[PsychDoc]

My front camera has a terrible haze over it. At first I thought it was probably due to a dirty lens but, sadly, such was not the case. I suspect it's a defective photo sensor so I made an appointment to have it checked out and probably replaced. As reluctant as I am to have the dealership service department mess with the car, this is something that really does need to be addressed as it really renders the AR view in navigation useless.

Anyone else having a similar camera image problem?

[RichardInCA]

No issues for me - fingers crossed for an easy fix.

[deutsch100]

So sorry, you are experiencing this. To date, I have never had an issue with any BMW exterior camera. Sadly you have this, but luckily this seems to not be the norm. Keep us posted and good luck!

[Scrapula]

No problems for me. Did you run it through a car wash where it could have been damaged? It’s the one offset on the front grille, right?

[PsychDoc]

Originally Posted by Scrapula

No problems for me. Did you run it through a car wash where it could have been damaged? It’s the one offset on the front grille, right?

No, but a standard car wash shouldn't pose a hazard to the front camera anyway. After all, we often drive through pouring rain.

[Scrapula]

Originally Posted by PsychDoc

No, but a standard car wash shouldn't pose a hazard to the front camera anyway. After all, we often drive through pouring rain.

I belong to a Mach E forum and the brushes have caused damage to cameras and charging doors. I only use a brushless car wash.

[SkykingUSA]

Keep us updated. It looks like moisture might have gotten into the camera behind the outer lens or something. Good luck.

[dubb13]

Yeah it does look like moisture did you really get good look at it with a light or flashlight to see if there's any moisture inside the lens condensation

[MikeElmendorf]

Pretty sure the camera that generates that image is behind the rear view mirror, not on exterior of car. You’ll see the wipers pass it when they are on when the AR is on. Is it possible there is moisture in that area? That’s certainly what it looks like to me.

[lilstevie]

The camera in the AR view is one in the windscreen not the grille

[PsychDoc]

Originally Posted by MikeElmendorf

Pretty sure the camera that generates that image is behind the rear view mirror, not on exterior of car. You’ll see the wipers pass it when they are on when the AR is on. Is it possible there is moisture in that area? That’s certainly what it looks like to me.

Interesting. I'll check this out tomorrow morning. This may explain why this doesn't show up on the front camera when I press the parking center console button but is present in the AR view. Whatever it is, it seems clear that it's the sensor thats blown out rather than anything to do with the lens.

[PsychDoc]

[Update] So I had no idea that the AR camera was actually behind the rear view mirror. I had naturally assumed it was the view from the camera in the front grill. So, because I didn't see any dirt or other obstruction on that camera assembly in the grill I had to assume there was a problem with the sensor behind it. Anyway, fast forward to this morning I went down to my car and because it's raining here in NY I put on the wipers and confirmed that you can see the wipers briefly go through the field of view of the AR camera. Then I realized that the AR view was working perfectly with a nice clear view forward. There must have been some dirt on the top of the windshield which was cleared when the wipers were engaged. So all is well and I (sheepishly) canceled the appointment I had made with the dealership's service department.

Boy, do I ever feel stupid. LOL

Thanks for the the responses which guided me to this "solution.".

[syslakm]

Originally Posted by PsychDoc

[Update] So I had no idea that the AR camera was actually behind the rear view mirror. I had naturally assumed it was the view from the camera in the front grill. So, because I didn't see any dirt or other obstruction on that camera assembly in the grill I had to assume there was a problem with the sensor behind it. Anyway, fast forward to this morning I went down to my car and because it's raining here in NY I put on the wipers and confirmed that you can see the wipers briefly go through the field of view of the AR camera. Then I realized that the AR view was working perfectly with a nice clear view forward. There must have been some dirt on the top of the windshield which was cleared when the wipers were engaged. So all is well and I (sheepishly) canceled the appointment I had made with the dealership's service department.

Boy, do I ever feel stupid. LOL

Thanks for the the responses which guided me to this "solution.".

Great to hear and good to know about the location of the cameras! The true power of crowd knowledge!

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by syslakm

Great to hear and good to know about the location of the cameras! The true power of crowd knowledge!

Exactly! That's one of the main reasons I am on this forum. Among all of us, there is so much knowledge. I'd rather look silly or ignorant in this forum, than in front of a service technician, and waste my time going to appointments that are unnecessary.

Glad you figured it out Doc before bringing it in!

[MikeElmendorf]

Glad to help! And glad it wasn’t a problem after all.

[tsbrown]

Originally Posted by PsychDoc

[Update] So I had no idea that the AR camera was actually behind the rear view mirror. I had naturally assumed it was the view from the camera in the front grill. So, because I didn't see any dirt or other obstruction on that camera assembly in the grill I had to assume there was a problem with the sensor behind it. Anyway, fast forward to this morning I went down to my car and because it's raining here in NY I put on the wipers and confirmed that you can see the wipers briefly go through the field of view of the AR camera. Then I realized that the AR view was working perfectly with a nice clear view forward. There must have been some dirt on the top of the windshield which was cleared when the wipers were engaged. So all is well and I (sheepishly) canceled the appointment I had made with the dealership's service department.

Boy, do I ever feel stupid. LOL

Thanks for the the responses which guided me to this "solution.".

Much better than taking it in only to find out it was just a dirty windshield. Count yourself lucky on this one. Oh, and do a better job of keeping your new car clean 🤣

[PsychDoc]

Originally Posted by tsbrown

Much better than taking it in only to find out it was just a dirty windshield. Count yourself lucky on this one. Oh, and do a better job of keeping your new car clean 🤣

Indeed!

[tsbrown]

One other comment on the front camera in the grill...those cameras are pretty robust. I had to replace the one on my G30 (located in the center of the grill on that generation rather offset in the G60) from a rock chip/crack in the outer lens and it required dealer coding because I didn't know BimmerCode well enough to activate it myself. Only use that at parking speeds and the crack just distorted the view rather than having no camera view. It's possible a photo site could go bad in one of those, but more likely a crack in the lens on the front.

[Nighthawks]

Originally Posted by PsychDoc

[Update] So I had no idea that the AR camera was actually behind the rear view mirror. I had naturally assumed it was the view from the camera in the front grill. So, because I didn't see any dirt or other obstruction on that camera assembly in the grill I had to assume there was a problem with the sensor behind it. Anyway, fast forward to this morning I went down to my car and because it's raining here in NY I put on the wipers and confirmed that you can see the wipers briefly go through the field of view of the AR camera. Then I realized that the AR view was working perfectly with a nice clear view forward. There must have been some dirt on the top of the windshield which was cleared when the wipers were engaged. So all is well and I (sheepishly) canceled the appointment I had made with the dealership's service department.

Boy, do I ever feel stupid. LOL

Thanks for the the responses which guided me to this "solution.".

Glad that worked out. Crowdsourcing is one great thing about these Forums.