Parking sensors, do they work?
Parking sensors, do they work?
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Discussion

PLuKE

Original Poster:

283 posts

214 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
I can't see to find my answe online very clearly.

I went for a test drive in a E91 330i M Sport, when putting the autobox into reverse I didn't hear any beep, I didn't really look at the dash/buttons at the time. I didn't reverse near anything to close either to most likely set them off.

So should they have beeped or something? When putting the auto into reverse?

Thanks!

E-bmw

12,367 posts

176 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
Simple question, simple answer.

As with anything electronic.

When they work they work, when they are faulty they don't.

craigsup

282 posts

126 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
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On my e90 auto when you select Reverse it will change the sat nav screen to a picture of your car with lines at the rear to signify how close you are.

They only beep when you are within about half a meter of something. They work pretty well, but they are overly sensitive. So most of the time I get what looks like close on the monitor + audio signals, but when I get out of my car I still have 15cm of space to use. Better safe than sorry though!

Monty Python

4,813 posts

221 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
You don't get a beep when you select reverse, only when you get close to something. If the car has iDrive then you get a visual indicator on that, and if it has front sensors there's a button on the centre console to turn the system on/off.

dartissimus

951 posts

198 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
I've owned an E91 since April,
Apparently the parking sensors are "intelligent" and don't go off if someone walks in front of them.
They come on automatically if reverse is selected, but not at the front if you're creeping up to something.
There is an on switch next to the gear selector for those hard of hearing.
If you can fathom out the Idrive settings you can probably change it to come on at over 50.
I'm finding the seat adjustments complicated...............

Craikeybaby

11,830 posts

249 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
On my E87 they don't. It seems that BMW designed it so that if water leaks into the car it floods the parking sensor ECU. Most of the pins on the microchips on mine have corroded away. New ECUs aren't cheap either.

PLuKE

Original Poster:

283 posts

214 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
Thanks

My girlfriends car, which is a Peugeot, when you pop into reserve there is a signal beep, and when they didn't work they gave 3 longer beeps to say so.

Luke

to3m

1,228 posts

194 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
With a manual you can select reverse with electrics on and engine off, then walk round the car. (Engage handbrake first. Don't forget to select neutral before starting the engine.) Might work with an automatic too... though I suppose you could just leave the engine on.

If the beepers don't go beep, another option might be missing/broken fuse.

PLuKE

Original Poster:

283 posts

214 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
Thanks, It shall be in my possession tomorrow so will find out!

Luke

ftypical

457 posts

142 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
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My E46: in warm weather a continuous beep (indicating a fault); in cold weather-silence. Unless I get close to an obstruction - in which case rapid beeps.

Digitalize

2,850 posts

159 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
quotequote all
E91 has rear parking sensors as standard, with no option to turn them on/off. They only make a noise when you're near something. Solid tone indicates the least space you can open the boot from memory.

Reverse towards something like a bush, if you hit it before they go off, they don't work.

If you've ever reversed in to a parking space with something behind you and never heard them I'd imagine they don't work, they're fairly sensitive.

pad58

12,549 posts

205 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
quotequote all
They do on my 12 year old Audi.
HTH.

graham22

3,314 posts

229 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
quotequote all
Digitalize said:
Solid tone indicates the least space you can open the boot from memory.
On my E90, the solid tone indicates the towbar is within a 1mm of the car/wall behind smile

Mr Tidy

29,672 posts

151 months

Friday 29th April 2016
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I've had 2 x E46 with rear sensors and 1 E87 with front and rear.

None beeped when you selected reverse only when you got near to something, then the beep gets faster as you get closer until the beep is continuous.

The front and rears only worked after you had reversed, but the fronts were still active until you had gone over about 10 mph then they cancelled (rear only ones just worked while you had reverse selected).

And all of mine picked up on pedestrians - they even tended to pick up on kerbs.

So always worked fine for me - well apart from the time I ignored them! mad

Edited by Mr Tidy on Sunday 1st May 01:26

roofer

5,136 posts

235 months

Friday 29th April 2016
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Mine worked ...until I backed into a post biggrin

to3m

1,228 posts

194 months

Saturday 30th April 2016
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I don't know how ignoring pedestrians ever seemed like a good idea. Pedestrians are somewhat soft and squishy, unlike (say) a lamppost or a wall, so if you hit one with your BMW it's true that it's not a very big deal. And if it's a little pedestrian, say only a few years old, they're pretty small at that age, so it's even less of a problem! But I can't help thinking about the resulting mess. Who wants to have to clean that up? Not me, that's for sure! So I think it would be beneficial if the car could warn you when you're about to run one of those things over.

cvega

464 posts

183 months

Saturday 30th April 2016
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they won't give any indication until you have an obstacle getting closer.
also beep when you walk behind the car. 2010 E90

aka_kerrly

12,498 posts

234 months

Saturday 30th April 2016
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You still have to be careful when assuming you can rely on reverse sensors.

Granted it's not a BMW but my brother's Lexus IS200 makes a beeping noise when reverse in engaged. He thought he had parking sensors for a few days until he reversed into a small wallrofl

E-bmw

12,367 posts

176 months

Saturday 30th April 2016
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There are those who can drive & those who shouldn't!!!!!!