Jeep Garage  - Jeep Forum banner

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) sets off Radar Detectors

19K views 33 replies 23 participants last post by  The Wizard 
#1 ·
wondering if anyone knows whether or not the ACC system sets off the radar detector in another vehicle? Has anyone tested this?

my gut feeling is that it does, since it must send out a radar signal which bounces off the other vehicle and the computer calculates distance and braking based on this information.
 
#3 ·
The frequency of the Jeep's radar is different from that of a police radar gun, they wouldn't want to use a frequency that could potentially interfere with police equipment. Radar detectors look for the police frequencies. It is possible that a poorly designed radar detector could be set off but there have been numerous tests with name brands and a false alarm is yet to be reported.
 
#4 ·
The problem is the Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross Path Detection. Unfortunately it uses K band. And yes, it does set off a V1 set to defaults. I have been disabling K band detection in order to stop the constant false alerts.

I emailed Valentine and received the following suggestion. I have not tried it yet.

Instead of disabling K-band, I suggest activating the K-band auto mute feature:
- activate feature "7"
- set the mute period to 3 seconds by adjusting features "b," "c," and "d"
- activate feature "G" to mute all rear k-band alerts permanently

The drawback to the k-band auto mute is that if a real k-band is detected from the front, V1 will mute it for the first 3 seconds

Once programmed, you will need to operate the V1 in either Logic or Advanced Logic mode if you want automatic muting. If you use the V1 in a different vehicle and don't want any auto-muting features, simply operate the V1 in "A" mode.
 
#10 ·
Interesting. Mine is on default and blind spot monitoring is fully activated. Yet, nary a false to date. Our V1 is several years old, although on the Valentine website they say it is new enough not to bother to send it in for an upgrade.

Ours is mounted with Velcro atop the dash quite near the windshield, slightly to the right of center where there is a peep area not blocked by the wipers. Perhaps mounting location makes the difference?
 
#5 ·
Which is why I did not order blind spot etc on my JGC.

Its infuriating to constantly have your detector beep everytime you approach a car with blind spot, and I'd hate to have it on my own vehicle.

Isn't there a single Chrysler designer/engineer that uses a radar detector? You'd think there had to be at least one driving enthusiast there that would say "hey this car is setting off my detector...."
 
#6 · (Edited)
The WK2 blind spot uses ultra wideband radar. Some RADAR detectors that detect POP guns will falsely alarm with Blind spot detectors, commercial alarm systems and radar detectors in other cars.

"There is a well known issue involving the some Side Assist feature, which senses cars to the side of your car and flashes a warning if you activate your turn signal at the same time as the system senses a car in your "blind spot".

Unfortunately there seems to be no way to turn the interfering signal off - although you can deactivate the Side Assist feature, the radar is still active. The solution is to deactivate the POP feature.

POP is a feature of certain radar guns manufactured by MPH Industries that is intended to defeat radar detectors. It emits radar in very short bursts - on the order of 67 miilisecods - to take an initial reading of your speed so quickly that the radar detector doesn't have time to recognize the presence of radar and signal an alert. Presumably the police officer can use POP on a series of cars without any radar detectors ever knowing that it's being used. Then if the initial reading using POP shows you are speeding, the officer switches his radar gun to standard mode to get a longer and more accurate reading of your car's speed. Of course now your detector will indeed react, but since he's already got you in his sights you are nabbed before you have time to slow down.

Radar detector manufacturers have responded by setting quicker reaction times to the initial burst of radar energy. Thus if POP is used on a car in front or behind yours, your detector will sense it and signal a warning - hopefully before the officer aims it at you. But this change has the adverse effect of causing more false alarms from noisy devices such as commercial alarm systems, radar detectors in other cars, and many Side Assist features."

I wonder if someone cleaver has managed to turn the collision avoidance and side radars into speed and traffic camera RADAR jammers... but officer its just a collision avoidance system :)

By the way, I don't think you can turn the WK2 side RADARs off, they seem to be always on regardless. Note that its not only the WK2 setting off K band detectors, Mercedes, Audi's, and BMW's are notorious. The WK2 adaptive cruise uses a higher frequency; radar detectors should not alarm.
 
