Limitations of Cross Traffic Alert

The CTA1 function may have limitations in certain situations.

CTA does not perform optimally in all situations but has some limitations. For example, the CTA sensors cannot "see" through other parked vehicles or obstructing obstacles.

Here are some examples of situations where CTA’s "field of vision" may be already limited and approaching vehicles cannot therefore be detected until they are very close:

P5-1507-CrossTrafficAlert Princip-Exception1
The car is parked deep inside a parking slot.
P5-1507-CrossTrafficAlert Princip-Exception2
In an angled parking slot CTA may be completely “blind” on one side.
  1. P5-Icon red circle 1Blind CTA sector.
  2. P5-Icon red circle 2Sector in which CTA can detect/“see”.

However, as your car slowly reverses, the angle it makes with the obstructing vehicle/object changes and the blind sector rapidly decreases.

Examples of further limitations

  • Dirt, ice and snow covering the sensors may reduce the functions and deactivate alerts. See the supplementary information in the section "Recommended maintenance for Cross Traffic Alert".
  • CTA is automatically deactivated if a trailer, bicycle rack or similar is connected to the car's electrical system.
  • For optimal performance of CTA, no bicycle rack, luggage carrier or similar should be mounted on the car's towbar.
  1. 1 Cross Traffic Alert