I got my 2019 F150 XLT last month with 42K miles on it. The red LED warning lights that shine up on the windshield come on when I start the truck, but the system doesn't give me an alert when I think it should. I have tried several online searches and got conflicting information. Any ideas what to check? The cameral under the rear-view mirror isn't blocked.

 

I've always kind of wondered how you would test one of those systems if you suspected it didn't work.
My mostly unrelated story: I was nearly sideswiped by an erratic driver that suddenly wanted my lane. To avoid the inevitable accident, I swerved right in an instant. I had quickly checked my surroundings, and in knew I fit between the trailing and leading car to my right, but only with inches to spare. When I avoided the accident it left me way too close. The collision avoidance started beeping with a warning message. The problem of course was that the vehicle behind me was also way too close because of my actions. After a few seconds the truck applied the brakes and brake checked the driver I had just cut off. His attentiveness avoided yet another accident. Despite a few unhappy faces we all went home without trading paint, no thanks to the avoidance contraption.

 

There's nothing wrong with your system. It has a self-test routine and will tell you if a sensor is not working or blocked. It was designed to not give you many false alarms, so you won't get in the habit of ignoring it or turn it off. Sooner or later it will come on and get your attention. If it comes on very often, you're a really bad driver. I've had mine alert a few times when I've been approaching a vehicle ahead of me making a right turn, so it's still partly in my lane and appears to be a stationary object to the sensors. I've never had the braking come on and that's just fine.

 

My driveway buts up against a semi-busy street and it works consistently. You could test it in a mall parking lot or somewhere similar where you can back up perpendicular to traffic.

 

I thought they got rid of that LED strip that shows on the windshield in 2019! My 19 does not have that, just pre collision warning in the instrument cluster!

 

DaveinWV,

There is a menu setting in driver's display for Low/Med/High pre-collision sensitivity. Yours may set at Low,

45K40

 

I set mine to high. It's not overly sensitive in my opinion. The situation in which it alerts isn't as predictable as the radar-based system in my wife's Maxima, but that's likely because it's using a camera. Mine also alerts when it assesses a camera obstruction.

 

My sensitivity setting is on high.
Thank you all for your input.

 

Mine did not work as well when it should’ve

 

Wrong. If it didn't work when it should, you would have hit something. It's there as a last resort to prevent or reduce the severity of an accident if you fail to drive the truck. By design, it rarely activates and has very few false alarms, because if it alerted very often owners would get annoyed and turn it off.

If you want to see it work, there are some Youtube videos you can check out, including one from Ford, and a funny one where some guy has his wife put a scarecrow on a stick in front of the truck as he drives toward her and they are amazed when the truck stops itself before hitting the scarecrow. Or drive your truck toward a wall with your feet off the pedals and let us know what happens.