Parking Sensors Mania

Parking sensors are devices that are typically fitted at the back of a vehicle to warn the driver of an impending crash. The sensors send audible beeps notifying the driver that the car is too close to something in the rear of the vehicle. The closer the car comes to the object, the more intense the beeps become. More sophisticated versions actually include the use of a control panel and camera. The driver sees everything from the rear of the vehicle in the front monitor.

Parking sensors were invented solely for safety. They were born out of necessity because of the extremely heart wrenching but true stories of parents who had run over their own children when backing out of the driveway or garage. In many instances, the parent thought the child was in the house but the child had actually followed the parent to the car. Being so little, the child was not seen until tragedy struck. Thus, the first real benefit of a parking sensor or reverse sensor is the decreased cost to human life.

Once people started to install the sensors, they found that other benefits existed as well. It actually turned out to be cheaper to install the sensor than paying increased car insurance costs from minor accidents. Using the sensors prevented small fender-benders that would have increased their auto insurance premiums. Even people who are careful drivers tend to bang into garbage bins on the street, concrete poles in commercial parking garages and kiss the bumper of the car behind them. The sensors gave them added protection to prevent accidents.

Another practical benefit for the parking sensor is the ease of hitching a trailer. For many people trying to back up a car or truck to meet the tongue of a boat trailer or camping trailer is difficult and time consuming. Using the sensor, it makes it easier to know when the car is close to the tongue to hitch the two vehicles together. It prevents the driver from riding over the tongue as well.

Further, parking sensors help with blind spots. Cars and trucks today are difficult to see behind from different positions. Head rests, tinted windows and vehicle design make it impossible sometimes to look around on both sides ensuring the coast is clear. While the sensor is not a substitute for the driver, it certainly does help to alert the driver of a potential problem.

Parking sensors are excellent for bigger vehicles like recreational vehicles, motorhomes and large trucks. Although the driver sits up high and can see all around, pets, children and objects are much smaller making them invisible at the back of the vehicle.

Many groups are lobbying the government to mandate parking sensors in all new vehicles in the hopes of saving more lives. And while this is the most important reason for car manufacturers to add the sensors as standard equipment like air bags and seat belts, parking sensors are by no means a replacement for using good judgement. For some drivers, they offer a false sense of security because weather conditions, technical malfunctions and poor installations may render the sensor useless.