I wonder if there is any way to test the sensor for a specific resistance to see if its good or what type it is. I doubt the dealerships even bother to test em. They prolly just swap parts.

If its some sort of optoelectronic sensor like an LDR and going bad then it would send a bad resistance value. Extreme cold mightcause a resistance change in the resistor part of the LDRtoo and I'm seeing that. Justspeculating tho.