Parking sensors unreliable ?

[royal bazzar]

I recently bought a one year old DS3 sport 110bhp. By chance its was exactly the car I had wanted when I visited the dealer to offoad my second Smart car. Now you have all finished laughing at the age of 58 I thought I should return to a grown ups car.
The only winge I have is with the Parking sensors. Sometimes they work fine but mostly first thing in the morning the display gives the warning triangle with the exclamation mark within and the system just emits a costant bleep. Later in the day it seems the system functions correctly. Ok I still have lots of warrenty so it will get sorted I spose but the nause of leaving the car at the dealership ( out of town and miles from work ) is a pain and I wondered if there was something obvious to check. Do I ned to wipe the sensors dry before I move the car?.. any comments welcome well dont be rude about Smart cars unless like me you have owned a few.

[gilly]

Welcome RB! Find the fuse and remove, I'm sure parking sensors are not required on such a small car!

[jaspabt]

They might not be needed but they sure do speed things upi and add that extra peace of mind. (When they are working of course)
I dont have them, but certainly wouldn't say no if someone gave them to me

[gilly]

I have been driveing for nealry 30 years without parking sensors. Dad taught me to use my mirrors which I still use to help me reverse park my 4x4 or whatever else I am driving. Too many driver aids take away the skill of driving and make us less capable (in my opinion).

[Kaibabes]

comment removed due to not wanting to upset people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rickzayne]

I can drive and I just like getting as far back as Possible that's why I have them.

And I can reverse a transit van just fine!

And everyone stop moaning about sensors, this thread is after help not criticism!

[royal bazzar]

OK that was usefull, thanks for the welcome. Yep small car and dont need them I agree but they are factory fitted. I took my first driving test on a 52 ton Centurion tank in 1970 so I dont have a size problem. The fuse idea is a decent suggestion and I will investigate, but methinks it will be combined with other circuits. It may also affect the multi function display. It was more a question of stopping the constant warning noise as the occaisional beep is not a problem.

[Bigfeet]

Right,

The first thing to check is to make sure that there is nothing covering the sensor like mud or bird poo. Once thats done check the sensors with a friend and put your hand in front of each one in turn to see how they react. Sounds like to me that one of the sensors has failed which will cause what you have described, best thing to do is speak with your dealer and they will replace the faulty unit and the best thing is that it only takes a short time to do.







p.s Don't forget to click the little star for me!

[W17_BLK]

Mine seem to be working fine but they aren't the best so I just ignore them and use my mirrors like i always have.

I was reverse parking into a bay in the gym car park last night and there was a lamp post behind me, I seen it and reversed slowly in but the sensors never picked it up lol.

[Bigfeet]

That would be no fault of the sensors themselves, the nature of the tech does mean that sometimes the output signal is deflected by certain objects such as poles and lampost and even the colour will have an affect which would cause the parking sensors to 'miss' things from time to time.

Must say that the sensors on our DS3 have never missed a beat, picking up pot plants to high kerbs.

Try to remember that they are just an aid to the parking process and I would advise everybody to continue to use their mirrors.

[zedzim]

If anything id say the sensors were over sensitive and very cautious. But then again I can't get usedto how short the car is.
As far as the learn to drive comments mirrors have blind spots and you can't look in all of them at the same time

Sent from my HD7 T9292 using Board Express

[Jimbob]

And everyone stop moaning about sensors, this thread is after help not criticism!

Hey everyone!!!

Rick has stopped being a rebel and joined the establishment at last!

Jimbob

[royal bazzar]

Thanks Bigfeet 76 yes I made sure of the cleanlinees aspect firstoff and it does seem to be more unreliable in wet weather. Maybe moistur ingress to one or more sensors. All I have to do is get someone brave enough to stand behind the car with me in the driving seat and it fired up in reverse. Will report back... Cant find the deisel fuel primer either as displayed in the book must be blind as well. Hey Ho

[Bigfeet]

Open the bonnet and pop off the cover for the engine and the pump primer is hiding at the back of the block.

[ZACK]

Take...To...Dealer...