has anyone fitted the genuine parking sensor kit 71803466 as I'm looking at getting one

if anyone has what size hole is needed
and do they need coding to the ecu after ?

I've personally never had them on the two 500's I previously owned. If you use the search forum function, you will find threads relating to parking sensors that have come up before.

It's a personal opinion, so please don't feel offended, but I can't personally see the point of parking sensors on a car with a flat ass so to speak. You have the back window and there ain't much sticking out behind it. In our 4 years of 500 ownership, neither me or the wife had any reason to want reversing sensors fitted to either car, it just seemed utterly pointless. But, I accept some folk do have issues with parking, reversing into spaces where you're wondering whether you're getting too close to another cars bumper as you swing in, so fair enough.

No but I have fitted after market ones to my other cars, they are cheap and simple to install, Europarts had one(kit) for £20 last week.
Everything come in the box including a cutter for the bumper holes, try looking at a 500 with them fitted and take a photo, this will help you get the correct location as drilling "big" hole in the bumper is a bit scary though it's important to get the correct spacing between the sensors too, many kits can be bought pre-coloured and you can paint the surround to blend with the bumper, then take a feed from the reversing light.

The bumpers have small crosshairs on the inside indicating where to drill making it fairly easy to position them.

I wondered about the genuine kit too as it communicates with the cluster via canbus to display distances on the screen. Very neat!

My bumper (2008 Lounge) had very faint circles as shown below. You can just make out two in the picture - one near the outermost chrome tab, and one near some splatter mark.

Easy enough to drill a 3mm pilot hole and then use the hole cutter from the other side.

I fitted aftermarket sensors - brand was "Brees - feel the safety" - and one thing I would advise is that the sound quality is very poor. They make no sound at all until about half a meter away, then they make only a beep at a fixed rate until suddenly changing to a continuous beep when close-ish. The effect is really vague and inaccurate compared to OEM sensors. So I think I might shell out for the FIAT kit.

-Alex

While the 500 is fairly flat-backed, rearward visibility isn't great and in the 500C far less so.

I used to think "Reverse sensors? Who needs 'em", but after having used them I'm converted. I prefer the aural warning because it means I don't have to watch a screen and can keep a lookout, for pedestrians for instance. When the beep becomes constant I know I'm 300mm from an obstruction like the garage door - very handy when getting two 500's into an eight metre driveway with room to close the gates.

I've used aftermarket systems in other people's cars but they're not nearly so intuitive.

Exactly, good systems are intuitive - using them is instinctive. They are not a substitute for looking where you are reversing, but instead provide a quick and accurate measure of distance. I have to make a three-point turn to get out of my garage and if I can quickly back up within 30cm of the fence without uncertainty, then the three-point turn doesn't become a five-point turn.

In previous cars I used to just touch the fence, which worked fine, but today's painted bumpers with plastic chrome have put paid to that

Someone suggested that I should put in a camera instead. Just about every new car has them but cameras are a dangerous distraction in my opinion, unless the vehicle is a coach or van with no rear window visibility. In a car, looking at the screen instead of where you're reversing seems ridiculous to me. But listening for the beeps is easy to do, correlating it with what you see through the windows.

Works well in the Stilo anyway, and the Mercedes had it at the front as well, which was especially useful in a car more than five metres long where you want to park as close as possible.

-Alex

jonathanbees said:

has anyone fitted the genuine parking sensor kit 71803466 as I'm looking at getting one

if anyone has what size hole is needed
and do they need coding to the ecu after ?

Click to expand...

To partially answer the original question, if it really is the same as the factory-fitted reversing sensors, then the Valeo ECU connects to the CAN bus, and that means a proxy alignment will be needed to register the ECU in the car's body computer. MultiECUScan can do this and I have done it when removing the parking sensor ECU from a Stilo (to prevent false indications from a faulty sensor) and again when refitting the parking sensor ECU back to the same Stilo.

I don't know where the CAN wiring would be found at the back of the 500, but there are posts for securing the wiring around the edge of the spare wheel well - which must be for that purpose, as they lead to a large D-shaped grommet near the centreline of the bumper. The (rather ugly) location of the sensors is just above the bumper structural steel beam, so that no cutting or modifying of the car's structure is needed.

Because I fitted an aftermarket kit, the ECU is simply tapped into the reverse light wiring (the grey-green and black wires at the left rear light cluster). I wouldn't put it past FIAT to be selling an 'aftermarket' kit as a genuine accessory - i.e. perhaps it does NOT connect to the CAN bus as the factory-fitted system does. The kit has been mentioned elsewhere and I'll look to see what info I can find.

-Alex

alexGS said:

I wouldn't put it past FIAT to be selling an 'aftermarket' kit as a genuine accessory - i.e. perhaps it does NOT connect to the CAN bus as the factory-fitted system does. The kit has been mentioned elsewhere and I'll look to see what info I can find.

Click to expand...

I hate to say it, but it looks like I might be right...
http://www.trapularenzo.it/it/accessori/catalogo/metasystem_allarmi_sensori_2009.pdf

And http://www.metasystem.org.uk/vehicles_parking.aspx - look at the ECU with its yellow label...

This seems to show the 'genuine' kit is actually supplied by Meta Systems, makers of alarms fitted as original equipment on various FIAT/Alfa Romeo models over the years. This being the case, it's aftermarket and not the same as the factory-fitted option. I guess it was too difficult for dealers to add the CAN wiring and do the proxy alignment.

On the bright side, it probably is better quality than most other aftermarket systems, and no proxy alignment will be needed. Don't know that I'd spend the money, though, when there are probably other options out there that do the same thing (just a matter of finding them). I might also try fitting a Stilo original system (Valeo), even temporarily, to see whether it's compatible with the 500's CAN bus. If so, then that arguably presents a more 'genuine' option than this 'genuine' kit.

-Alex

Meanwhile, I took a punt on http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/131711183427

Only £10 so I thought it had to be worth a try - much cheaper than it should be, so maybe something is missing, or it only works with a Perodua, or something...

-Alex

Has anyone fitted the original factory reversing sensor system?
It’s something I’m looking into as I love tech stuff and I’m quite an intuitive & practical DIYer!!

I’m good with wires! Fitted my own aftermarket touchscreen ect and revamped the whole speaker setup
In the process of tracking down the full used system but I need info on where the parking ecu is fitted?? I’m thinking it’s rear quarter passenger side ?? As if I recall that’s where all the loom wiring goes to the rear
I believe the stock system works with your cluster and speakers once activated with MES and proxy done