Front and rear parking sensors - views please

[Douglas]

I have a 2016 4H and decided I would make do with the camera, having only had a camera on my Prius.
A friend of mine really likes the car and is considering a 2016 4HS as he really wants front and rear sensors.
The dealer has suggested they could fit sensors to a 4H and save him money if he doesn't want the other bells and whistles of the S.

I recall reading previous posts about dealer fitted sensors not being the same as those on the HS.

My questions are :-
Anyone with a 2016 4HS that can comment on the parking sensors. Do they have switches to operate or are they automatic.
Are they any good ?

Anyone had dealer fitted front and rear sensors on a 2016 model. Are they automatic or are there switches required to operate them ?
Are they any good ?

Thanks for any feedback you can offer.
Graham

 

[lg1726]

I have a pre-facelift 4h, no sensors but reversing camera and had rear sensors fitted yesterday as we found the camera nothing short of useless! Needs perfect lighting and no bright sunlight on the in-car screen with no rain/sleet/snow to obscure the lens! New sensors are fab and I'd be happier if I could switch off the camera!

 

[maby]

The camera is absolutely wonderful! You just need to keep the lens reasonably clean. A few weeks ago I made the mistake of driving down a narrow track between two lines of parked cars - expecting to be able to get out at the far end. It was blocked! There was no space to turn around and I was faced with the prospect of reversing a couple of hundred yards - with a couple of near 90 degree bends - would have been a horrible task in any other car. With the reversing camera it was little more difficult than driving in in the first place!

 

[Neverfuel]

The camera is absolutely wonderful! You just need to keep the lens reasonably clean. A few weeks ago I made the mistake of driving down a narrow track between two lines of parked cars - expecting to be able to get out at the far end. It was blocked! There was no space to turn around and I was faced with the prospect of reversing a couple of hundred yards - with a couple of near 90 degree bends - would have been a horrible task in any other car. With the reversing camera it was little more difficult than driving in in the first place!

+1

Never had a camera before, not getting another car without one.

 

[lg1726]

The camera is absolutely wonderful! You just need to keep the lens reasonably clean.

It snowed heavily here at the weekend and when I needed to reverse into our driveway which was dimly lit (new light up today) and a tight turn due to other parked cars, the constant snow flakes on the lens resulted in a very fuzzy, vaseline effect image on the screen. Looked a bit pretty, but nothing short of useless. Got out of the car, wiped away the snow flakes, but by the time I got back in and re-started the manoeuvre there was snow on the lens again - grrrrr!

 

[maby]

The camera is absolutely wonderful! You just need to keep the lens reasonably clean.

It snowed heavily here at the weekend and when I needed to reverse into our driveway which was dimly lit (new light up today) and a tight turn due to other parked cars, the constant snow flakes on the lens resulted in a very fuzzy, vaseline effect image on the screen. Looked a bit pretty, but nothing short of useless. Got out of the car, wiped away the snow flakes, but by the time I got back in and re-started the manoeuvre there was snow on the lens again - grrrrr!

OK - but that is pretty rare and if you keep the lens clean, it will make life much easier for at least 11 months of the year.

 

[Neverfuel]

The camera is absolutely wonderful! You just need to keep the lens reasonably clean.

It snowed heavily here at the weekend and when I needed to reverse into our driveway which was dimly lit (new light up today) and a tight turn due to other parked cars, the constant snow flakes on the lens resulted in a very fuzzy, vaseline effect image on the screen. Looked a bit pretty, but nothing short of useless. Got out of the car, wiped away the snow flakes, but by the time I got back in and re-started the manoeuvre there was snow on the lens again - grrrrr!

There's a mod for that - you get your wife to stand behind the car with a hair dryer blowing onto the camera - hey presto! Car reversed perfectly into its space, electrocuted wife :lol:

2 birds 1 stone!!

 

[raymie]

I have the HSX, I would now not do without both the cameras and sensors, both are of great use imo

 

[SolarBoy]

Haven't got mine, though in the demo car the reversing camera was great.

Have got some RainX ready for my lenses

 

[Douglas]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
I agree that the camera can be a bit iffy with the wrong lighting and/or weather.
Still looking for more feedback from anyone who has had the dealer fit sensors prior to delivery.
I don't think they are integrated with the car the way the factory fitted items are but I would love to be proved wrong.

