Electrical interference immobilizing car

[mvaldes]

Just wondering if this has been reported before. There's an intersection that I've passed where there are lots of radio towers, cell phone towers and satellite dishes. The first time I drove by, my ESC triangle lit up and the car wouldn't move in "D." I pushed it to the side, shut down, waited and then restarted. The warning lights stayed on but I was able to drive away. I parked in a lot a good ways away and did my errands. When I came back, all was well - no lights, no driving problem. A week later I drove by the same intersection and had an almost identical experience, except that I was able to coast to the side of the road. The dealer tells me that there network reports several other similar occurrences in several cars with aftermarket cc (type unknown) which couldn't be duplicated when driving by the same area in a stock smart. I'll try driving there again with the plug in place of the cc when I have time. Meanwhile I wondered if anyone has any thoughts on the subject?

[wizard of ahs]

I believe there was talk on SCOA about this very thing.  I don't KNOW, but it was said that the wire running from the stalk to the CC was VERY subject to interference. 

Wrapping with foil should help cure it... :

Any thoughts Art ?

[mvaldes]

I think I answered my own question. I took out the cruise and replaced it with the plug and drove through the intersection without incident. I took out the plug and re-installed the cruise and drove through the intersection and the warning light came on and the car was immobilized. Assuming that's correct, what do you suggest to prevent it? Knowing there's the potential to have my car suddenly immobilized by some sort of electrical signal as I'm driving along isn't the most comforting of thoughts. 

[admin]

What kind of signals are they blasting over there?!?!

First, while your test does seem to have some cause-and-effect... I don't believe it completely rules out coincidence.  You could be having intermittent problems with your ESC (or related system).  I'd suggest driving more with and without and if you see a definate cause-and-effect then move on... 

Try unplugging the switch from the cruise and repeating tests.  If OK then it may be the switch wire (but that doesn't immediately make sense).  If not OK then move on...
Try wrapping the cruise box with a generous amount of tinfoil.  If OK then somehow the signals are penetrating your car's shell and messing with the cruise electronics.  honestly I wouldn't have thought there'd be anything broadcasting with such power to ever do this.  If it still happens, then either there's still not enough tinfoil, or its not the cruise.

There have been some reports of RF interference causing issues, but the details are so sketchy and few and far between that its really hard to act on it at all.  Our switch cable is unshielded and so is our enclosure (plastic box).  To save money?  No, not really - its only a few dollars - but shielded was harder to source and again... honestly, I didn't think it would be an issue.  It certainly never came up in any of the pre-launch extensive testing that was done.  The car's ECU is shielded but many of the cables going to and from it most definately are not.

If you try any of the suggestions, let me know how it goes please.

Art

[Brabus007]

Its all about the HAT...!!! If you don't get the HAT right, the CC will fail every time...<:-((

[mvaldes]

Hey, where'd you get that picture or my sister?

[mvaldes]

Thanks Art,
I have been in touch with smart and they have had 3 other reports of the same weirdness, all "cured" by removing the cruise control. (They couldn't tell me which type of cc they were though.) I've driven the car about 400 miles since the first incident under varying conditions and haven't had any warning lights come on or any sudden loss of power. It's only at that one intersection where the problem occurs and it has happened each of the three times I've driven through it (on different days and at different times of the day.) The only time I've been able to go through that intersection without having the triangle light up followed by the car being immobilized is when I had the cruise control removed and the jumper plug installed. Ordinarily, it'd be fun to go and play in the interference but it's a rather busy intersection and I don't relish the idea of getting rear ended when the car loses power. I suppose I'll try it late at night one of these days when I don't have a full schedule the next day - just in case I get "permanently" stuck and have to get a tow. I'll let you know what happens when I get a chance to experiement.

[admin]

Could you give me the exact intersection (streets, city, state) where this happens?

[mvaldes]

The location is the intersection of Mt. Pleasant Avenue and Prospect Avenue in West Orange, NJ. The weirdness happens when you approach from the east, going uphill on Prospect. It does not happen on the westbound side of Prospect or on the southbound side of Mt. Pleasant. I can't comment on the northbound side of Mt. Pleasant because the car is already dead by the time I've gotten there (the one time the light was green and I was able to coast around the corner and pull off the road.)

[John_H]

I should try driving by my over-limit radio station up in the hills nearby (power levels grandfathered in from around wartime, one of the strongest FM transmitters out there).

As to your troubles at that intersection, the WFME radio station only puts out 37 kW but the WFME-TV transmitter is 200kW.  Both transmitters appear to be at that intersection so it could be either one causing the problem.

Ah, the joys of electronics