HOW TO Retrofit genuine parking sensors to MK3+MK3.5 Focus

[ScottM79]

Good morning everyone, this is something I'd like to do with my 2018 Focus ST-Line, although I'm not very tech savvy when it comes to cars lol!!! 

I checked on Ford's official website and noticed they're doing rear sensors for 300 quid supply and fitted.

 

[Nathan Buffery]

8 hours ago, ScottM79 said:

I checked on Ford's official website and noticed they're doing rear sensors for 300 quid supply and fitted.

£300 doesnt sound that bad considering the price of new sensors and clips colour matched, the rear loom and the module. Then the rear bumper will have to be removed and the holes drilled out and new sensors fitted. Then it needs to be programmed to your car. 

I'd make sure that's the price for the factory fitted system rather than the aftermarket system that I found on my focus.

[Steevo25]

The retrofit sensors that Ford offer is not the same as the factory fit ones. 

It is a third party kit that is purely just a parking sensor kit. It doesn't integrate with the car at all. You can actually get the kits off eBay for about a 6th of the price if you are prepared to fit yourself. 

[Victory]

@Steevo25So replaced the bumper this evening. All went well , cabling seems the same on both looms and match under car so I am assuming I shouldn't need to run any extra wires? Sensors are working fine however I think they are still working as a 4 until I sort out the front and activate im forscan, am I correct?

[Steevo25]

If the wiring is there, then happy days. Most are not.

You will need to change the number of sensors in the module. But many modules cannot be reprogrammed. 

Once you put the front sensors on and put in a new module, then that one will be programmable. 

EDIT: Just realised, you already have a MK3.5. I thought you had a MK3 which was only ever available with 4 rear sensors. You module MAY be programmable. 

[Victory]

16 minutes ago, Steevo25 said:

If the wiring is there, then happy days. Most are not.

You will need to change the number of sensors in the module. But many modules cannot be reprogrammed. 

Once you put the front sensors on and put in a new module, then that one will be programmable. 

EDIT: Just realised, you already have a MK3.5. I thought you had a MK3 which was only ever available with 4 rear sensors. You module MAY be programmable. 

Great! ill need dust of my OBD cable and have a look at the weekend Thanks!,

[Victory]

Hi, so I've now got 6 sensors on the front and 6 sensors on the back! All working! I have configured sync 3 apim for 12 sensors and active park assist however active park assist is not working and says not available when the button is pressed. Has anyone got any ideas please?

A bit of info, this car has gone from sync 2 to sync 3 and 4 sensors on the back to 6 at back and 6 at front. Also the pam has been replaced with the active park module.

Thanks

[Nathan Buffery]

16 hours ago, Victory said:

Has anyone got any ideas please?

Did you change the rear ABS sensors?

[Victory]

18 hours ago, Nathan Buffery said:

Did you change the rear ABS sensors?

I didnt think i needed to change them, currently in BCM they are set to Line #203 – Wheel Speed sensor type” – „With direction so i assumed they were fine. Do you think i still need to change them?

 

Thanks

[Victory]

Cant believe my stupidity! thinking everything was working correctly i actually forgot to change the Line #59 Parking assistance , for my setup this needed to be set to advanced parking assistance . I now have full active park assistance all working as it should. 

Interestly i do not need to replace the ABS sensors they are working fine so i can only assume that my mk3.5 came with the correct sensors ( they are black though) ?!.... 

Another thing i forgot to mention was i needed to upgrade the firmware on the PAM module i bought. Once i did that i needed to set the as built values to the same as what features my car has now. I got an asbuilt from a ford focus titanium X mk3.5 estate and set the values to the same. below are those values if anyones needs them.

 ford focus titanium X mk3.5 estate with active park assist 12 sensors. Pam asbuilt.

   736-01-01     2C88     1549     61 
     736-02-01     4001     0E00     8F 
     736-03-01     0000     4318     9C 

     736-04-01     0740     2000     A9 
     736-05-01     3001     3000     A4 
 

anyway really happy and thank you so much to everyone on here for the clear guidance!

 

[jbradford517]

Hello, can someone help please I am going to fit active park assist to my titanium, I have 4 rear sensors, will I require 6 on the rear and also 6 on the front? It's a 2017 estate titanium

Also does anyone know the values I will need to change please? Thank you

[jbradford517]

Scrap that! 👆 Iv and a read through some of the pages (theres alot 😂) and can understand I need 6 sensors and loom for the front and 6 for the rear (estate) I also need a module beginning with F and ending with B, I then need the console buttons. With this in mind does anyone know what the settings need to be set on focccus or forscan for sync 2 please? 

I'm also looking to fit a reverse camera what's the best route please? 

 

Hope someone can help. Thanks in advance 

[Nathan Buffery]

Hi Jack. I'm not entirely sure what you're asking for, but if you're looking to retro fit sync 2, then there is a guide here:

Just like this guide though, there are a lot of pages to scroll through. 

[jbradford517]

Hi Nathan no sorry, what I meant is when I add 6 front and rear sensors what settings do I need to change to allow the park assist, facelift titanium 2016 sync 2? 

 

Sorry it didn't make sense

 

[Steevo25]

All the settings that need changing are listed on the first page of this thread. 

You don't have to put 6 sensors on the rear to get park assist. If you only have 4 sensors on the rear, then you can have park assist but you only get parallel parking, you only need 6 if you want perpendicular parking as well. You will need 6 on the front to get any form of park assist. 

