I was browsing Canzoomer's catalog and noticed an item called "Easy parking (a parking assistant)" for US$241. Anybody know exactly what this item is?

I'm hoping it might be a module to dip the outside mirrors when the transmission is put in reverse. A couple of my other rides have had this feature and it really helps backing out of a curvy driveway.

Thanks,

-Dave

 

It's really cool. Many cars in the far east had it when we were there last summer. It's an ultrasonic distance measuring system (two sensors on rear bumper). As you back closer to an object it starts to beep. Beeps get closer together the closer you get. When it gets steady, stop and move forward. I believe it also has something on the sides of the car too, but it's kind of hard to tell with the Japaneze instructions. Canzoomer knows, I think.

 

Thanks. Sounds cool.

 

Talked to Canzoomer. I was wrong. What I was describing is available but is much more expensive. It also has two sensors on the front bumper.

Once you have that, THEN you can get the "Easy Parker". It uses the sensors and directs you when parallel parking, THROUGH THE SOUND SYSTEM, unfortunatly, in Japaneze . Still, very cool.

 

Well, RX-friend "sort of" has the idea.
But not quite.

Here is the deal:


You can purchase a:
F151V7280 Corner sensor set, distance settable.
front 60/40/30cm, rear 100/60/40/30cm
with / without beep tone
$557

This is a set of FOUR sensors.
Two go in the rear bumper, two in the front, at the corners.

When you get to within 60cm (24") of an object in front or next to the front, or 100cm (39") of an object behind it goes :
"Beep....beep..." on about a 2/3 second interval.
As you cross the 40cmthreshold in front, or 60 behind it speeds up to about twice the beep rate.
At 30 front/40 rear it speeds up again.
At 30cm at the rear it goes to a solid tone.

It allows you to park within a couple of inches of an object/car/wall with full assurance, no guessing, no risk.
Kit includes sensors, wiring harnesses, speaker that makes the beep tones, switch/control unit, etc.

Once you have that installed you can add:
F151V7380 Easy parking (a parking assistant)
$243

This uses the sensors and so on, but adds a device that helps you parallel park, or park between two cars perfectly centred.
For parallel parking you pull up next to the car in front of your spot, and a voice waks you through turning the wheels at the right times, and so on, using the sensor info to tell you( for example):
"Turn the wheel all the way left and go backwards."
"Turn the wheels all the way right and continue backwards"
Straighten the wheels to centre, and go forwards"

And so on.

Kind of like "Parallel parking for blondes"

One small catch though:
You better understand Japanese, because that is all it comes equipped with in the voice recordings or synth it uses!


The corner sensor set is pretty cool.
Last summer I rented a small SUV with these equipped and I could park at this hotel we stayed in at Penang in these incredibly tight and restricted parking spaces, and do it perfectly.

I managed to position the bumper consistently 1" from a concrete wall, with no fear, and perfect accuracy.

I am seriously considering buying this set for my car, as I love it.
No fear or uncertainty in tight parking spots.

How hard to install? I don't know yet.

 

Do you have a set of the PDC install instructions? I retrofitted front/rear PDC in my BMW and it's a major endeavor. You have to fish front sensor wire through the engine firewall, rear sensor wire into the passenger compartment, and connect everything in between. The rear seat(s) will probably have to be removed in the process as well.

I believe they indicate you can't fit PDC on a MazdaSpeed front/rear bumper. (Then again, BMW said I couldn't on my model year car either.) Can you think of any way you could mount it on MS parts?
________
The Cigar Boss

 

Yea, I'm really interested in getting a PDC sensor installed in the front cuz I'm bad at gauging the distance in the front. Where do you get these sensors?

 

Another update on the "Easy Parking Assistant".
I talked with our parts contact in Japan, and he provided me with some more info:

Apparently it does not "talk" but only beeps at each step of parking. One has to learn what the beeps mean in a parallel parking context.

As far as the wiring of the sensors, the kit includes all parts, harnesses, etc., but it is a 3.5 hour book time install job.
In Japan the dealer install fee is 15,000 yen.

The reason the MazdaSpeed bumpers are not recommended for the installation of this is due to the fact that the stock bumper has a moulding on the back to accept the sensor mount clips, whereas the MazdaSpeed do not.

However it should not be too hard to overcome this if you are mildly creative.

 

One reason I would love a parking sensor is if it beeped the horn and flashed the lights when the car was parked and someone was backing into you!!!

Has anyone seen anything like this? Here in NYC people will hit your bumper by accident, and it would be great to give them a warning beep and flash at like 8 inches.

 

Here, the Circuit City car stereo dept has 2 and 4 sensor kits for like $59 and $79 (my rememberence) respectively. Some stick on, other stick through. Looks like work to run the wires, but hey the $ is right. Does the tone thing.