Forward Collision Warning light on your Qashqai or Juke, a 'front radar obstruction' message, or alerts firing at cars that aren't there? Forward Collision Warning and Intelligent Cruise Control read the same front radar behind the Nissan badge, so when the radar loses its aim they drop out together. Here's what triggers it, the checks that cost nothing, and what calibration costs, from £162 inc VAT.
You can drive the car. Forward Collision Warning is an alert, not the brakes themselves: with the radar faulted, the warning, Intelligent Cruise Control and the radar side of Intelligent Emergency Braking are off or degraded, and ProPILOT stays unavailable on cars that have it, since it only runs when every sensor it uses has passed its own self-check. Your normal brakes and steering are unaffected. Leave more following distance and treat the assists as not there until it's sorted. The case to take more seriously is false alerts: a radar knocked off its aim can read a parked car or a barrier as something in your lane and warn when it shouldn't. If that's happening, book it in sooner rather than later.
Nissan mounts the front radar behind the badge at the nose and a forward camera at the top of the windscreen. Forward Collision Warning and Intelligent Cruise Control read the radar; Lane Departure Warning and the camera side of Intelligent Emergency Braking read the camera, and ProPILOT only runs when both sensors pass their self-checks. Some of what takes FCW down needs a calibration, some needs a clean badge, and some clears on its own. Work down the list and find yours.
The trigger we see most often. The radar sits behind the front badge on a Qashqai, Juke or X-Trail, and a bumper off and back on can shift the radar's aim by a fraction of a degree. The car reads that as a radar it can't trust and drops everything the radar feeds, sometimes on the drive home, sometimes not until later. The full body-shop story, including why 'the job's done' and the warning can both be true, is in our Nissan bumper-repair guide.
The Nissan quirk that catches fast-fit chains out. The radar looks straight through the front badge, so the badge has to come off cleanly before anyone can check or adjust its aim. A centre set up for Nissan treats that as part of the job. If a garage has quoted you for a calibration without mentioning the badge, ask how they plan to reach the sensor.
Same hardware. The radar that runs Intelligent Cruise Control is the radar that runs Forward Collision Warning, so when its aim goes, both flag at once, and ProPILOT stays unavailable with them on cars that have it. It looks like a cluster of faults but it's one cause, and one front radar calibration brings the set back. You're not paying per warning: it's priced as one system.
The radar has to see through the badge, and it tells you when it can't: 'front radar obstruction' on the cluster. Packed snow, thick road film, mud, even a plate or accessory mounted over the badge area will do it. This one costs nothing. Clean the badge and the panel around it, restart, drive. If the warning clears and stays away, there was nothing to calibrate and nothing to book.
The windscreen carries the forward camera, not the radar, so a glass swap usually announces itself as Nissan's 'cam aim require calibration' message with Lane Departure Warning down, rather than as an FCW fault. The camera does feed the camera side of Intelligent Emergency Braking though, so forward-collision warnings can join in on models where the systems overlap. The camera is its own calibration and its own line on the quote; our camera aim guide covers it.
Trolley contact in a car park, a kerb nudge, a tow strap on the front end. None of it leaves a mark you'd notice, but any of it can shift the radar or its bracket enough to throw the aim. If the warning arrived without any bodywork you know about, walk round the front of the car slowly before booking anything, and mention anything you find when you enquire.
Battery events show up in this family too. After a flat battery or a battery change, Nissans can put ADAS warnings on the dash, the camera's 'cam aim require calibration' message among them, without anything having moved. Some clear after a normal drive. If a warning survives a few journeys, a diagnostic scan shows whether a sensor actually needs recalibrating or the module just needs its codes cleared, before you've paid for a calibration you might not need.
A real impact can crack the radar housing or its bracket, and a calibration won't hold on damaged hardware. A replacement radar also has to be coded to the car before the calibration will stick, the step body shops most often miss. A diagnostic scan tells you which case you're in before any work is booked. Once a replacement radar is fitted, that coding is billed at £232.80 inc VAT (£194 +VAT), then the calibration that follows is a separate line and the 35% second-system discount applies to it.