#8 ·
The WK2 blind spot uses ultra wideband radar. Some RADAR detectors that detect POP guns will falsely alarm with Blind spot detectors, commercial alarm systems and radar detectors in other cars.

"There is a well known issue involving the some Side Assist feature, which senses cars to the side of your car and flashes a warning if you activate your turn signal at the same time as the system senses a car in your "blind spot".

Unfortunately there seems to be no way to turn the interfering signal off - although you can deactivate the Side Assist feature, the radar is still active. The solution is to deactivate the POP feature.

POP is a feature of certain radar guns manufactured by MPH Industries that is intended to defeat radar detectors. It emits radar in very short bursts - on the order of 67 miilisecods - to take an initial reading of your speed so quickly that the radar detector doesn't have time to recognize the presence of radar and signal an alert. Presumably the police officer can use POP on a series of cars without any radar detectors ever knowing that it's being used. Then if the initial reading using POP shows you are speeding, the officer switches his radar gun to standard mode to get a longer and more accurate reading of your car's speed. Of course now your detector will indeed react, but since he's already got you in his sights you are nabbed before you have time to slow down.

Radar detector manufacturers have responded by setting quicker reaction times to the initial burst of radar energy. Thus if POP is used on a car in front or behind yours, your detector will sense it and signal a warning - hopefully before the officer aims it at you. But this change has the adverse effect of causing more false alarms from noisy devices such as commercial alarm systems, radar detectors in other cars, and many Side Assist features."

I wonder if someone cleaver has managed to turn the collision avoidance and side radars into speed and traffic camera RADAR jammers... but officer its just a collision avoidance system :)

By the way, I don't think you can turn the WK2 side RADARs off, they seem to be always on regardless. Note that its not only the WK2 setting off K band detectors, Mercedes, Audi's, and BMW's are notorious. The WK2 adaptive cruise uses a higher frequency; radar detectors should not alarm.

This is not entirely correct.
(Without hijacking this into a POP thread....)

POP capable radar units operate at either 67 milliseconds 33.8 Ghz which is in the Ka band spectrum, or at 16 milliseconds at 24.150 gHz in the K band spectrum. (Both POP capable guns are made by MPH Industries)

Most higher end detectors have no trouble detecting the 67ms Ka burst, but have virtually no chance in seeing the 16ms K band burst.

Now, side assist transmits in the K band spectrum because K band transmitters are cheap and readily available. Any detector will detect these K band side transmitters as a weak "false" K band alert. It has nothing to do with being POP capable. And, not every manufacturer uses K band side assist, some use transmitters that are in tehe 70ghz+ range, far outside the police radar spectrum. (Thank you :))

On a side note, running into POP units is extremely rare. The only agency that has any substantial number of POP capable guns is the Nevada Highway Patrol, who use POP capable MPH 33.8 Ka guns almost exclusively. Keep in mind a POP reading cannot be used to issue a citation (as per MPH's own directions).

And yes, detectors are a bit of a hobby. I'm very active on radardetector.net, albeit under a different name.
 
#7 ·
Blind Spot and Cross Traffic (on my Lincoln) do not set off my Passport 9500. Very high-end Audis/Mercedes, etc used to set off my crappy Whistler. It was only the high-end S-Class or A8s, etc.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Yesterday, a newer corvette was coming up on my left on a 4 lane freeway. I noticed that as the car got near my blind spot, it would then slow and not pass. The driver did this at least 3 times. At first I thought the driver was admiring my WK2 (I've had that happen quite often), but when I exited the freeway a few miles later, the same car pulled in a parking lot near me. The driver got out and asked if I had some kind of radar jammer. I said no and he couldn't figure out why his V1 was going off near my WK2. I did tell him my GC has ACC and BSM and the BSM does have sensors on the left and right sides. The driver figured that the sensors were causing his V1 to give a false radar warning. He said he'll have to now keep an eye out for WK2's when he gets a warning.
 
