Parking Sensors

[THU]

Hi all,

Just got my Sports Luxury last week and have been playing with all the various techs packed in.

A particular issue I am having is with the parking sensor - front especially. I have found that there is only 2 side sensors to the left and right of the car. The range is of the sensors also start from 50cm (so the manual says).

I have found during multiple instances that I swear I am about to hit the car in front during parking and the sensors still do not beep at me.

Also the sensors being on the side of the car does not always pick up obstacles that are in front eg: motor bike or shopping trolley ...etc I found that I have to have something that is really blocking the sensors for it to start beeping.

I have found in the accessories section of the lexus webpage that says "4 front sensors" so maybe its an additional cost to get it up to 4 sensors. Have discussed this with my sales guy and he is checking it out for me.

Anyone having similar issues?

[StephenM]

Hi all,

Just got my Sports Luxury last week and have been playing with all the various techs packed in.

A particular issue I am having is with the parking sensor - front especially. I have found that there is only 2 side sensors to the left and right of the car. The range is of the sensors also start from 50cm (so the manual says).

I have found during multiple instances that I swear I am about to hit the car in front during parking and the sensors still do not beep at me.

Also the sensors being on the side of the car does not always pick up obstacles that are in front eg: motor bike or shopping trolley ...etc I found that I have to have something that is really blocking the sensors for it to start beeping.

I have found in the accessories section of the lexus webpage that says "4 front sensors" so maybe its an additional cost to get it up to 4 sensors. Have discussed this with my sales guy and he is checking it out for me.

Anyone having similar issues?

I have exactly the same spec car as you and I have to agree that it definitely needs to have the two inner sensors on the front bar for eactly the same reasons as you've quoted.

I used to have an IS250 with after-market front parking sensors and it had the 4 sensors on the front bar. I've also noticed on a GS which I believe has a park-assist feature that it too has 4 front bar sensors.

I haven't as yet gotten around to speaking to the dealer to find out if additional front sensors can be installed with the park-assist feature but if you do get a response back please post it here.

One thing that puzzles me is why when you have a reversing camera installed do you need have rear parking sensors installed? I suppose the two outer sensors might detect objects out of view of the camera but given recent tragic events with kids being reversed over I suppose it doesn't hurt to have the extra warning.

[THU]

Hi Stephen

I went back to see my dealer to ask about the parking sensors. He got an answer from someone more technical.

He said that any accessory added (eg: Lexus's own additional parking sensors) will not integrate with the screen. It will simply be a beeper that you turn on and off with a switch.

Other models of CT200 can get the 4 sensors but only like a after market add-on and with a switch on the side. The Sports Luxury can add 2 additional ones at the front but is the same as the other models - beeper only and no screen integration.

We went on to look at other like the IS and RX which all seem to have only 2 sensors as well.

Have you tested your front sensors? I tried a few more times in a parallel parking scenario. I have parked as close as I felt comfortable to the car in front but the beeper would still not go off. The only time when it would go off is when an obstacle is at the side of the car - eg: if I drive VERY closely parallel to another car, the sensor would go off and would seem like the sensors were pointing to the side of the car rather than at 45' angle as the manual suggests. What are your expriences?

If anyone has found a way of wiring up some after market sensors into the same wires as the existing sensors so that it can be display on the screen and activated only when the car slows down - I would be most interested in hearing about it.

[StephenM]

What seems illogical is that there are 4 sensors on the rear bar even though there is a reversing camera. When reverse parking I don't even take notice of the sensors, I'm always looking at the camera to see how close I can get to the car behind.

I'm not too worried if additional sensors at the front can't be integrated with the park-assist (although it ought to be possible) I just want some alert to indicate I'm up close to the car in front. I'd love a forward looking camera so that I check on the closeness to the car in front especially if it might have a tow-bar fitted :)

[Lexus Nerd]

Have you tested your front sensors? I tried a few more times in a parallel parking scenario. I have parked as close as I felt comfortable to the car in front but the beeper would still not go off. The only time when it would go off is when an obstacle is at the side of the car - eg: if I drive VERY closely parallel to another car, the sensor would go off and would seem like the sensors were pointing to the side of the car rather than at 45' angle as the manual suggests.

I just noted that Lexus Australia refers to the two front sensors as "clearance sensors", not "front sensors". I guess the purpose is to ensure you avoid clipping the car in front of you when you exit from a parallel parking spot, or avoid hitting a column, pole or vehicle when entering a parking space. Front sensors are not necessary when reverse parallel parking and using the parallel parking mode on the display.

By having the reverse parking camera, I find that front parking sensors are virtually redundant - you end up almost always reversing into a car space. The only real front obstacles to avoid, then, are relatively high parking chocks that scrape your front lip on those occasional times when you do park in a car space with front-end in.

[summer_oasis]

I find this to be the case too, its really weird that even though you are so close to another vehicle in front you the sensor doesnt always beep