Guest walz Posted January 10, 2007 Report Posted January 10, 2007 Hi, I have a 03 Galaxy Ghia 130 (PD) with parking sensors front and rear. I have had a tow bar fitted but the sensors still see the electrical conector for the trailer lighting. The installer put them very low down practically under the sensor but it still activates them. Can you discontect the 2 sensors that are causing the problem from behind the bumper and will the remaining sensors on the rear still work or will it bring up a fault code and then the parking sensors won't work at all. Thanks Walz Quote
Guest wolfie Posted January 10, 2007 Report Posted January 10, 2007 no removing them will make the system show a fault and stop them from working, you can how ever get them adjusted so that they ignore the new addition Quote
Guest walz Posted January 10, 2007 Report Posted January 10, 2007 Thanks Wolfie, There is a light at the end of the tunnel with all these electrical gizmo's then. Thanks again Walz Quote
Grumpy Posted January 11, 2007 Report Posted January 11, 2007 Walz I may be wrong but I think that the sensors learn so should ignore the connectors after a while. I added a stabaliser plate to my towbar and that resulted in the sensors "seeing" part of the installation after a few weeks it all settled down again and started working fine. This subject reminds me. Does anybody know if you can set the system to ignore the rear sensors whilst hitched up to a caravan? Quote
Guest walz Posted January 11, 2007 Report Posted January 11, 2007 Hi, Hopefully that will be the case grumpy, thanks for that. I have a friend who works for a local dealer near me so i will bombard him with questions and see if he can shed any light on a few of these issues. I will be in the same situation as i bought the Galaxy to tow a display trailer so to turn the rear sensors off would be a bonus. Walz Quote
Grumpy Posted January 11, 2007 Report Posted January 11, 2007 I believe that a proper "Ford Fit" towbar detects when a trailer is connected and ignores the rear sensors. I would have thaught there must be a way of doing the same with an after market towbar. Quote
Guest walz Posted January 11, 2007 Report Posted January 11, 2007 Hi, Yes Grumpy you are Totally correct i spoke to my mate at the local dealers and he said you can adjust them like wolfie said, but its a job for a Ford Technican, that means another way of putting the cost up. He is going to speak to a Technican and get back to me, it might take a couple of days but when i get the info and the costing i will post it on the forum. Walz Quote
Guest walz Posted January 12, 2007 Report Posted January 12, 2007 Ok some updates. Spoke to a master Tech at a Ford dealer ( friend of a Friend). Yes the 2 inner parking sensors and the 2 outer sensors can be calibrated so A) the centre ones are at such a short distance it cant see the towbar whilst the two outer ones are set to what ever you want within reason, so if you are towing a caravan/box trailer etc the distance can be set so they don't go off whilst towing. This is for Grumpy, No you can't turn off the backs and not the fronts on the ford pre-installed system, so he told me. Hope this helps Thanks all for your words of wisdom so i went down the right path when asking these questions. Walz Quote
Grumpy Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 Walz In the owners manual (01/2001 p164) it states:- "The sensors in the rear are automatically deactivated when driving with a trailer" My towbar was not fitted by Ford and the sensors do not turn off when towing, its annoying when towing my caravan having to switch off the system everytime I select reverse. If the manual is correct then there must be some sort of system that detects the presence of the trailer lights and interfaces with the parking sensors. Quote
Guest MATT jr Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 My towbar was not fitted by Ford and the sensors do not turn off when towing, its annoying when towing my caravan having to switch off the system everytime I select reverse. got the same annoying problem, and ours was fitted buy ford. everyones a waste of time :huh: MJR Quote
adrianf. Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 Yes they can be a pain whilst towing, but to get around the towbar issue all i done was put some black electrical tape over the two inner ones.This stoped them detecting the towbar and the two outer ones work fine for everday reversing.Had it like that now for about nine months and never had a problem with it Quote
Guest MATT jr Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 ?dont they pick up the electrical tape? MJR Quote
adrianf. Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 no not at all, but i must admit i thought they would.I couldnt stop them from detecting the electric socket so it was a desperate idea but it worked fine and being black tape it cant be seen. Quote
Guest MATT jr Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 ooo something to remember then :huh: might give this a try on ours, as it seems to pick up the tow bar now and then. ...but if its adjustable via VAGCOM maybe i should try that. MJR Quote
Guest gooner52 Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 my witter towbar is fine,no false readings unless i put the chrome cover on :huh: Quote
adrianf. Posted January 13, 2007 Report Posted January 13, 2007 Yup ive got a chrome flipper cover and a bike rack plate bolted to the bar and have no problems at all Quote
Guest walz Posted January 15, 2007 Report Posted January 15, 2007 How Bizare!! The parking sensors have seemed to learnt the tow bar is there!! Got in it this morning, started reversing and the buzzer wasn't going off as normal, but when i got close to the other vehicle it started bleeping again!! So when i got to work i tried again reversing close to a wall and they are now working properly like before i had the tow bar fitted. Are these machines that clever? or JUST LUCK!!! Walz Quote
Guest flubber01 Posted January 15, 2007 Report Posted January 15, 2007 Are these machines that clever? or JUST LUCK!!! Walz they are semi intelligent, in certain circumstances if they sense that a permanent obstacle is within their range over a set time period they will adjust their range to suit! I'm also lead to believe that the rear outer sensors are known to switch off in some cases, say when your reversing along side a wall or down a tight passage way, to stop the constant alarm warning going off as they sense the close proximity of the wall Quote
Guest MATT jr Posted January 15, 2007 Report Posted January 15, 2007 was the parking module changed at some point, as ours does non of the above. MJR Quote
Guest walz Posted January 16, 2007 Report Posted January 16, 2007 Hi Matt jr, No nothing has been changed it just started working as it did before i had the tow bar fitted!! Good for me as i don't have to pay someone to solve the problem now :) Walz Quote
Grumpy Posted January 16, 2007 Report Posted January 16, 2007 I remenber when I bought my car the dealer said that the company fitting the towbar had to add something (I have no idea what this something was) to prevent the parking sensors seeing the towbar. Quote
Smilge Posted January 16, 2007 Report Posted January 16, 2007 I have the same problem when the van is attached to the car but all I do when selecting reverse is to press the switch to off. Its very rare that I do reverse with the van on the back and they are only activated when selecting reverse, so not much of a problem to me. Quote
Smilge Posted January 16, 2007 Report Posted January 16, 2007 I have the same problem when the van is attached to the car but all I do when selecting reverse is to press the switch to off. Its very rare that I do reverse with the van on the back and they are only activated when selecting reverse, so not much of a problem to me. Oh and I forgot, without the van on the back the sensors dont see the towbar. Quote
Guest MATT jr Posted January 16, 2007 Report Posted January 16, 2007 weve got a towbar (a fixed one) -- with one electrical socket each side of the towbar. sometimes the rear sensors will work fine - and sometimes we just get a solid beeeeeeeeeep. question is - is it picking the towbar up - is is something loose/faulty? need to investigate that, after iv finished the computer, and fixed the leveling motor, and summet else no doubt by then! at this rate, i will never get round to retro fitting cruise control! :lol: MJR Quote
Guest gooner52 Posted January 16, 2007 Report Posted January 16, 2007 matt you got your work cut out dude :lol: hows the pc install going anyways... as for the towbar..i bought a witter detachable(problem sorted) cost 350.00 fitted :P Quote
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