#18 ·
Hmmmm....I was considering pulling the trigger on a Valentine 1, along with the micro-invisicord, but I have the ACC and BSM.

Seems kind of pointless to spend that much money to deactivate its primary differentiation (rear radar detection). Granted, it just the K band.

Maybe some existing V1 users with ACC and BSM can convince me it's still worthwhile.
 
#19 ·
I dont have ACC or BSM and specifically requested not to for the reason of owning a V1 for years. My V1 has saved my ass from plenty of tickets, 2 of which would have occurred in the first week of owning my WK2.

I do find that other vehicles ACC or BSM does set off my V1. If you are using ACC you probably wont need the V1 since you will be on cruise...unless u are setting your cruise well above speed limit. Generally if Im driving greater than 10 over on the freeway, I don't use cruise as I react faster when im actively engaged in driving.
 
#20 ·
I've noticed some drivers slow down as they are passing me on the interstate. I'll be in the slow lane doing the speed limit and someone will be in the fast lane going much faster and then they seem to slow down when they get close so I'm thinking they must be getting something on a radar detector. Our Jeep has decals for various sports teams on the back so nobody is going to be mistaking us for a police cruiser.
 
#21 ·
BSM on the Jeep can set off some detectors.
But in general there are tons of cars way worse.
And most Radar Detector owners don't slow down for these types of falses because they happen so often. So I doubt they are slowing down for your BSM.

You collision Radar will not trip the Radar Detectors.
 
#25 ·
I can confirm - bought V1 10 years ago. Sent in for factory update. Now it's installed in 2017 GCTH w/ACC and BSM. No issues as described in thread so I assume this issue has been addressed in the update. I do notice that most semi trucks set off false K band signal and I just ignore those.


Sent from my iPhone using JeepGarage
 
#26 ·
My Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland, 2017 sets off my Max 360 when I am very close to something (front end near garage door or car in front of me) with ka 35.842. Must be a harmonic. It also sets off my Radenso RC-M remote mount detector in ka (no frequency available yet). It does not set off a Radenso XP.
 
#27 ·
I just installed Whistler PRO-3700 and it has TFSR/FSDR settings to filter out traffic control/cruise control/blind spot sensor radars.
It constantly shows FSDR message in my JGC. I hope it will not interfere with other Ka band detection. We will see how it will work out when there is a real cop radar.
 
#31 ·
I have a Pro 3700 as well but I can't get it to stop giving short alerts before showing the FSDR message. It happens around nearly a quarter of the vehicles on the road these days and it's incredibly annoying. I have the earlier QI45 in my car and it almost never alerts for another car other than police. It seems the detecting technology went backwards with the newer model but I've been unable to find another QI45 anywhere... yet. I keep looking.

I had a Pro 3600 a few years ago thath didn't suffer the same issue but I don't know if it was the detector or just that there were less blind spot systems on the road at the time. I wonder if the K40 is affected by those signals as much as the Whistler?
 
#29 ·
My '19 Limited only has X-Path Detection. My Valentine 1 is at default settings and it rides on the dash between the instrument cluster and the driver's side pillar. No alarms from X-Path.
 
#30 ·
More on Jammer Radar and Lasers......
Unlike police laser which can be legally jammed by laser jammers in most states, police radar can not be legally jammed anywhere. In fact, any attempt to do so (whether one is successful or not and most active radar jammers are not) is a federal offense and violates FCC regulations.
 
#32 ·
I only get KA warning shortly after starting the car and then my Pro3700 shuts up and displays FDSR message when it learns that ACC isn't a police radar I think. This is all I can find about the technology: https://whistlergroup.com/blogs/new...ogy-to-reduce-false-alerts-in-radar-detectors
I do not see any firmware updates only GPS database updates so I guess there are no improvements.
I also did get few VG2 alerts but I am not sure they were all legit.
 
#34 ·
The problem is that many (if not most) safety systems like blind spot warning and ACC use Ka band so you can get false alerts (lots of them) even with X and K turned off depending on how sensitive your detector is. My Qi45 doesn't seem to pick them up but my newer Pro 3700 certainly does.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top