Frustration with parking sensors

[hlothery]

Have a dink in the splitter below my right front intake now. Very frustrating. Was pulling in to a parking place in the dark. Turned on the parking sensors, which were initially working. Was slowly approaching, then lost the signal from the sensors and WHAM! Owners manual says they may not sense something very low. Seems like they would sense something high enough to hit the lower end of the front splitters, though! Very disappointing! Just wanted to warn everyone.

[saleen556]

Sorry to hear. My wife hit one of our steps pulling into our garage while relying on the sensors. I tell people they are a great option but I would never rely completely on them. It's best to learn distance with our eyes and park that way. With practice it really isn't that hard. All this technology has made us lazy. If you don't have splitters they will cover it. That's my plan :-)

[hlothery]

Agree, and I'm pretty good at that. This is not my first performance car. It was pitch dark and I could not see the curb, was in an unfamiliar parking lot. Oh, well. Just thought the technology would have worked better. The Mercedes sensors, BTW, seem to do a better job. Hate the dink! Hate that I did it! Damn.

[jwzimm]

The shape of the front bumper and where the sensors are located will effect what they will detect. I have just decided that they are not 100% reliable for parking blocks and low curbs so I don't use them for that.

One trick I saw was if you have the side view cams you can turn them on. The screen overlays a line on the image they see that indicates the front of the car (more or less). If you align that line with the curb you should end up about 6 inches off the curb.

[BMV///M3]

This is my nightmare scenario in regards to parking this car, I opted for NO exec pack or NO drivers assistance (wasn't going to let BMW force me into packages with stuff I don't want, but that's another story for another day). I've slowly had to retrain myself to life w/out sensors, even my 335 had back up sensors so this was a big change. Pulling into parking spots I always give myself plenty of room for error, even if I look silly and I end up having to pull forward again, so be it.

There are some members with the front camera aftermarket installs and they seem to work pretty well. Not sure how they'd interact with the drivers assistance pack but may be worth looking into.

[larryn]

Splitters are an extension beyond what the car thinks it has for room. Think of it that way... It will not help you much there.

I tend to back into spaces, since it gives me a lot more room, and there is actually a camera showing me what room I have.

[saleen556]

Originally Posted by larryn

Splitters are an extension beyond what the car thinks it has for room. Think of it that way... It will not help you much there.

I tend to back into spaces, since it gives me a lot more room, and there is actually a camera showing me what room I have.

I was just saying the splitters will cover up the ding. Best thing to do is practice and learn how to park the car.

[hlothery]

Appreciate the comments. I am not inexperienced. Have had three Z cars with long front ends. Had a Porsche Cayman. Have had several E350's with air dams. I believe the Mercedes sensors work much better. This particular curb device was placed in the parking lot and was not aligned perpendicular to the space. It was not a parking lot I had ever been in, and it had no lights. I was trying to get completely in the space and the sensor did not pick up the low concrete stopper. Sick to my stomach about the ding, but it has happened. Will no longer rely on the sensors.

[ilya335]

While parking sensors are great you should not rely on them 100%.

I've grown accustomed to them and had a loaner car one time which was not equipped with PDC. I realized that a bit late.....

[Arcades]

Parking sensors on the F80/F82 won't detect things that are too low. Sometime it catches it most of it time it will miss it.

Especially if you car is lowered, I would just suggest get used to backing up into a parking space or get used to parking veeery far from the curb :P