Seat Leon FR front parking sensors not activating

[tjdixon911]

Hi, I've noticed recently my front parking sensors don't seem to be activating, it's a Late 2013 Leon 3 - I've been trying it in several situations, in stationary traffic 1st gear ease up to the car in front and nothing happens, press the parking sensor button and the lines are well within the activation zone - tonight on the drive got as close to My wife's car as I dared, no sensors, hit the button and I'm in the continuous beep zone.

In the car setup menu, auto activation is set under "parking and manoeuvring" - reversing isn't a problem as it switches on when reverse is selected.

I'm guessing the system is similar to most VAG cars...

Any ideas?

[fatboy b]

Mine are activated on the Jag by a) reversing first then going foward and staying below 10mph, or b) pressing the overhead activation button while going forward below 10mph. I think this is normal on any car with front sensors. The speed I quoted may vary between cars.

[tjdixon911]

fatboy b said:

Mine are activated on the Jag by a) reversing first then going foward and staying below 10mph, or b) pressing the overhead activation button while going forward below 10mph. I think this is normal on any car with front sensors. The speed I quoted may vary between cars.

Maybe that's right, I'm sure it's activated its self in traffic previously but I may be wrong.

[cheerfulcharlie]

Land Rover front sensors have to be switched on manually unless you have just reversed - (I would guess Jags are the same) whereas the ones on my merc just worked without pressing anything - sounds like a trip to the dealer is required. How is the overall quality on the Seat as I'm thinking about one for my next purchase ?

[tjdixon911]

cheerfulcharlie said:

Land Rover front sensors have to be switched on manually unless you have just reversed - (I would guess Jags are the same) whereas the ones on my merc just worked without pressing anything - sounds like a trip to the dealer is required. How is the overall quality on the Seat as I'm thinking about one for my next purchase ?

The SEAT is not bad, some of the early ones (mine included) had a few rattles which the dealer has fixed and I'd assume the new ones are rectified as I believe it was something simple - the dash is a big improvement over the previous model and mine has a lot of spec for the money (compared to a Golf) maybe not quite as good as VW build quality wise but at the time mine was 6k cheaper than the equivalent Golf so I can live with that.

It's a car when even driven hard will hit 40mpg and hit 50mpg easily on my 25mile trip to work, longer trips will hit 55-60mpg.

I was recently looking to get out of it for a Golf GTi but couldn't justify the change at this time so am looking for another car to compliment it...

The biggest gripe I have with the car is that on a full tank of fuel you can hear the fuel sloshing around, when raised with SEAT the solution was not to fill the tank - I only fill the tank 3/4 full which seems to eliminate the problem and lasts me well over a week with the miles I do so not bothered too much, if I'm going on a long journey I can fill up as the noise is only apparent in stop start traffic. I don't know if this problem has been rectified on newer cars but they didn't seem to have a solution at my last service.

Overall it's a good car, the Dealers could do with a bit of improvement on customer service.

[cheerfulcharlie]

OK thanks. Got a test drive at the weekend so I'll see what I think - although I guess the fuel tank won't be full at the time !!!

[JackReacher]

Well on my Leon I have to press the button to activate the front sensors as I move in to park, seems to work fine with no issues. It does sometimes come on automatically sometimes if it thinks it's parking but sure sure how it senses that.

As for the Leon itself, mine is a 2014 and find the build quality very good, plastics are not as smart as a golf but the car was massively cheaper than the equivalent golf. It did breakdown once, lost its coolant very quickly, but Seat were surprisingly excellent. Seat assist got it into garage next day and courtesy car provided for the few days it was in, new radiator fitted and no problem since. This was all dealt with far better than Audi when we had a similar issue with our previous car.

[fatboy b]

cheerfulcharlie said:

Land Rover front sensors have to be switched on manually unless you have just reversed - (I would guess Jags are the same) whereas the ones on my merc just worked without pressing anything - sounds like a trip to the dealer is required. How is the overall quality on the Seat as I'm thinking about one for my next purchase ?

O/H has an Ibiza 2.0tdi FR. Great car, though it is one of the polutinng ones. If you are gojng to get one, avoid Listers in thr Midlands. They are a bunch of incompetant jokers!

[missing the VR6]

JackReacher said:

Well on my Leon I have to press the button to activate the front sensors as I move in to park, seems to work fine with no issues. It does sometimes come on automatically sometimes if it thinks it's parking but sure sure how it senses that.

As for the Leon itself, mine is a 2014 and find the build quality very good, plastics are not as smart as a golf but the car was massively cheaper than the equivalent golf. It did breakdown once, lost its coolant very quickly, but Seat were surprisingly excellent. Seat assist got it into garage next day and courtesy car provided for the few days it was in, new radiator fitted and no problem since. This was all dealt with far better than Audi when we had a similar issue with our previous car.

Assuming the Leon sensors are the same as on the Golf then the front's will come on automatically when you're about a foot away from an object in front.

[missing the VR6]

tjdixon911 said:

Hi, I've noticed recently my front parking sensors don't seem to be activating, it's a Late 2013 Leon 3 - I've been trying it in several situations, in stationary traffic 1st gear ease up to the car in front and nothing happens, press the parking sensor button and the lines are well within the activation zone - tonight on the drive got as close to My wife's car as I dared, no sensors, hit the button and I'm in the continuous beep zone.

In the car setup menu, auto activation is set under "parking and manoeuvring" - reversing isn't a problem as it switches on when reverse is selected.

I'm guessing the system is similar to most VAG cars...

Any ideas?

Sounds like you've got a fault, my Golf's come on audibly in the last band of yellow before going red.

[cheerfulcharlie]

cheerfulcharlie said:

OK thanks. Got a test drive at the weekend so I'll see what I think - although I guess the fuel tank won't be full at the time !!!

Had a solo drive and the tank was 3/4 full but didn't hear any fuel sloshing around even though I was checking for it. Thought the car was Ok but nothing special - the quality didn't seem to be a issue. Had a subsequent drive in an A3 - same engine/gbox and it was hugely different (in a good way). I guess the price is different as well but if the residuals hold up equally does it really matter ?

Although wish the Audi dealer experience was as good as the Seat one !!!

[va1o]

They normally 9 times out of 10 activate automatically on my Mk7 Golf (didn't on the Mk6)

If yours is a 2013 should be a warranty job?

[LocoBlade]

The front sensors on our early 2015 Leon FR come on automatically if you nose up to something solid in front. I assumed the front sensors were simply on all the time below a certain speed but not sure.