How to clean your Honda vehicle’s sensors

Honda Sensing features such as Adaptive Cruise Control or Lane Assist rely on sensors to work. These sensors are located in various places around your vehicle, including on the front end of your Honda vehicle. Unfortunately, weather conditions like snow can block a sensor, making it unable to work properly. You will still be able to drive your vehicle, but you won’t have the added luxury of Honda Sensing driver assistance features. You can fix this by keeping your sensors clean and unblocked. Below, we will describe the four steps to cleaning a Honda vehicle’s sensors.

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Clean your windshield: The first Honda sensor is the monocular camera, which is located in the interior of your vehicle, next to the rearview mirror and directly behind your vehicle’s windshield. The windshield in front of it needs to be clear in order for the camera to function properly. Luckily, this is as easy as taking any normal means to clean your windshield, such as running your wipers or using an ice scraper to unblock it.
Locate and clean your radar: Once you know where your radar is located, you can use a soft cloth to clean off snow, salt, and dirt. First, you must know where your radar is located. Your radar will be located in one of the following spots depending on your model:
- Behind the badge on the front fascia if you have a Honda Fit, Clarity, Odyssey, Passport, Pilot, or Ridgeline
- Driver’s side of the lower bumper if you have a Honda Civic or Insight
- Centre of the lower bumper if you have a Honda Accord
- Passenger side of the front fascia if you have a Honda HR-V
- Below the badge on the front fascia if you have a Honda CR-V
Pay attention to warnings: Have you received the “Some driver-assist systems cannot operate” warning? This means that some Honda Sensing features have been temporarily turned off. Usually, this means that the sensors are blocked by salt, snow, or ice. Pay attention to any warning on your vehicle and use this as a reminder to keep sensors clean.
Remain aware while driving: If a warning message persists while you are driving, that is likely a sign that the current weather conditions are incompatible with your Honda sensors. No matter what, always stay vigilant as you drive and never rely on the technology to replace your own eyes.