Retro-fitted Front Parking Sensor problem

[OldieDriver]

I've just had an official SEAT front parking sensor kit put on my 2017 Leon FR Automatic by a SEAT dealer. It works OK apart from:
Not switching off the beeper when I go into Park or Reverse, but only when I've moved away or switched ignition off.
Still beeping when I return to the car and turn the ignition on in P and Reverse.
It is very annoying!
The dealer insists that this is the way it's meant to work.
Any thoughts?

 

[Damo H]

I've just had an official SEAT front parking sensor kit put on my 2017 Leon FR Automatic by a SEAT dealer. It works OK apart from:
Not switching off the beeper when I go into Park or Reverse, but only when I've moved away or switched ignition off.
Still beeping when I return to the car and turn the ignition on in P and Reverse.
It is very annoying!
The dealer insists that this is the way it's meant to work.
Any thoughts?

That's not how the factory fit kit works. ONly beeps when in D or R. And when the engine has been turned off definitely isn't still beeping when I get back to the car later. I'd be asking them to demonstrate it in another car.

 

[RUM4MO]

I'm guessing that your car came with rear parking sensors and that they operation shows up in the car's display when in operation?
If so, maybe the dealer that you bought this car from has just fitted the official aftermarket/aftersales front parking sensors system which will not show up in the car's display when in operation. If the garage had retrofitted the official SEAT front parking sensor system, then the cost to you would have been probably £450 - was that the price you paid, or closer to £100?

 

[OldieDriver]

I'm guessing that your car came with rear parking sensors and that they operation shows up in the car's display when in operation?
If so, maybe the dealer that you bought this car from has just fitted the official aftermarket/aftersales front parking sensors system which will not show up in the car's display when in operation. If the garage had retrofitted the official SEAT front parking sensor system, then the cost to you would have been probably £450 - was that the price you paid, or closer to £100?

The car was came with rear sensors, but they don't have a display. The garage used the official retro-fit kit, the only option as far as I know, and I paid £454 for parts and labour.

 

[Mr Pig]

One does wonder if it's a good idea to let dealers do anything to your car. I'm losing track of the things they've bodged up.

 

[RUM4MO]

Aye, for around £400 you could buy all the proper "as per factory fit" bits and fit them yourself, I vastly under estimated what a dealer retrofit to factory spec would have been, probably should have been more like £1200, judging by what they charged for the "simple" non SEAT factory fit aftermarket kit, which is why normal dealerships would never try to do that job for anyone. Most of these later parking sensor kits even the factory fitted ones, do seem to be active at all times below a certain road speed, which was never the case with older systems - in as much as, with my wife's August 2015 Polo SEL with factory fitted front and rear parking system, if while stationary at lights for example, and any cars get near that Polo, its parking system will start to alert, same for when certain manufacturers cars pass by and out of alerting range, maybe some Fords and/or Nissans as it seems like their parking systems have quite high output transmitters.

 

[OldieDriver]

It's reassuring to know that other cars' systems can be annoying too! However, having both lots of sensors beeping when you're out of gear is a bit much. The dealer did tell me when I ordered the job that it was not possible to fit the factory version of front and rear sensors as it has a comprehensive screen display which it is impossible to retro fit. What they did fit though was definitely an official SEAT kit.

 

[Stefan147]

That's nonsense what the dealer says. You can retrofit anything you want regarding the PDC. You can even retrofit PLA (auto-parking PDC with 12 sensors) which was never offered with the Leon but was offered with many other MQB based VAG models. You should have a specialist with coding tools check your system and see if he can make it appear on screen.

For example you could have fitted something like this for the fraction of the dealer cost and be 100% OEM-like:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

 

[RUM4MO]

It's reassuring to know that other cars' systems can be annoying too! However, having both lots of sensors beeping when you're out of gear is a bit much. The dealer did tell me when I ordered the job that it was not possible to fit the factory version of front and rear sensors as it has a comprehensive screen display which it is impossible to retro fit. What they did fit though was definitely an official SEAT kit.

I'd agree that it would have been an official SEAT branded kit that was fitted, but that is just a Vodaphone(used to be Cobra) aftermarket kit in SEAT branded packaging - there will be no parts in that kit that you could find in a SEAT parts list, it will always be a "stand alone" kit, but it will do the job

 

[OldieDriver]

I did have a quote from an independent auto electrician (£300) but was told that it would only be basic with no on-screen display. As I had no idea of how well the installation would be done, especially the non-electrical bits like making holes in the bumper and painting, I opted for the SEAT version. Maybe that was a mistake, buy too late now!