Scan area
Areas of the surrounding space that the parking sensors scan during operation.
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Back only. Actually, the ability to scan the space behind the car is found in absolutely all parking sensors, but most often this direction is the only one provided for in the design. After all, forward visibility is usually good enough not to cause problems for most drivers, and the main source of difficulty is precisely the observation of obstacles behind the car.
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Front and back. The ability to track objects both behind and in front of the car. Parking sensors with a similar coverage are designed for those who want to have maximum safety guarantees when manoeuvring. After all, despite the fact that forward visibility is usually much better than backward, low obstacles can still go unnoticed; this is especially true with a high seating position of the driver, for example, in SUVs. Also, forward scanning is useful for novice drivers, as well as for those who need to get used to a new car after using another car with significantly different dimensions. However such parking sensors are usually somewhat more expensive than “purely rear” ones.
Self-diagnosis
Parking sensors with a self-diagnostic function are able to independently detect malfunctions in remote sensors: the device “interrogates” the sensors and, if there are problems, warns the driver. This reduces the risk of being left without a parking radar at an unexpected moment. Usually, self-diagnosis is carried out every time the ignition is switched on.
Sensors diameter
The diameter of the sensors supplied as standard with the parking radar is an important parameter when installing them: it determines the size of the landing slots, in other words, the holes in the bumper. Many parking sensors are equipped with a special cutter for drilling such sockets — it optimally matches the diameter of the complete sensors, and in this case this parameter actually becomes irrelevant. However, if there is no cutter in the kit, you will not be able to select the drill of the right size without information about the diameter. Also, this information will be very useful if you install parking sensors on a car with existing holes in the bumper (for example, if the previous radar did not suit you according to its characteristics): by choosing a model with the same sensor diameter, you can install them directly into ready-made sockets, without too much fiddling with the fit. So the most popular
sensor size is 18 mm, but there are
19,
20,
21 and
22 mm. In this case, often in each option there is a deviation of half a millimetre.