Worth the free checks first: look at the front badge and the panel around it, and clean off any road film, snow or mud sitting over the radar. If the warning dates from a bumper repair, ask the body shop whether every connector behind the bumper went back on, and run your eye along the bumper line for an uneven gap that suggests a shifted carrier. And think about when the warnings come: drop-outs only in heavy spray or driving snow are the radar at its limit, not a fault, and there's nothing to book.
Still flagging on a clean car in clear conditions? The next step is a diagnostic scan, not a straight calibration. A forward-collision warning has more than one story behind it, and the scan separates them: a radar knocked off its aim, a camera problem showing up alongside, or a radar that has genuinely failed. A diagnostic scan, when your job needs one, is priced and itemised separately.
What follows depends on what the scan finds:
The job ends with the codes cleared and the certificate issued. Certificate to manufacturer tolerances, the same standard dealers issue. Your quote is confirmed in writing before anything is booked. The bumper-repair case in depth, including the badge access story, is in our Nissan bumper-repair guide, and the procedure itself in the ADAS calibration guide.
One system is the normal quote here: the front radar behind the badge that runs Forward Collision Warning and Intelligent Cruise Control. Rates are the same at every service centre, per system, shown inc VAT with the net figure alongside. Your total is confirmed in writing before anything is booked.
Send your registration and a line on what's happened. We come back with the itemised quote, the nearest of 80+ UK service centres, and the soonest slot.
Almost always one. Forward Collision Warning and Intelligent Cruise Control read the same front radar, mounted behind the Nissan badge, so when the radar loses its aim both drop out in the same moment, and ProPILOT stays unavailable with them on cars that have it. Two warnings, one cause. The fix is one job too: the radar is re-aimed as a single system and everything it feeds comes back together once it passes its self-check. One system on the rate card: front radar calibration, £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT) at a centre.
The radar can't see through whatever is in front of it. It sits behind the front badge, so packed snow, thick road film after a winter motorway run, mud, or a plate or accessory mounted over the badge area all block the beam, and the car parks Forward Collision Warning and Intelligent Cruise Control until the view clears. This one usually costs nothing: clean the badge and the panel around it, restart, drive. If the message keeps returning on a clean car, the radar may be misaimed or failing instead, and a diagnostic scan, £54 inc VAT (£45 +VAT), settles which before anything is booked.
False alerts are the other face of a misaimed radar. Aim the beam a fraction off and it can place a parked car, a barrier or an oncoming vehicle on a bend in your lane, so the warning fires with nothing ahead of you. Weather does it too: heavy spray and driving snow can trigger the odd alert on a healthy system, and that passes when the conditions do. The pattern that points at the radar is repetition, the same false alert at the same kind of spot in clear conditions, often dating from bumper work or a knock you'd forgotten about. A static front radar calibration puts the aim back within Nissan's tolerance: £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT) at a centre.
Front radar calibration is £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT), front camera is the same, with the full rate card on this page. Two or more systems in one visit: the highest-priced system is full price and each additional system is 35% off at a centre. A diagnostic scan, when your job needs one, is priced and itemised separately. Your quote is confirmed in writing before anything is booked.
No. What the job needs is the right setup rather than a franchise: the measured bay, the badge-off access the radar sits behind, and Nissan's documented calibration procedure, which is what our service centres run. The record goes on the car's service history. Certificate to manufacturer tolerances, the same standard dealers issue. Dealer quotes for ADAS work run £300 to £900 in quotes customers have shown us.
The radar behind this fault also runs Intelligent Cruise Control, and the windscreen camera alongside it has warnings of its own. More than one flag showing? One visit covers them, priced per system.
The top FCW trigger in depth: the badge, the radar behind it, and what to ask the body shop.
Nissan's 'cam aim require calibration' message after a windscreen swap. The camera is its own job.
Send your registration and what's been done. We come back with the price, the nearest service centre, and the soonest slot.