Parking sensors, front and rear - operation

[kaboom1]

What i have noticed is the bar graph display isnt all that accurate, when its fully black i.e as far as its concerned im as close as possible to an object im trying to avoid when parking, when i stop the car and get out and have a look as to how far away it is its normally at least a foot and a half away from the car meaning i often have to move the car forward/back a bit to get it parked properly in car parks, often i just ignore them to be honest!!

[cs2009]

My new VW MK6 is going to be fitted, as a factory fit option, with parking sensors, front and rear and therefore I pose the following question.
I can understand how the rear sensors are activated i.e. when engaging reverse gear etc. but are the front sensors active only when 1st gear is selected? If that is so then why don't they give an alarm signal when crawling slowly in traffic when the car in front is approached or has the speed of the car something to do with it?
And what happens if you drive into a space frontwards facing a vertical wall i.e when reverse hasnt' been selected?
Am I being ultra thick and missing something that is so obvious I cannot see the wood for the trees?

Mine seem to work as follows:

Both front and rear sensors activate either when you select reverse, or if you press the button. They don't operate in traffic just from 1st gear - you would need to press the button first.

If they are already activated, pressing the button switches them off.

Chris.

[Nightowl4933]

I've not turned the front ones on manually, but if reverse is selected the front ones are active too. There is a different tone when closing in to obstructions at the rear and the front, and if you have the 310 the diisplay it shows a series of bars identifying how close (relatively) you are to the obstruction.

I've not experienced the front ones working when driving forward, unless I've already selected reverse, but then I try not too close to anything in front!

I only really wanted the reversing sensors, but I'm quite pleased I've got the front one's too - but it's quite musical when trying to reverse out around several objects!

[HHGTTG]

I've not turned the front ones on manually, but if reverse is selected the front ones are active too. There is a different tone when closing in to obstructions at the rear and the front, and if you have the 310 the diisplay it shows a series of bars identifying how close (relatively) you are to the obstruction.

I've not experienced the front ones working when driving forward, unless I've already selected reverse, but then I try not too close to anything in front!

I only really wanted the reversing sensors, but I'm quite pleased I've got the front one's too - but it's quite musical when trying to reverse out around several objects!

Yes, I soon fathomed the system out when I took delivery. It was immediately obvious that the switch, forward of the gear lever was for activating the system, if it was already off and you wanted it, say, for approaching some obstacle in front.
Selecting reverse activates both front and rear sensors and turns off when you drive away, after a few yards or can be turned off by pressing that button - all very logical really.

[ukpm]

That is a shame, as I'm sure they could get the parts if they were motivated to do so. On the other hand it offers up the possibility of using the microwave parking sensors - which employ a single long strip fixed behind the bumper i.e. there are no externally visible sensors.

/me rapidly searches for link found a long time ago!

Found this place, but it's not the same link I'd seen a while ago; this one looks less professional!