Aim To detect sensor failure in control system using a single sensor signal. Methods A neural predictor was designed based on a radial basis function network(RBFN), and the neural predictor learned the sensor signal on line with a hybrid algorithm composed of n means clustering and Kalman filter and then gave the estimation of the sensor signal at the next step. If the difference between the estimation and the actural values of the sensor signal exceeded a threshold, the sensor could be declared to have a failure. The choice of the failure detection threshold depends on the noise variance and the possible prediction error of neural predictor. Results and Conclusion\ The computer simulation results show the proposed method can detect sensor failure correctly for a gyro in an automotive engine.