Tpa800 Parking Sensors - Adjusting Range?

[Dippy]

Hi all

New to forum - had a 4.2 for 5 years and nary looked under the bonnet, just taken delivery of my 4.3 (all bells and whistles, like a T180 but no RFTs :))

I asked for the TPA800 front and rear parking sensors, which have been fitted. One big problem for me - they are too damn sensitive! Whereas the old kit on my 4.2 (a pair of black sensors) would top out / continuous beep at a range of about 30cm, which meant when the spare wheel was 5cm from the object, these seem to top out at a metre! They'd be good for warning me about distance in USA, but not on our little European roads...

Does anyone know if and how the sensitivity can be changed so they top out at a shorter distance?

Many thanks in advance

Dippy

[Dippy]

My first post, and roundly ignored - was it that bad?

[anchorman]

No it wasn't bad dippy - just a bit busy I guess!

Welcome to the club.

I did read your post and looked at the installation info which seems to indicate no adjustment;

http://techdoc.toyota-europe.com/legacy/To...000%20523-7.pdf

There is some info here on checking the sensitivity;

http://techdoc.toyota-europe.com/legacy/To...000%20008-0.pdf

..........and this shows how it should work (takes a while to download) - I hope it helps;

http://techdoc.toyota-europe.com/legacy/To...64-E8425-00.pdf

[Dippy]

Wonderful! Very many thanks!

The second doc shows that they should work at a range of 100/70 down to 30cm - I have to check again but mine didn't seem anything like that - and the third talks about a button on the dash and speed activation, I don't seem to have that either It also talks about front beeper and rear beeper - I can't tell the difference on mine, which is a big gripe as when parallel parking into a small space it isn't helping to tell me if it's the front or the rear which are too close, they both sound the same.

Think I'll be wandering off for a warranty claim (Toyota Portugal wouldn't sell me a car with a sunroof, so I bought from Madrid - which is six hours' drive and a tank of fuel each way...). I assume this is covered.

Cheers for that, it was really helpful - I'll be putting up my next question shortly :D

Dippy

[Dippy]

OK, if anyone is still interested / for the record...

The troubleshooting guide above says that the front should start at 70cm and move to continuous beep at 30cm. The back should start at 1m and move to continuous beep at 30cm. I've just been out to check them, with a board strapped to the back of an office chair on castors, and a tape measure lying on the ground.

What I have, both front and back, are sensors that start at 150cm and move to continuous beep at 60cm. These don't assist me to park by any stretch of the imagination, I can judge distances like that by myself! Worse, the beeps are of an almost identical tone, as I mentioned above.

The other thing is, the front is supposed to have an indicator light on the dash, and be speed-sensitive. I just have an on-off switch (I haven't tested to see if it is speed sensitive, I'm not sure how I would, safely!).

Rather leads me to believe someone installed two rear sensors instead of a set of front and rears. Ahem.

Finally, something on those guides says that if there's a problem with the unit, you'll get a merry staccato of beeps when you select reverse. Indeed I do.

Off to see Toyota, I think.

[Dippy]

Sorry, should have updated this.

I took my car to a Toyota dealer here who said yes, it looks like someone has installed two TPA400s instead of one TPA800.

As if I didn't have enough suspicions when the owner's manual above says it should switch off at over 10kmh, and yet I've activated mine at 100kmh on the motorway... (it senses the armco at the side when 1.5m away...)

He agreed that they were far two sensitive and should be replaced BUT he could only replace like for like under warranty - it was not for him to swap it back to a TPA800.

I promptly wrote a complaint to the salesman - no answer. A month later, sent a message to the director of the dealership - no answer.

Today (five months later) my Spanish colleague phoned them up, and received a variety of flannel - "oh, wasn't that dealt with? Shouldn't that be after-sales? I'm sure he got the right product installed" etc etc.

He's bought himself a week's grace to go and read up on the docs which are now a distant memory, but my colleague is happy to do some native-language arm-twisting with his boss if we get any more stalling. Not even the blink of an acknowledgement of a complaint after 5 months is NOT good customer service.

[vivianM]

Sorry, should have updated this.

I took my car to a Toyota dealer here who said yes, it looks like someone has installed two TPA400s instead of one TPA800.

As if I didn't have enough suspicions when the owner's manual above says it should switch off at over 10kmh, and yet I've activated mine at 100kmh on the motorway... (it senses the armco at the side when 1.5m away...)

He agreed that they were far two sensitive and should be replaced BUT he could only replace like for like under warranty - it was not for him to swap it back to a TPA800.

I promptly wrote a complaint to the salesman - no answer. A month later, sent a message to the director of the dealership - no answer.

Today (five months later) my Spanish colleague phoned them up, and received a variety of flannel - "oh, wasn't that dealt with? Shouldn't that be after-sales? I'm sure he got the right product installed" etc etc.

He's bought himself a week's grace to go and read up on the docs which are now a distant memory, but my colleague is happy to do some native-language arm-twisting with his boss if we get any more stalling. Not even the blink of an acknowledgement of a complaint after 5 months is NOT good customer service.

Hi Dippy,

I had the rear sensors only fitted to my T180 last September - they are very, very sensitive - far too much - they pick up the side of the garage when backing out, the road surface as I back out onto the road down my fairly steep drive, and as far as I know there is no adjustment - they are also quite loud!!

Guy

[anchorman]

Mine beep and twitter for no apparent reason but importantly they do react properly to closing on an object. I have learned to ignore the "grey" noise!

[Dippy]

Hi Dippy,

I had the rear sensors only fitted to my T180 last September - they are very, very sensitive - far too much - they pick up the side of the garage when backing out, the road surface as I back out onto the road down my fairly steep drive, and as far as I know there is no adjustment - they are also quite loud!!

Hi Guy

As anchorman says, if they work when they need to, you can ignore the rest :)

However, if like mine they are so sensitive that they give a continuous beep when still 60-70cm away from an object, they are faulty and should be repaired under warranty - see the tolerances given above. AUIU Toyota would then replace the central control module, rather than the individual sensors (assuming all are over sensitive, not just on one corner for example).

Just fired off a snotty email to Madrid today, saying I've had enough of waiting...

[vivianM]

Hi Dippy,

I had the rear sensors only fitted to my T180 last September - they are very, very sensitive - far too much - they pick up the side of the garage when backing out, the road surface as I back out onto the road down my fairly steep drive, and as far as I know there is no adjustment - they are also quite loud!!

Hi Guy

As anchorman says, if they work when they need to, you can ignore the rest :)

However, if like mine they are so sensitive that they give a continuous beep when still 60-70cm away from an object, they are faulty and should be repaired under warranty - see the tolerances given above. AUIU Toyota would then replace the central control module, rather than the individual sensors (assuming all are over sensitive, not just on one corner for example).

Just fired off a snotty email to Madrid today, saying I've had enough of waiting...

Hi Dippy,

Like Anchorman I ignore the odd bleeps but they do work when close to a wall etc, my wife's Auris sensors are just the same but she has not managed to hit her rear bumper so they are some use!!

best wishes

Guy