Parking Sensors

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“What’s behind me?”  Look once, look twice.  Is Billy’s bike back there?  How much further to the car in the space behind me?  Look again.  Windows and three mirrors are never enough.  Even in the tiniest of cars there are blind spots.  You may not need a back-up camera but you do want to know exactly how far you have to back up before hitting the wall or car behind you.

Cameras have a concave lens to give the viewer a broader viewing angle but that only assures the presence or lack of      presence of people or objects behind you.  It will not necessarily tell you just how far you have to go so your minivan isn’t only half in the parking space you just backed into.  Isn’t it annoying to get out of your car and realize you had another 3 feet to use?

Parking sensors are great for the nagging distance problem of backing up.  You see a wall and realize it’s there but you aren’t really sure how far you have.  The repeating beeps of the parking sensors increase in speed until it is one constant tone letting you know you are now rubbing your behind – you – neighbor’s car.

How about those mornings when no one is cooperating getting out the door on time?  You know who you are.  You go to the garage, mentally run down the list of things you remembered, things that can wait, make sure everyone is out of the house, check for your phone, start the car, tell the kids to stop whining, put the car in reverse, ask the kids if they remembered their (insert whatever here) and hit the accelerator because you are now running 10 minutes late and; “WHAM!”.  You forgot in all your lists to raise the garage door.  The parking sensors would have been annoying you to stop and look behind you before hitting the poor door and allow you to not blame everyone in the car except yourself.

Parking sensors are apparently as common as people who run into things because now there are some vehicle manufacturers installing them on the front of vehicles.  I drove my mother-in-law around in her beautiful minivan and bit my tongue all the way through the drive thru line because they weren’t just on the front of the van but also on the side of the front bumper.  So while slowly creeping through the line the sensors were giving me a high pitched serenade of beeps that I couldn’t figure out how to shut off.

Parking sensors can be more expensive than back up cameras but they offer the distance as well as the obstacle awareness that not all cameras give.  They can even be painted to match the exterior paint of your vehicle.   I’ve included a few pictures here.  Front sensors on a Maserati  to prevent curb checks and rear sensors on a Toyota Sienna to prevent backing into objects or people.    The installation usually takes around 3 hours without matching the paint.  The time to add paint depends on the paint itself but could add as little as one hour or several depending.

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