I have a Volvo V70, and the rear parking sensors are driving me mad.:{

They don't work for months on end (and I get a message on the dashboard "park assist service required") and then suddenly they start working, but only for a couple of days.

I keep them clean and dry from the outside, but am reluctant to dismantle the entire rear bumper assembly to have a look inside. The fuse, and the wiring connections as far as I can see, appear to be ok.

Any ideas would be gratefully received!

try

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...arking+sensors

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...arking+sensors

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...arking+sensors

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...arking+sensors

Favourite has to be a faulty sensor. Have you noticed anything common with the times when it works - for example car has stood with rear bumper in the sun for a long time, after a period with no rain etc?

The only simple way to test these is to get an assistant to repeatedly activate the system while you listen at each sensor - there should be a faint click as the sensor activates.

On my car this means just leaving it in R and turning ignition on, you will have to work out your own procedure to activate them - try to do it without the engine running, though, and when the fault is apparent, of course.

Best of luck

UFO

Make sure they're clean, and I mean clean, no wax from polishing etc. Apparently the thickness of wax can make them malfunction. As for the message, I have no idea but I guess it may be more than dirty sensors.

I'm on my second Volvo, a C70, previously I had an S80, and I've never had a problem in the past 7 years. I can recommend the Volvo Owners Club forum, Volvo Forums - Powered by vBulletin (http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/), for all good advice from true 'petrolheads', I've picked their brains a few times.

Good luck and if you ever come across the problem, let me know the outcome, sorry I can't be of more help :)

Our Merc CL500 rear parking sensors are abject failures. 3 times in the garage for fixing and usually by the following day they are either continually bleeping or mute. Also the bodywork has bubbled and been resprayed 3 times also. Must have been a Dachau Day product.

Never had any problems with the Renault's in 5 years .
New Skoda has them front and rear, no problems in 6 months


edited to add - have you got a tow bar fitted?

If you do have a tow-bar, no need for the sensors. You stop as soon as you hear the tow-bar graunch the rad of the vehicle behind! ;)

In memory of Gainesy! :ok:

have you got a tow bar fitted?

Lon, my S80 had a fixed towbar and it didn't affect the sensors in any way, the amount of space behind the car was more than adequate once the tone went 'full time'.


Unless I chose to ignore it... :E

My old V70R had a switch in the rear of the cabin, above the left wheel arch, which could be used to switch off the rear parking sensors. Only disovered it by accident when moving house; I'd inadvertantly knocked it to off stuffing gear into the car and couldn't subsequently work out why the sensors had stopped working.

Mine work perfectly, but then they're Japanese . . . :rolleyes:

Buy a Ford Focus. Our oldest police pandas are 07 plates with 120000 miles on the clock and have perfectly functioning parking sensors.

Mine wqork perfectly but they are on a Ford Mondeo. Beeps go continuous when distance is down to 30cms and the trailer hitch still hasn't touched anything. Incidently the Mondeo offers warnings to the sides as well as front and back. When I first took delivery of the car I thought "toys", now I wouldn't be without them.

Why oh why do real drivers need 'parking sensors' Mirror, looking to the rear of the vehicle as you judge your reverse turn between two parked vehicles. Smoothly aligning with the kerb. I recall 'Reginald Molehoson' (tv advert) was featured on television back in the 70s on demonstrating reverse parking.

I read in CA USA that one can now apply for a licence for a self driving car:ugh::ugh: Oh how our driving skills have deteriorated post 70s driving tests.

Daz

Ps. Before anyone mentions the 'Theory Test' back in the 70s after the driving test the examiner would then ask questions on the Highway Code.

Why oh why do real drivers need 'parking sensors' Mirror, looking to the rear of the vehicle as you judge your reverse turn between two parked vehicles. Smoothly aligning with the kerb. I recall 'Reginald Molehoson' (tv advert) was featured on television back in the 70s on demonstrating reverse parking.

The "Reginald Molehusband" bit I can do - been doing it for years. Its when there is a low concrete bollard that 'er indoors doesn't spot and knackers the expensive rear bumper, or when reversing the caravan in a tight spot alone (i.e. with no "banksman") it will let you judge when the rear of the car is about to contact the 'van drawbar, enabling you to get maximum distance on your reverse.

UFO

Why oh why do real drivers need 'parking sensors'Because & I hope you're sitting down for this - people are fallible.

Imagine if they weren't. No need for insurance, airbags, signs, seatbelts, traffic police. Meanwhile in the real world...

Hmmmm ?.....three mirrors, two Mk1 eyeballs....and we become reliant on parking sensors?.....just another piece of add on technology that, in reality, you don'r really need as being essential to drive a car..or even one of those glorified rug rat movers...

