandable the system can't operate in bad conditions, the messaging of the problem is very poor. And MB should allow some way to request the system to attempt to reset - and resume cruise control once conditions have improved, instead of waiting what could take hours before the software decides it's safe to use the features again.

Like MB, Tesla also disables cruise control - and neither manufacturer provides a way to fallback to standard cruise control (without using the front sensors to maintain distance from the vehicle in front).

Obstructions on the radar would make sense (except I never had that case). I've never driven in poor weather. I've heard every theory on that and also including the windshield sensor. I did narrow down that the windshield sensor has nothing to do with this. That is for lane keeping assist features and mph signage. The radar sits right behind a little square above the bumper foot step.

The radar replacement solved it for 1 year at least. I've read on some forums that the radar is also tied into wheel speed sensors. Who knows but the Sprinter repair guy was puzzled. Wouldn't be surprised if they change out the radar again. It's frustrating when on long drives to not have a simple feature like cruise control.

[Markliyun]

Originally Posted by crah

Have a 2020 View in the new 2019+ VS30 Sprinter chassis. Already made an appointment with sprinter.

Had this problem last year. In the middle of freeway driving, the cruise control will quit, and on the dash errors will flash active distance assist inoperative. It will keep flashing that each time you set cruise again. Once in the blue moon, the cruise will work again (I'm talking hours of driving or even days). I thought I had this taken care of last year as the cause was the radar in the bumper needed replacement (many dealers recalibrate and the problem returns). Curious how many others have experienced this and their solution. This is only for the 2019+Sprinter VS30 chassis. Internet search shows others having this problem.

My View 24D is 2 weeks old. I have been getting the same error messages since the first day. Have to drive 5+ hours to have Mercedes fix.

[chunker]

I'm thinking wheel speed sensor. That's located on the wheel hub near the brakes. When it goes bad or connection is loose it will throw the traction control light and disable the cruise control. May also light the ABS light on some vehicles.

[NYer]

Originally Posted by Markliyun

My View 24D is 2 weeks old. I have been getting the same error messages since the first day. Have to drive 5+ hours to have Mercedes fix.

I feel for you. I just drove 90 miles to find out why the directional light in my gauge cluster didn't work. At least it was not in vane. I need a new gauge cluster. 2020 Sunstar, less than 3,000 miles on it. Finding a Ford dealer that would work on the F-53 chassis was a PIA.

[rthagar]

One possible explanation is that the trouble you’re having is not related to the cruise control at all. I have a 2008 Navion on a sprinter chassis. Last year my local service station overfilled the engine oil. The dipstick has two sensors on the end of it. If the oil level in the engine is either too high or too low, one way Mercedes encourages you to remedy the problem is to disable the cruise control. Don’t know if this happens with other sensors or not.

[Altoonalaker]

Originally Posted by crah

Have a 2020 View in the new 2019+ VS30 Sprinter chassis. Already made an appointment with sprinter.

Had this problem last year. In the middle of freeway driving, the cruise control will quit, and on the dash errors will flash active distance assist inoperative. It will keep flashing that each time you set cruise again. Once in the blue moon, the cruise will work again (I'm talking hours of driving or even days). I thought I had this taken care of last year as the cause was the radar in the bumper needed replacement (many dealers recalibrate and the problem returns). Curious how many others have experienced this and their solution. This is only for the 2019+Sprinter VS30 chassis. Internet search shows others having this problem.

My 2020 Navion cruise behaving like yours. It might go an hour or several hours before failing with the brake notices then being displayed. Usually if it sits for 15-20 minutes the cruise works again when restarting. Yesterday was the first time it failed and then came back on after 1/2 hour or so. Winnebago recalibrated in Forest City when we were there in mid Jan. But it failed shortly after. I think we need a new computer chip. In any event that was Freightliner’s plan if it happened again after their fix in Sept.

[crah]

Originally Posted by Altoonalaker

My 2020 Navion cruise behaving like yours. It might go an hour or several hours before failing with the brake notices then being displayed. Usually if it sits for 15-20 minutes the cruise works again when restarting. Yesterday was the first time it failed and then came back on after 1/2 hour or so. Winnebago recalibrated in Forest City when we were there in mid Jan. But it failed shortly after. I think we need a new computer chip. In any event that was Freightliner’s plan if it happened again after their fix in Sept.