You have to consider whether it is worth the extra expense and effort to go for 6 on the rear. I have 6 but never use perpendicular parking, only parallel parking which I find quite useful sometimes. If you didn't have any sensors on the rear then 6 would be the way to go, but since you already have 4 factory installed sensors then it is quite a bit of effort to put the extra 2 on. You do need a loom from an estate to do it, but there is more than one rear looms for an estate which will depend on what else you might have. 

[Bdarnell]

Hi all im wondering if anyone has a way of telling if a 3.5 pam module is a 4 or 6 sensor type?

I have an mk3 which has a 3.5ipc and sync 3 upgrade. My mk3 pam works but the usual no sound issue after the upgrades.

Finally got around to swapping out the pam for a rear only 3.5 pam but it thows up open/ground errors for right rear sensor.

Ive tried going thru forscan and changing the architecture from 3 to 3.5 but no change. So am wondering if i bought a dodgy pam or if i need a 6 sensor loom.

Any thoughts appreciated 

[Steevo25]

The PAMs for the MK3.5 are configurable (B type only). There are 2 versions for the MK3.5 and you would need to look at the part number to determine which one you have. 

The part number will start F1ET-15K866-??

The ?? determines the type of PAM you have. If it starts with an A (i.e. AG), then you have a rear only PAM. This will be set to 4 sensors and cannot be changed. 

If the ?? starts with a B (i.e. BH), then it is a front and rear PAM and is configurable with Forscan and UCDS. This can be set to the number of sensors you have. But it does expect both front and rear sensors. 

Wiring wise, it is the same for the MK3 and MK3.5 so if you only have rear sensors then a MK3.5 A type PAM is a straight swap. 

But for a MK3.5 PAM to work properly in a MK3, the firmware on the BCM has to be the correct version. If the firmware is too old, then you will never get the system working correctly. 

It looks as if you have a 2014 car. This was the changeover year and many were fitted with later parts. But not all of them. 

[Bdarnell]

Thanks Steevo25 that info sets me straight. Yes I have a 2014 sports model.

I definitely have a rear only 3.5 pam module which I had to source from the UK. Im in Australia.

Rather than risk upgrading the software on my bcm with forscan i think ill try and source another pam locally. Its only the reverse beeps after all as the graphics work fine with the mk3 pam.

Appreciate all your knowledge. 

[Steevo25]

Be aware that the year change where they started fitting MK3.5 parts may be different in Australia. So your BCM MAY be an older version firmware. 

[videl.prv]

Hey guys, I wonder if it's possible to have park assistance on PX-5 Android radio, or is sync2+ a hard requirement?

[pierogi]

hi. This is my first post. sorry for my english 🙂
I know that the topic concerns the Ford focus but maybe I can learn something from you.

I have an escape 2017. I added sensors to the front and activated Active Park Assist. Everything works. Perpendicular and parallel parking. I only have one problem. There is no sound that should be when he finds a parking space and other sounds related to active park assist.- such a Ding-Dong :)... 

There are no chimes 😞

I only use forscan.
Please help or tell me where to look for the problem.

thx

 

[Jeffers192628]

I’m looking for any advise and help with seeing if this is possible at all, any help appreciated. I have a 2015 plate focus st-2 with no sensors or reverse camera, but wanted to attempt to factory install them but after reading and looking the rear connectors in the boot aren’t there at all, I’ve found an entire harness with them for cheap but wanted to know if it’s possible to simply take these out of a full harness and use, and if so how do these connect to the cars wiring. Thanks again 

[unofix]

1 hour ago, Jeffers192628 said:

I have a 2015 plate focus st-2 with no sensors or reverse camera,

Check the guides, there is probably information in there that will help.

https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/forum/78-ford-focus-guides/

[Jeffers192628]

On 10/17/2023 at 3:06 PM, unofix said:

Check the guides, there is probably information in there that will help.

https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/forum/78-ford-focus-guides/

Thanks but I can’t find anything that seems to be of any help.

[jbradford517]

On 8/10/2022 at 8:51 PM, Steevo25 said:

All the settings that need changing are listed on the first page of this thread. 

You don't have to put 6 sensors on the rear to get park assist. If you only have 4 sensors on the rear, then you can have park assist but you only get parallel parking, you only need 6 if you want perpendicular parking as well. You will need 6 on the front to get any form of park assist. 

You have to consider whether it is worth the extra expense and effort to go for 6 on the rear. I have 6 but never use perpendicular parking, only parallel parking which I find quite useful sometimes. If you didn't have any sensors on the rear then 6 would be the way to go, but since you already have 4 factory installed sensors then it is quite a bit of effort to put the extra 2 on. You do need a loom from an estate to do it, but there is more than one rear looms for an estate which will depend on what else you might have. 

Hello All, Thanks STEEVO25 for the great information that helps massively, so i have got the module, the two lighter coloured hub sensors, console wiring with the extra buttons for the park assist i have the 4 rear sensors (planning on adding the extra 2) but struggling with the front sensors, sorry to jump on the post I don't suppose anyone has the DEEP IMPACT BLUE 6 front sensors for the facelift MK3.5 at all? also needed is a 6 sensor rear estate loom if ones readily for sale but not essential as i can add 2 extra to my existing. 

Any help would be massively greatly appreciated.

Jack