 

[onlynik]

I've ordered them on my 4h, which should be delivered in 2 to 3 weeks. I hope they don't look crap.

 

[Claymore]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
I agree that the camera can be a bit iffy with the wrong lighting and/or weather.
Still looking for more feedback from anyone who has had the dealer fit sensors prior to delivery.
I don't think they are integrated with the car the way the factory fitted items are but I would love to be proved wrong.

I have the dealer fit front and rear sensors (in addition to the camera).

The camera works very well (although not had visibility problems with it yet) but still use and like the sensors in addition. It's probably some sort of conditioning from years of relying on sensors alone with previous cars.

I have to say I'm surprised how much the camera helps when reversing into 90 degree parking bays or out of long driveways, the yellow lines predicting where the car's going to go when you move the wheel is remarkably accurate..

The rear sensors work automatically with reverse selected. The fronts default to 'on' but can be silenced via a switch on the facia.

I'm almost tempted to say I could have done without the sensors but I have many occasions where I get a 'proximity' beep from the front corner sensors entering or leaving confined spaces (I was pleased to find that the front had four, including the corners).

All colour matched.

Expensive, but overall still glad I had them fitted.

JimB

 

[Pickygit]

Had front and rear parking sensors fitted by dealer on my '15 plate GX4h, never having had a rear camera before. Apart from occasional image problems from bad weather, I really like the camera and don't rely on the rear sensors too much. However, if you've ever had to pay for a repair to dinks or scrapes on the front bumper from parking errors, you'll realise the worth of front parking sensors. You'll need to use the button to turn them of though when parked with ACC set. Passing pedestrians or close objects are an irritation.

 

[ChicoryCoffee]

I had them installed on my 2015 model and would advise that they are pretty useless. Yes they beep, but that's it, there is no visual indication like you normally have on this level of car (I suppose you could guess that as they are dealer fit), nor can you tell if it front or rear is beeping or how close you are as the note or frequency doesn't change. However given it takes almost 45 secs for the rear camera guidelines to appear you have to rely on something...

 

[Carnut]

PHEV is my first car with camera. I agree with the visibilty problem, though we rarely get snow darn ere in Darzet. But after a forty mile drive in cruddy weather the camera is all but useles without getting out to clean the lens, because the square shape of the car sucks in so much road muck.
I miss my 'beepers' on the 2 Yetis BUT they had a schematic to show proximity and direction of impending impact. Beepers without any such imagery would be IMHO, useless, not quite so much for the front, which I have never had.
One thing I have found with the camera is that the side lines are curved and it you are trying to parallel park and line the indicators up withe curb you find you have actually parked at an angle.
So for my money I would keep the camera and add front beepers.

 

[Douglas]

Thanks again for the feedback.
Unfortunately my friend decided against the PHEV primarily due to a bad experience with the dealership.

 

[SolarBoy]

Found them brilliant when used with the 360 camera. My driveway is on a slope so it is the only way I can reliably tell how close I am to the garage door. Double beeps means the right place to stop in order for the cable to reach.

 

[Carnut]

My next car will certainly have rear beepers. I nearly dinged the PHEV yesterday because the camera doesn't 'go round corners' like beepers do. I thought I was clear as nothing showed up in the camera and then I heard a scraping noise! Luckily it was only a bush but 3 inches behind the bush was a brick wall!! Boy that was nearly very expensive.
When I bought the car I though "Oh goody a reversing camera". Now I think they are just a poncy gimmick. They are unusable after a long wet motorway drive 'cos of the clag on the lens and they don't give you the required field of view.
I would cheerfully swap it for beepers anyday. As long as there was a little diagram on the screen, showing where the impending impact was coming from.

 

[Fragge]

Rear beepers - Great!
Front/rear camera - Great!
Front beepers - Worthless and dangerous!

Front beepers beep to much, every time you reverse out of a parking spot they go off since when you turn the wheel the car parked next to you passes the front sensors. This makes you ignore the beeps and potentially hit something behind you because the beeps from the rear sensors gets mixed up in the beeps from the front sensors.
Also in the winter when there's snow or ice on the hood and you hit the brakes some of the ice and snow slides off the hood resulting in an symphony of beeps.

 

[emm3t]

I agree that there seems to be little - no no - difference between the beeping noise of each of the sensors.

On my MY16 model, there is a graphic indication to show which sensor is receiving a signal - so at least you can see if it is front (three positions) or rear (three positions).

Emmet