My problem just magically went away on my most recent trip. 6 hours both ways with no problems so I cancelled my appointment with the Sprinter shop. I know plenty of people with this exact problem on the new 2019+VS30 chassis. Prior to my trip, I did tighten up the wiring slack that goes to the radar. Not sure if that did anything or it's pure luck. In my opinion its narrow down to the radar behind the bumper. It has short and long distance sensing and something is throwing it off.

[rprochnow]

For us, this problem is intermittent - and seems to happen when we encounter bad weather - which isn't unreasonable. On most trips, we don't have any problems.

But what is unreasonable is the lack of information provided to the driver on what's wrong - and the long delay the system takes to re-activate.

[annierooster]

I had same problem on my 2020 24D and found it was simply related to moving around on the seat or lifting your weight off the seat. Either shut cruise off for a few minutes or stop the engine and restart.

[crah]

Originally Posted by annierooster

I had same problem on my 2020 24D and found it was simply related to moving around on the seat or lifting your weight off the seat. Either shut cruise off for a few minutes or stop the engine and restart.

This is not the same problem. Yes the cruise will shut off every time you lift enough off the seat.

This problem will not let the cruise go back on regardless. It will also give you two trouble codes flashing on the dash each time you try to activate the cruise. The errors it gives you is active distrinonic inoperative, active brake assist is limited. It is related to to radar on the bumper.

[crah]

Originally Posted by rprochnow

For us, this problem is intermittent - and seems to happen when we encounter bad weather - which isn't unreasonable. On most trips, we don't have any problems.

But what is unreasonable is the lack of information provided to the driver on what's wrong - and the long delay the system takes to re-activate.

If your problem is the same as mine, it gives you 2 codes. The codes pop up when you try to engage cruise. You need to have the cruise in the on position, and then try to set the cruise and the errors will flash on the dash each time.

[rprochnow]

Yes, there are two warning messages displayed indicating the active assistance features are disabled.

No indication on why they are disabled.

No indication on how to clear the error.

Stopping the engine and restarting won't re-activate the features.

Parking overnight, the features may also not re-activate in the morning.

Except when we had ice built-up on the front, we haven't found anything that we could do to help get the system re-activated.

Instead, seems to take a random amount of time, usually hours, of driving before the system decides to come back.

Our Tesla Model S had this issue - and it turned out to be a bad side camera, and once they replaced it, the problem didn't recur.

With our 2019 Sprinter chassis, since others are reporting the same problem, seems more like either a design flaw or a software problem, causing the system to get an unexpected response and then shutting down the active assistance features while the system recalibrates and then re-activates.

[MarkW]

On a recent trip down to FL the CC suddenly surged and immediately shut down and warning messages appeared for ABS and ESP.
As I was 120 miles from Savana (at 5pm) I called Critz Mercedes and they had me come in first thing next morning.
They diagnosed the problem quickly and replaced the ABS sensor on the rear wheel.
This fixed the problem and it has not occurred since then.
Shortly afterwards I saw that there was a Mercedes Safety Recall for ABS sensor for Sprinter models around 2018 (my 2019 WBG Navion has a 12/2018 Sprinter chassis).

[creativepart]

Hopefully, everyone will get the help they need here on this issue. But I wanted to suggest that you look at the www.sprinter-source.com forum as well. Lots of good MB Sprinter info there.

Here’s a link to the Forum there:

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/index.php

[chunker]

Originally Posted by MarkW

On a recent trip down to FL the CC suddenly surged and immediately shut down and warning messages appeared for ABS and ESP.
As I was 120 miles from Savana (at 5pm) I called Critz Mercedes and they had me come in first thing next morning.
They diagnosed the problem quickly and replaced the ABS sensor on the rear wheel.
This fixed the problem and it has not occurred since then.
Shortly afterwards I saw that there was a Mercedes Safety Recall for ABS sensor for Sprinter models around 2018 (my 2019 WBG Navion has a 12/2018 Sprinter chassis).

That sensor is the wheel speed sensor I referred to in post #5. It senses differences in the desired wheel speeds on the vehicle and ABS is one function. Another is traction control.