Parking sensors

Why do you need forward, do your eyes not work?

Honestly, I doubt the competency of anyone to drive who needs parking sensors at the front.

They said the same thing aout synchromesh gearboxes, electric starters, automatic advance and retard etc.

I look at it as anything that improves safety and reduces damage is a good idea.

Its nothing like the introduction of the above. If you cannot judge the distance in front of you sufficiently not to hit something at sub walking speed, you are completely and utterly unfit to drive.

Why? You shouldn't normally be driving with the front of the vehicle within 12" of anything else. Well apparently unless you're driving a LGV on the A14.

Many modern vehicles slope away at all edges and have poor visibility of the curves at what used to be the corners of the car, parking sensors help with that problem, as they do with completely hidden objects such as car park posts and the like. The very fact that major manufacturers are putting on front and rear sensors as standard, plus cameras show that there is a need and a consumer demand for them. Reversing lights used to be an extra, now they are standard, heaters used to be extra, air con was really rare, yet even shopping trolleys have it now. You can't avoid change. Personally I liked it when cars had corners, visibility and steel bumpers with rubber over-riders. But you can't knock people for wanting gadgets (that have no harmful effects) without being a bit of a luddite.

Arthur 51 pretended :

They are as good or the same as those sold by Halfords.

Cheers, Harry.

on 19/07/2009, Conor supposed :

Did you really mean 1960?

It happens that Conor formulated :

Many people can drive to a high standard, but have trouble parking. Judging distances is easy if you can see them, but there are often objects which just cannot be seen because they are lower than and hidden by the bonnet.

I recall you making similar comments about rear sensors, but you now seem to accept them. Front sensors are just as useful, though probably not quite so essential as rear facing ones.

I have rear fitted ones and they enable me to stop just 2" from an object without contact, much closer than I could possibly judge without them.

Then they can't drive to a high standard. If you can't move your vehicle into a space large enough to park it in without the aid of a little buzzer, you cannot drive.

Bullshit. I've driven artics for years. I've got a shitload more hidden from view than some useless wanker in a car with glass all round with the furthest part of his vehicle less than 10ft away yet I manage to avoid twatting things.

I manage to stop a 53ft long vehicle 2" from an object without contact on rearview mirrors alone.

you are skilled at your job, for most people driving is not their job and any aid to driving is a help, rather like having the letters on a keyboard is no help to a skilled typist, yet helps a vast number of casual users. Many lorries now have rear view cameras as a safety aid, after all you cannot see directly behind you, same way you cannot see the area below your sight line out of the windscreen, which is why so many cyclists get crushed by lorries, if lorries had forward sensors some of those cyclists would not be squashed.

Although, having witnessed how hard many drivers will smack a trailer into the rubber bump-stops on the wall of a raised loading bay, I'd say that's more luck than skill.

Conor wrote on 19/07/2009 :

You are to be congratulated, but isn't the rear corner of an artic trailer both in view of your mirror and regularly shaped - completely unlike most modern cars.

SteveH explained on 19/07/2009 :

Which is what they are designed for, but when it comes to an artic driver reversing up to something like a car - they tend to stop several feet short. Here we are discussing reversing a car blind and to within inches of another car/low wall/hidden post etc. which can be difficult for the best of us without some form of feedback.

First time I experienced rear parking sensors was in an Iceland home delivery Transit. I could parallel park that thing in a space only a few inches longer than the van.

My current car has a rear camera - with lines on the screen to guide you into spaces. The most useful of which marks how close you can get to a wall / other vehicle and still be able to open your boot.

The self-park is quite something to witness - but it takes far too long to set it up.

on 19/07/2009, Conor supposed :

Once it becomes hidden, you are guessing where the object is located - a few shunts back and forth to get in without opportunity to refresh your guess and your guess can become pretty inaccurate. Why guess when a cheap gadget can tell you for certain?

I have them fitted to the rear and find their reassurance of my guess invaluable.

I tried the self park on a test drive and decided then that even with familiarity it would be a novelty rather than really practical simply due to the time to set up, I could just see someone in a busy street setting it up and imagine how much hooting there would be !

You shouldn't have such a shitly designed place.

Did you need one to stop you driving into whatever was in front of you? No. And a transit has more of a frontal blindspot than a car.

And trust.