My wife noticed this morning our Odyssey was very concerned about her driving on the way in, from the windshield clarity to her lane management. It is pretty clear that ice and sleet buildup was causing various driving safety sensors to spaz out in some circumstances. Mostly it is annoying but it could also be misleading.
How do the automakers deal with this issue? How do people in cold climates find ways around these sensors giving false slearms or functionality warnings?
Does the rear hatch stop working when it gets cold outside?
With my wife's Odyssey (2017), when it gets into the 40s or below, when you open it, it acts like it loses power and the button doesn't work. You have to shut it by hand and open it by hand as the button up front and on the remote do not work. The dash even displays a "Tail Gate" light. Once it warms up, it works like nothing happened. It's done this for the past few years. We only have issues from like Dec-Feb.
How do people in cold climates find ways around these sensors giving false slearms or functionality warnings?
I ignore the sensor warnings up north when they're covered with snow, ice, freezing fog, etc. Then they get some sunlight, the crap melts off, and life goes on.
Went to go drop off kids at school this morning and when I was backing up out of my driveway I noticed my backup camera was blurry. Went to go clean it and noticed there was moisture and ice in the outer glass/plastic part before the lens. I mustve had a broken seal and with the cold weather was the last straw.
I've done some extensive snow and ice driving in Northern California and Northern Nevada during the past 6 years in my Jeep Wrangler.
The only ice related problem I've experienced is buildup of snow and ice on the headlights and fog lights.
This is because the fancy LEDs don't generate enough heat to melt the snow and ice.
I have had occasional problems with the blind spot sensors but those problems usually go away after the next power cycle.
Does this mean the 3" windshield wipers that keep headlights clean in a rain storm on MB are making a comeback?
Those were funny. Back in May 2025, I toured the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart and they had a 1990s throwback exhibit. That was one of the funny things that took me right back to the 1990s.
In my 2009 BMW X5, they had little washers in front of the headlights. I guess that's part of BMW's Cold Weather package.
The funny thing is, they're "automatic" so you as the driver can't control them. They just go off whenever.
Or... at least that's how they worked for me during my 15 hour drive from Lake Tahoe to Santa Clara, CA the first weekend that I bought the vehicle and hadn't seen a demo of how they work.
I did have plenty of time to read the owner's manual during the 10 hours it took me to drive 10 miles to the snow chain checkpoint west of Lake Tahoe. 10 hours of my life I'll never get back.
According to the Internet, apparently there is a way to force the headlight washers to engage.