Don' need no steenkin' parking sensors. One drives a 30 year old truck with BFO tow hitches both front and rear...:E

I also used to belong to the "What do you need them for?" brigade. But, face up to it lads, it's the way forwards (:)).
I had them fitted to my latest car, ditto the wife's car. £120 each motor. They've been through all the gunge of winter driving, etc., never missed a beep. They are even adjustable, so you can determine your own distance at which they work. Also used in conjunction with shop windows, etc. as side mirrors, but most certainly would not be without them now.

Why oh why do real drivers need 'parking sensors'

Because my automobile is so huge that I can't see either end of it, even if I could be bothered to turn my head, which I can't, and the servants aren't always available to hold back Fang and Olaf the wolfhounds as I pull out across and down my driveway of crushed gravel between the hundred year-old elms, trying not-too-desperately to avoid knocking down the paparazzi waiting outside the gates and the usual pathetic beggers who've walked up from the village in the forlorn hope that alms will be tossed to them.

That's why.

One drives a 30 year old truck with BFO tow hitches both front and rear...

I've got a 1963 Chevy stepside. Tow hitch is bolted direct onto the bumper which looks to be made of the ssme guage steel as the chassis.

Parking sensors? I shall inquire of one's driver if we have such devices installed on one's vehicles. Most usually having one's footmen walking in front of one's vehicle waving a red flag seems to suffice for assuring the roadway remains clear. Perhaps using said footmen to assist in the parking would be as useful as this parking sensor one speaks of.




:p

It was in the Bucket, so . . .

No sensors on this old bus, but it did take a long time, and Rivitess at one end and Rivetett at 'tother.

It was a Sunday, so thought I was safe there. No sooner got in the house, folks started loading more stuff in the skip.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/walnaze/Cars/Picture041-1.jpg



The fact is, now that I'm old, and me bits wont bend so well, turning around to look back is not an option. But anyway, I've reversed slowly since 1971, after motoring backwards towards the terminal at Norwich in a MK10 Jag. They go very, very fast in reverse, and although I wasn't rushing, it was probably a tad fast.

A moment after noticing a chap lighting a cigaret and walking with not a care in the world towards the bar, his toddler ran out from between parked cars onto the road where I'd been about 2 second before. That kid was much like my own son.

I reverse now like I'm taking $100,000,000 aircraft off stand.



.

Buy a pair of these... LIDL Great Britain - lidl.co.uk (http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_32149.htm) all the fashion amongst Volvo drivers.

Krystal n chips - Hmmmm ?.....three mirrors, two Mk1 eyeballs....and we become reliant on parking sensors?.....just another piece of add on technology that, in reality, you don'r really need as being essential to drive a car..or even one of those glorified rug rat movers... We have them, but we're not reliant on them, & I don't think the OP said or implied that: they're a useful addition to the above list, which gives a heads up on things those can't detect. They're also cheap & reasonably reliable, although that is what he's trying to resolve. For the OP, one or more duff sensors, or the control box I reckon. Not sure about the Volvo bumper fitting system, but the parts are probably Ford based.

Why oh why do real drivers need 'parking sensors'

Look around you. How many good drivers do you see?

SO

Now that the Ford - Volvo link has been severed, I have given up hope of Volvo adopting the heated front windscreen (which is magic on the Fords).

As it's impossible to see the back of the car I drive, parking sensors would be useful. I have no desire to bump someone else's pride and joy, any more than I want someone to bump mine. As for those decrying sensors and relying on a thud from a tow bar as it connects with someone's bumper.... :mad:

I've owned various cars over a period of thirty five years. Every single one of them has been damaged in car parks by other people's carelessness. Not one of them has fronted up and apologised or paid for the damage caused. The second car I owned was hit so hard in a multi-storey car park that the outer and inner rear wheel arches were embedded into the tyre, rendering the car undriveable. The perpetrator just drove off, we discovered the damage when we came back to the car having gone for a few minutes to get some food to take to our campsite. This was on the first day of what was supposed to have been a touring camping holiday, so we had a trailer full of camping gear to deal with, too. I had to go and buy a lump hammer and crowbar to get the car out. Broke my heart, it was a lovely little sports car that I had scrimped and saved for. :rolleyes:

You allow a female to drive??? :rolleyes: We'll be giving them the vote next.

As others have said, the tow bar protects the rear of the car and the starting handle looks after the front. :ok:

I bought a kit in China about eight years ago. It came with everything, including the drill for the sensors. It has an audio and a distance meter and has been 100% reliable.

in Africa, where we rely on Japanese technology, almost every import car has a reverse camera as standard equipment. A line is drawn on the image (which is displayed on the radio/satnav screen) to let one know how far one can back up to the obstacle.
Much cheaper than complex sensors, and extremely reliable. If a camera can be fitted on mobile phones, they must be dirt cheap to fix on cars.

