Retrofit Parking sensors to Mk8 Titanium

[Jens0n]

Hello.

Hoping for a little help. Just collected my 67plate Titanium and thought/assumed it would have parking sensors as a standard option, seems not the case.

A question for those who have parking sensors fitted from factory, Are they integrated to the display for a visual aid?

if so, anyone know if you can retrofit parking sensors back and front that can be coded to work in the visual display.

Adding, and I'm not sure if it's relavent, the car came with a factory fitted rear camera.

Thanks in advance for your help.

J.

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Yes, they radiate from the car image as shown below top right of the screen, changing colour as the beep becomes more frequent as you near an object.

I went for the sensors + camera option as it was only £50 more than sensors alone when I ordered my car. I think you can get factory sensors retrofitted but can't imagine it would be cheap - I think the aftermarket X-vision ones that Ford do as a dealer fit accessory are now about £300 fitted, just for rears. The view from the camera (you need to keep the lens clean) in conjunction with the door mirrors is very good and I find I don't really need the sensors.

Equally I could manage fine with just the sensors and no camera, I don't really think you need both and now that the ST-L X comes as standard with sensors you can only get the camera as part of a Driver Assistance Pack for around £550 or so, I doubt that I would go for it if ordering the same car now.

 

 

 

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Just to add to the above - the night view from the camera on mine is also good (better than the rather poor photography!) just with reversing lights,  the Fiesta having two which is unusual these days.  Some members however have commented that theirs are not as good and they find the screen too bright at night.

[tef89]

Hi Graham, I have a 67 plate Titanium that I got the dealer to fit the X-Vision ones as a 'freebie'. You're right Roger, the list price was £300 lol.

Probably about £20 quids worth of sensors in reality, although they are colour coded (well the 2x in the actual bumper, not the black plastic below).

They've not been that good.  Often they'll not beep until you're a few cm away from an object, then other times they beep with plenty of warning.  I had better ones fitted to my old Mazda 2 that cost a tenner (the sensors, not the Mazda 2).  I don't trust / rely on them to any great extent.  If I lived local I'd have gone back to the dealer with them.

[primus1960]

I ordered my car with sensors and camera, but due to a ***** up somewhere, it only came with the camera, the dealer fitted sensors about two weeks later, but wasn’t sure if it would show the picture of the little car in the screen, well it doesn’t, so if you fit sensors, it won’t show the car ,( as in the pics shown) it doesn’t bother me, but just be aware of that. btw, I got a cheque from ford for for not fitting the sensors, and the dealer extended the warranty for a further two years.

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Yes, like Gary and Alan I've had the aftermarket sensors and they're not as good as the factory fit version with the visual aid as you're just relying on the change of tone of the beep. Better than nothing though, provided you can get a decent deal on them, £300 is a bit OTT.

[primus1960]

We found that it was surprisingly easy just using the camera whilst reversing in the couple of weeks before we had the sensors fitted, I wouldn’t have a car without a camera now

[Jens0n]

Thanks all for your replies. 

The dealer has recommended a fitter who is to reach out to me and discuss installing.  It's my hope, albeit dwindling after your responses, that retrofit sensors can be installed and coded for sound and visulaisation on the main screen  - using ?Forscan? maybe.

Not holding up much hope as cost for front and back is likely to be north of £500.

Albeit only a day into ownership, I have to agree with others on the comment of the reversing camera, especially in the dark, it's very good. A notch up from the one I have in my VW Golf I would suggest.

J.

 

 

  

[Kental]

On 1/17/2020 at 7:32 PM, tef89 said:

Hi Graham, I have a 67 plate Titanium that I got the dealer to fit the X-Vision ones as a 'freebie'. You're right Roger, the list price was £300 lol.

Probably about £20 quids worth of sensors in reality, although they are colour coded (well the 2x in the actual bumper, not the black plastic below).

They've not been that good.  Often they'll not beep until you're a few cm away from an object, then other times they beep with plenty of warning.  I had better ones fitted to my old Mazda 2 that cost a tenner (the sensors, not the Mazda 2).  I don't trust / rely on them to any great extent.  If I lived local I'd have gone back to the dealer with them.

If your middle sensors are in the black rather than body coloured plastic on a mk8 I'm not surprised they don't work that well.  The Black plastic is much lower than it was on the mk7 Fiestas

[iantt]

This is where the xvision  sensors should fit on a mk8. And the sensors should be the angled type.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Don't know if it would affect operation, but those are quite a bit lower than my factory fit sensors, which are slightly above the bottom of the reflectors. 

As Alan mentions above, the X-visions we had on my Mrs's Mk 7 were mounted higher up also, and worked pretty well.

 

[tef89]

Yeah mine are as iantt has shown. 

Two in the bumper and two in the black plastic. 

When looking at different cars, before I bought this one, I saw a few MK8s with the same x-vision placement so I'm sure it's how they are fitted by Ford dealers, as mine were. 

[Kental]

As Eric says they are much lower than our factory fitted ones. Perhaps they have to be that low to get under the bumper bar. Perhaps they just need to be angled up more.

[tef89]

I wouldn't put it past just being a case of not having to remove the bumper.  The  locations are all pretty close to the edges in comparison to the factory fitted ones.

Anyway they do work to a fairly acceptable level.  Just ridiculous how much they charge lol. 

[Kental]

9 hours ago, tef89 said:

I wouldn't put it past just being a case of not having to remove the bumper.  The  locations are all pretty close to the edges in comparison to the factory fitted ones.

Anyway they do work to a fairly acceptable level.  Just ridiculous how much they charge lol. 

Agreed its so they can be fitted with the bumper in place.

[iantt]

ive never had to remove bumpers to fit xvision  sensors on any ford. and to be fair they generaly do work fine as intended . i put some on my mk3 focus and they worked perfectly in the 5+ years i had it. even linked them to my ford screen display like oem. not something they do now though. 

[Jens0n]

Thanks all for your help thus far. I'm digging a little deeper on this to see what can be done to retrofit the front and rear sensor looms to integrate into the head unit/visual display.

Seems there's plenty of second hand availability of the parking sensor looms and taking a look under the back bumper, on the drivers side I've located two spare plugs on the loom, see pic below

I'm hoping one of them is for the parking sensors, can anyone pls confirm? @Eric Bloodaxe maybe =o)
Also interested in where parking sensor loom plug presents itself for the front sensors, anyone advise?

Thanks in advance
J

 

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, Jens0n said:

I'm hoping one of them is for the parking sensors, can anyone pls confirm? @Eric Bloodaxe maybe =o)

Just had a quick look for you but couldn't see the plugs you mention - the ST-L bodykit extends a fair way forward making access/vision difficult. Might be easier to spot on a Titanium or similar.

[iantt]

this is the connector for rear parking sensors

[Cwatters]

I found this thread useful..