Focus MK3 Parking Aid

[mattb08]

Hi. Sorry if this has been asked before. I have a 14 plate Focus Titanium Navigator that I have recently bought. One of the pluses for me was that it had a tow bar fitted. I've come to use it today attaching a tow bar bike carrier. As I expected, it was constantly picked up by the rear sensors which were sounding and showing something close. On a previous car, there was the option to turn the sensors off. Can someone please advise how to do this on the Focus? There is no button on the centre console and I have been in the settings on the menu and there is nothing there that I can find in driver assist/convenience that turns it off. Apparently the previous owners towed a trailer so I'm sure there must be a way to do it. TIA.

[TomsFocus]

Some people just ignore the warnings when towing so I wouldn't say there 'must' be a way to switch them off.

Do you get the Park Pilot 'radar' type display on the screen?  If not, the sensors were fitted post production and may not have an off switch.

[DaveT70]

If they were Factory Fitted PA then there will be a "P"-off switch near the gearstick

If they were dealer fit, then no switch

[mattb08]

3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Some people just ignore the warnings when towing so I wouldn't say there 'must' be a way to switch them off.

Do you get the Park Pilot 'radar' type display on the screen?  If not, the sensors were fitted post production and may not have an off switch.

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes the radar comes up and shows the red lines that something is very close to it. 

I thought about ignoring it when reversing, but my worry is it will 'error" and kick up a warning fault or something. That happened on my previous car if not turned off.

[mattb08]

2 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

If they were Factory Fitted PA then there will be a "P"-off switch near the gearstick

If they were dealer fit, then no switch

They are factory fitted sensors, the only button down by the gear stick is to turn off the start stop function.

[TomsFocus]

9 minutes ago, mattb08 said:

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes the radar comes up and shows the red lines that something is very close to it. 

I thought about ignoring it when reversing, but my worry is it will 'error" and kick up a warning fault or something. That happened on my previous car if not turned off.

Is it just rear sensors?  No fronts?  If so, there isn't a switch that I can remember.  If the towbar was factory fitted, I'd expect it to automatically disable the sensors with the towbar socket plugged in.

Titanium X came with sensors front & rear with automatic Park Assist.  The switches for those were next to the stop start switch.

[DaveT70]

16 minutes ago, mattb08 said:

They are factory fitted sensors, the only button down by the gear stick is to turn off the start stop function.

 

19 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

If they were Factory Fitted PA then there will be a "P"-off switch near the gearstick

If they were dealer fit, then no switch

 

[mattb08]

9 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Is it just rear sensors?  No fronts?  If so, there isn't a switch that I can remember.  If the towbar was factory fitted, I'd expect it to automatically disable the sensors with the towbar socket plugged in.

Titanium X came with sensors front & rear with automatic Park Assist.  The switches for those were next to the stop start switch.

It's not the Titanium X, just a Titanium Nav. It has rear sensors but not front. It only has the Auto Start Stop button to the right, the other side is blank. The manual says it will automatically disable when connected but doesn't. I expect it was fitted after as it is a seven pin not 13 like the manual states.

[TomsFocus]

1 minute ago, mattb08 said:

It's not the Titanium X, just a Titanium Nav. It has rear sensors but not front. It only has the Auto Start Stop button to the right, the other side is blank. The manual says it will automatically disable when connected but doesn't. I expect it was fitted after as it is a seven pin not 13 like the manual states.

Yes, that's the problem.  It needed to be Titanium X to get sensors all round with the switches.

I've found some of my old pictures still on the forum servers which confirms what I thought.  No switches fitted for rear park pilot only.  Mine was a Titanium with factory fitted City Pack (Rear Park Pilot & Powerfold Mirrors).

 

[mattb08]

11 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

 

 

Every Titanium Navigator that is for sale that I looked at (and still for sale on Auto trader) has rear sensors but no button by the gear stick. Are these all dealer fit?

[mattb08]

5 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Yes, that's the problem.  It needed to be Titanium X to get sensors all round with the switches.

I've found some of my old pictures still on the forum servers which confirms what I thought.  No switches fitted for rear park pilot only.  Mine was a Titanium with factory fitted City Pack (Rear Park Pilot & Powerfold Mirrors).

 

Ah ok thanks, bit of a bummer. Do you know if there is any kind of way to get around this (Auto electrician wise). Or if I ignore the constant beep with the sensors showing red when I reverse, will it kick up a fault with the sensors if that makes sense?

 

Edit that is the set up of my dash/console too.

[DaveT70]

You could fit an inline switch to the bleeper, to shut it up

[TomsFocus]

10 minutes ago, mattb08 said:

Ah ok thanks, bit of a bummer. Do you know if there is any kind of way to get around this (Auto electrician wise). Or if I ignore the constant beep with the sensors showing red when I reverse, will it kick up a fault with the sensors if that makes sense?

In theory you could fit a simple switch that breaks the reverse sensor input to the park module.  Though I don't know if it's smart enough to compare the reverse sensor input of the PCM/BCM to the PAM, in which case that would trigger a fault code in itself.

I'm not sure if a fault will be triggered if you leave them.  Though presumably not if the previous owner never bothered to do anything about it.

[mattb08]

14 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

In theory you could fit a simple switch that breaks the reverse sensor input to the park module.  Though I don't know if it's smart enough to compare the reverse sensor input of the PCM/BCM to the PAM, in which case that would trigger a fault code in itself.

I'm not sure if a fault will be triggered if you leave them.  Though presumably not if the previous owner never bothered to do anything about it.

That's my thoughts re the previous owner too, I suppose I'll have to try it and see!

I appreciate all your help, thank you.