Pre Sense warning on the dash of your A4, Q5, A3 or A6? Audi badges this fault under several names: Pre Sense Front for the collision-avoidance side, Pre Sense Rear for rear-end protection, Pre Sense Basic for the seat-belt pretensioner. They share hardware with adaptive cruise and lane assist, so when one's flagging, the others often are too. Here's what's happening and what the calibration costs.
You can drive the car. Pre Sense Front, the system that runs automatic emergency braking, stays offline until the radar's recalibrated. Pre Sense Basic (the pretensioner side) still works because it triggers from the body sensors. Normal brakes, steering and cruise all still work. Leave more following distance until it's sorted.
Audi Pre Sense reads from the same forward radar and forward camera that feed Adaptive Cruise Assist and Active Lane Assist. The system is more layered than the VW equivalent: Pre Sense Front, Rear, Basic and Plus all run from different sensor groupings. Here's what we see going wrong.
Pre Sense Front is the automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning. It runs from the radar behind the front grille badge. A bumper repair, a refitted grille, a parking knock, even a respray over the radar area shifts the aim and the system flags a fault.
Pre Sense Rear monitors traffic approaching from behind to pretension the seat belts before a rear-end impact. It uses radars in the rear quarter panels, the same hardware as Audi Side Assist. A rear bumper repair or a rear-end knock disturbs these, and Pre Sense Rear flags without the front systems being affected.
Pre Sense Basic is the seat-belt pretensioner side, triggered when the car detects rapid deceleration or skidding from the body sensors. It doesn't fault from a misaligned radar. If your warning is specifically Pre Sense Basic, the fault is likely a body sensor or ESP module, not a calibration issue. Worth checking which Pre Sense variant the dash names.
Audi owners commonly fit RS-style grilles, gloss black badges, and aftermarket front splitters. The radar transmits through the grille area, so a replacement grille of different design or thickness can scatter the signal. If Pre Sense Front dropped out after a styling change, that's the first place to look.
On the A4, A6, Q5 and newer A3 with Adaptive Cruise Assist, the forward camera in the windscreen backs up the radar. A new windscreen moves the camera, and Pre Sense Front can flag the camera-radar disagreement even though the radar itself is fine. The camera needs recalibrating alongside the radar.
Audi's premium models (A8, Q8, e-tron) use the zFAS central driver-assistance control unit, which integrates Pre Sense with surround-view cameras and the 360 system. zFAS calibration is more involved than standard radar work, requires ODIS access at the right authorisation level, and can flag fault code B220600 (camera VIN coding) on module replacements. Our network includes workshops set up for zFAS.
The pattern we see most across Audi pre sense work. An independent Audi specialist or body shop does the mechanical repair perfectly, but the ADAS calibration is a separate step that many good garages don't have the equipment for. The car is fixed, Pre Sense stays flagging until the calibration's done. That's the gap our accredited network fills.
Worth checking first: confirm which Pre Sense variant is showing on the dash (Front, Rear, Basic or Plus), because that points to which sensor is the cause. Wipe the inside of the windscreen behind the camera and clean any film over the grille badge area. If Pre Sense Front or Pre Sense Rear is still showing, the radar needs recalibrating.
On an Audi that means a static procedure: the workshop sets a manufacturer-spec target board at the correct distance, connects via OBD with ODIS at the right authorisation level, and runs the alignment routine. On zFAS-equipped A8, Q8 or e-tron variants the procedure is more involved and runs through the zFAS module, which needs workshop equipment set up for it.
It's a fixed £349 through our network for the radar tier: scan, calibration, certificate. If the scan shows the radar was damaged and needs replacing, or the windscreen camera also needs work, you'll know the cost before any work goes ahead. The full procedure is in our ADAS calibration guide.
Pricing is fixed across our network. Same price wherever you are in the UK. Your tier is set by what work has been done, not by your postcode or your car's make.
All prices include the diagnostic scan, the calibration procedure (static, dynamic, or both as required), a post-calibration check, and a calibration certificate. No charge for diagnostic if you decide not to proceed.
Send your registration and a line on what's happened. We'll come back with the fixed price, the nearest accredited workshop, and the soonest available slot.
Pre Sense Basic is the seat-belt pretensioner side of the system, triggered when the car detects rapid braking, skidding or instability from the body sensors. It doesn't read the road. Pre Sense Front (or Pre Sense City on some models) is the forward-collision side, reading the radar and camera.
If your dash specifically says Pre Sense Basic, the fault is usually a body sensor or the ESP module, not a calibration issue on the forward radar. Worth confirming which one your dash names before booking a calibration job.
Radar calibration is a fixed £349 across our accredited network, the same wherever you are in the UK. That covers the diagnostic scan, the calibration itself, and a calibration certificate. One session covers up to three ADAS systems, so if Adaptive Cruise Assist or Active Lane Assist dropped out alongside Pre Sense, they're done together. On zFAS-equipped premium Audis, the same fixed price applies.
zFAS is Audi's central driver-assistance control unit on the A8, Q8 and e-tron range. It integrates Pre Sense, surround-view cameras, the 360 system and adaptive cruise into one processor. Calibration runs through the zFAS rather than each sensor separately, and it needs ODIS access at the right authorisation level. Fault code B220600 (camera VIN coding) often appears on zFAS-equipped cars after a module replacement. Our network includes workshops with zFAS-capable equipment.
No. Any workshop with VAG-compatible ODIS access at the right authorisation level and a calibration bay can do it, and our accredited network is set up for that. The dealer will charge their own labour rate for the same procedure. The certificate we issue is accepted by insurers and sits on the car's service history.
The VW Group naming for the same family of faults. Useful if your dash uses Front Assist wording.
The cross-make guide for the Pre Sense/FCW/PCS family of warnings.