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Expensive rear and front parking sensors (1090€!)!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by pakitt, Jan 15, 2011.

  1. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    After 15 months of guessing where the car would end at the front and the rear, I asked my dealer for an offer to build in my Prius sensors for the front and the back. They asked me for 1090€, for the sensors+mounting+painting.
    The sensors have a list price of 330€ front, 290€ rear. The rest I assume is the cost for the mounting (time).

    What do you think? I find it expensive. Too bad I did not ask for them when I ordered the car, but I didn't think that visibility at the rear and at the front (!!!) was that bad...
     
    #1 pakitt, Jan 15, 2011
  2. Paul58

    Paul58 Mileage Miser

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    I used to have a pickup truck and purchased a license plate frame that had the sensors built in. I was really easy to install, just needed to pull power from the backup light power wire. Seems you could use two of these, one on the front and one of the rear, with the front wired to the accessory so that it is always on and the rear wired to the backup lights. I don't recall the exact price, but I'm sure it wasn't over $50US for each. Being as you have front and rear license plates, I'm sure these could easily be attached to your license plates and blend in quite easily.

    Hopkins Backup Sensor System - Audible Alert - License Bracket Mount Hopkins Electronics HM60100VA
     
    #2 Paul58, Jan 15, 2011
  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    If you're handy, you can buy a small camera and mount it in the lower grille and wire it up yourself! It does seem a bit pricey but then again, I don't know what your average labour rate. Here, a set of backup sensors runs about Cdn$400 installed.
     
    #3 Tideland Prius, Jan 15, 2011
  4. Seamaster

    Seamaster Member

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    Have you hit anything in those 15 months?
     
    #4 Seamaster, Jan 15, 2011
  5. jordanr

    jordanr Member

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    I've read about installing a camera in the front...would it be possible to wire into the existing nav system with rear camera?

    One other thing...I'm not sure if it's just me but I can't seem to get the car straight when parallel parking and reverse parking. Anyone else like this?
     
    #5 jordanr, Jan 15, 2011
  6. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    I'm sure it's possible. Toyota Japan offers a wide-view monitor as an accessory (like the one found on the HS or the LX) so I assume it plugs into the factory nav.

    No but i had that issue with the smart. The reason was that the rear of the car was much wider than the front of the car so if I parked with the lines on the floor parallel to the car's body, I'll be crooked. Took me a while to figure that out and wonder why I can't park the smallest car in North America lol. So maybe that's the case for you?
     
    #6 Tideland Prius, Jan 15, 2011
  7. Hal W

    Hal W New Member

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    Its not just you! It has allot to do with the drive forward seating position, I believe. I have trouble coming in square as well.As far as driving into curbs , I just give myself lots of room. The car is not that long anyway. H
     
    #7 Hal W, Jan 15, 2011
  8. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    Well:
    - I scraped a bit (5x10cm) the forward bumper on a very low wall (but high enough to scrape my bumper.... :( )
    - I have hit a mound of snow making sounds like as if you were destroying your car (no damage, fortunately...)
    - I hit the front of another car extremely slowly (but I don't want to do that here in Germany, because if there is the remote doubt that you have caused damage, you *need* to call the police to have them check whether the damage was caused by you or not - in both cases they file a report and you will not be sued for leaving a crash scene - yes, they are that accurate...)

    Nothing major, so far, as I am *very* careful (see police thing above), but it is annoying and stressful each time you have to parallel park, each time you are in narrow places, each time you want to park the car close to the wall and you don't know (better, you have no f****g clue - sorry, but it is, IMHO, *that* bad) where the front ends.

    But paying 1090€ is a lot - I have checked the installation manuals for the sensors, and especially the front ones require a lot of work - so they do need quite some time to install them....
    And in the overall economy of things, maybe 1090€ are better used in paying gas, than protecting me from "probable" hits. I simply have to take extra care - which is better than dish out that amount of money.

    If I could find the sensors (original Toyota) for a cheaper price, maybe...
    I would never mount them myself, also because I don't have a closed place, other than an open street, where I could mount them...
     
    #8 pakitt, Jan 16, 2011
  9. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    PS: I have just found on the Toyota website of the Netherlands, that there is a rear view mirror with camera that costs 967€.... and the sensors are not much different in price as in Germany....
    PS2: in Holland they have a *lot* more options and accessories available (at least since 01.01.2011)! A view of the options including funky leather seats (on page 12), here.
     
    #9 pakitt, Jan 16, 2011
  10. Seamaster

    Seamaster Member

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    I am imminently about to order a Prius T4 company car (similar spec to yours), and can add the "safety pack" (reverse parking sensors and boot liner) for an additional cost to me of around £6 GBP per month — worth it?
     
    #10 Seamaster, Jan 16, 2011
  11. rrolff

    rrolff Prius Surgeon

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    http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...tions/69601-very-cool-parking-assist-mod.html details the ins and outs of installing the sensors.

    They can (and should) be bought pre-colored. Cost for a set of 4 is like $50 from China, and they come with a box with speaker (for audible tone as you get closer). It also comes with a video input/output so you can connect your rear camera to this box, then send the video up front. This allows the rear video and a distance (in meters) overlayed on the screen.

    Personally, I don't think fronts are really needed.

    Time to install if you are handy is a few hours (video et al).

    I put these in my first Gen III, but for my current one, I put in the camera first, and found it is really very very good at getting distance (has lines on the display) - the parking sensors don't do a great job for really close up...
     
    #11 rrolff, Jan 16, 2011
  12. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Pakitt, I have two other low cost solutions

    1. Install two rubber mounts on either side of the licence plate (where the screws go) so that if you do bumper, it's soft rubber and not the metal screws that touch the paint of the other car

    2. install a pole of your liking, attached to the front licence plate just tall enough that you can see it from the driver's seat to give you an indication of where the front is.
     
    #12 Tideland Prius, Jan 16, 2011
  13. PaJa

    PaJa Senior member

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    Cameras (especially rear view one) are much more better that this ancient ultrasonic solution. I ordered parking sensors for about 35USD from China, but never used them. They are sitting on the shelf, ready for use probably forever.
     
    #13 PaJa, Jan 17, 2011
  14. 32kcolors

    32kcolors Senior Member

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    Your Premium package doesn't have NAV (backup camera)?
     
    #14 32kcolors, Jan 18, 2011
  15. Creaky

    Creaky Still motorin...

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    Have you tried looking at this product:

    No Holes Parking Sensors
    No Holes Parking Sensor | Parking Dynamics Reverse Sensor

    I was looking at this product several months ago but never got back to it so I can't comment on how good a product it is. But the premise is an interesting one. For installation, you'll just have to remove the bumper cover to install the sensor strip. No holes need to be drilled. The only criticism I can remember is that the range isn't as good as the typical sonar units everyone has these days.

    (And no, I have no connections to this manufacturer/website.)
     
    #15 Creaky, Jan 18, 2011
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