My parking sensors are usually set to 'jam lidar' mode. :E

The family bus (Ford Galaxy), mostly driven by the memsahib, has parking sensors front and back. I saw her reverse into a wall at the back of a turning area in a cul-de-sac a few weeks ago. When I asked her if the parking sensors were working, she replied that they were. So how did she STILL reverse into a wall, then????!!!! I ask you.

Whereas my car has no parking sensors on it - an American brute of a car, a convertible - and it's impossible to see the rear bumper, such is the pointed shape (yes, a pointed rear bumper - how odd!)

So, one car with parking sensors, one car without. There's a recipe for disaster! (just as one is diesel and the other petrol :sad:

Well I suppose you could say they do have a use.....although sadly, in this case, probably in retrospect......there again, it's possible the strange noise in the cab would have caused some confusion for Big Dazza anyway.....:p

Lorry crushes front of car on garage forecourt « Shropshire Star (http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/06/21/lorry-crushes-front-of-car-on-garage-forecourt/)

I have to say that rather than that "incessant beeping" on the Ford system you learn from the frequency just how near you are as it's not "incessant", the sound is also routed through the nearest loudspeaker to the object so even with your eyes shut you could tell where everything is around the car (my parking spot has 10cm clearance at the front, 20cm to the right, and apart from where the car door opens, 30cms to the left).

Incidently there's a street in my local town of Castelló where I have to fold both mirrors in or they'll hit the buildings on both sides. We sit at the café there some evenings and when foreigners try it in their cars, Mrs OFSO has been known to scrape a bottle along the ground to simulate metal to stone contact.....

Mrs OFSO has been known to scrape a bottle along the ground to simulate metal to stone contact.....

Nice one. Ever seen/heard a burglar alarm breaking glass detector tester? Simulates the sound of breaking glass. Great for that sort of situation and real fun in a china/glassware shop.

UFO

When reverse is selected in the Honda CRV, the near-side mirror dips, so one can see the kerb, and the tail-gate mounted a rear view camera view displays on the computer screen. The parking sensors are still useful for telling you when your corners are nearly there. When pulling in to the drive-in window, the sensors can be turned off and the wing mirrors retracted so you can get right up to the counter. Saves you reaching over and straining a muscle, you see. Damned clever these Japanese, eh? What?

It does seem that the "proper" drivers in their ancient, low tech motor cars, with their manual gear levers, clutches, fixed mirrors, old-fashioned manually operated switches for radios, heaters, air-conditioners (when fitted) and so on, are so busy fiddling with everything they have little time to pay proper attention to where they're going. :rolleyes:

My Discovery had 2 sensors, bull bars on the front and a tow bar at the the rear.When driving it into the garage the front sensor(bull bar) hit the vice attached to the bench and I stopped and turned off the engine.Perfect parking every time.The rear sensor(tow bar) always transmitted a slight vibration through the steering wheel when it made contact with anything whilst reversing,pull forward six inches and again perfect parking.
My new Hyudai bleeps like mad when it senses close contacts,silence is golden I preferred the Discovery and a plus was everybody kept out of my way.

My Skoda Superb has front and rear sensors and they too are superb. With all the junk in the back of the garage i have about the length of the car plus about 9 inches space to park it and the sensors beep excitedly and turn red about 4 inches from the junk pile when i reverse in. I also have a parallel parking system, whereby the sensors decide if their is enough room for the car and then take over the wheel while i work the accelerator and the brake. The computer then puts you alongside, very clever..

Shoppers and passers-by were left doing a double take after a lorry mounted a car in a petrol forecourt on the Shropshire/Mid Wales border.

I guess the offspring will be double-cab pickup trucks?

Modern Skodas are impressive pieces of kit.. You can set the pax side mirror to drop down when reversing. Six months in with the Yeti and I'm still finding new things to play with and whilst it's not a Disco it's not bad off-road. Their place in jokes now reserved for the products of Opel/Vauxhall

Of course, you could always try this DIY parking sensor- YouTube

or you could duct tape a couple of empty bottles to the bumpers. When you hear breaking glass it's time to stop

or you could duct tape a couple of empty bottles to the bumpers. When you hear breaking glass it's time to stop

Hmmm, glass bottles vs plastic bumper, I wonder which will give in first :p

, glass bottles vs plastic bumper, I wonder which will give in first

only wimps and wooses drive cars with plastic bumpers. In the Chevy when I hear plastic break I know I've got about another foot to go :O