Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Parking sensor hilarity.

[Wuffles]

Ever had this?

22365

When the outside looks like this?

22367

It's the kind of noise that would make you want to kill while you reverse down the driveway trying to avoid actual things. There was absolutely nothing in front of the sensor by the way. Rebooted the car and all was fine. Stupid car.

[Guest 2]

My C6 does this the odd time, again wheres theres nothing there and the sensor is clear.

Those pesky German bugs ;) Some say when that happens the sensor could be duff, but keep an eye (or ear!) out for it again.

[Wuffles]

I'll file it under random unprovable annoyances.

[Mike41]

Still, far better to get hundreds of these single false positive incidents than a single case of no beeps and a brick wall in front.....

[JammyD_81]

Could it be a dead fly on the sensor moving?

[Wuffles]

Still, far better to get hundreds of these single false positive incidents than a single case of no beeps and a brick wall in front.....

Ah yes. There's a problem with that assumption though. Firstly, TheBoyWhoCriedWolfology determines that eventually you will start to ignore the "false positives" a little more, that's if secondly, you don't just switch the system off every time it is intended to be used.

Eventually there will be a wall.

Nothing there near the sensor at all, and more importantly nothing changed apart from a reboot to clear itself.

Only took the photos as it's difficult for a dealership to believe there was ever a problem without any evidence. Otherwise you are treated to the old "customer used to be right in the old days, now our computers know better and you know nothing" system that's in place these days. Still proves nothing though, I could be a crank.

[Passatier3]

I've had it when I parked on gravel at a hotel which was due to the gravel being a little high in front of the car, though below splitter/bumper level, and I get it when I reverse onto the road due to there being a slight downwards slope on the drive and the road sloping up to the crown.

I rather have a bit of over-sensitivity.

[chippy1970]

Our new a3 we're collecting soon has the comfort pack. Does the rear parking kit include the visual part on the mmi screen as in your photo or is it just an audible warning ?

[Guest 2]

Our new a3 we're collecting soon has the comfort pack. Does the rear parking kit include the visual part on the mmi screen as in your photo or is it just an audible warning ?

Only front+rear gets the visual but you can have it enabled for rear only with vcds.

[chippy1970]

Cheers Chris

[Avidfanofstuff]

Mine does that sometimes.

[Wuffles]

Yes, to clear things up for those that have had it happen, and for those that haven't.

Imagine putting the car into reverse which enables the sensors and the noises, but rather than beeps, you immediately get a solid sound which seems to require restarting the car to stop it. Our drive is quite long and even after a minute the beep was driving me nuts.

Last time I can remember having it was during the snow earlier this year, and I think the bumper was covered at the time - or rather I guessed the bumper was covered and switched the system off on that occasion.

Like I said, I'll file it under annoyances. If I still have the car next time it goes anywhere near a dealer I'll show them the photos and get them to investigate, but as with many of my "annoyances" they can't find it/do anything about it/be bothered as it looks like a wild goose chase.

[VDT]

Regarding the parking sensors - quite often you arrive somewhere e.g. a car park, petrol station, drive into a parallel parking stop etc. and roll slowly to a stop in the parking spot. Problem is the front parking sensors don't work until you bring that car to a complete stop, and then advance forward again to park the car tightly. It seems a regular enough occurance. I guess the parking sensors are designed not to work during normal driving however it should be simple enough to turn them on/off automatically around 5kph.

[Passatier3]

When I'm driving up to something to park I just push the parking sensor button and it works right away. Would be better if it was automatic like with reverse though.

I think I read in the manual that they don't work over 10 mph anyway.

[VDT]

Yeah I do the button press but it would be nice if it was User settable in MMI.

[mikenott]

My C7 has regular "false alarms" due to rain water moving over the sensors after being parked and the car being on an angle compared to the notional flat e.g. when going down a kerb where it detects the road surface. Still scares the c*ap out of me, but better to have some falsies than one real one.

Michael.