Woke up this morning to about a centimetre of fresh snow. Last winter, with my old Volvo V50, that would mean staying at home - I wouldn't have been able to get the car safely down/up our hill. However, with Betty equipped with her winter boots I had no hesitation in heading out to get the weekend's provisions (wine rack was looking a bit depleted). Started to reverse off my drive when a loud insistent beep from the reversing sensor made me hesitate ... but there was nothing behind me. Got out and had a look - one sensor had a dusting of snow on it. Brushed snow away, back into car, no beep.

Was in a Renault dealership a couple of winters back....woman was complaining that the lane assist/colision avoidence?? system was saying she was going to crash when passing down a narrow road that had been snow ploughed leaving "walls" either side which the sensors were picking up!!.......also for the past couple of winters many other people I know who have reversing or other sensors have compained as the sensors register snow/ice on them as a wall (to the sensor it is as a solid layer has been placed over it)....technology....works great until nature FUBARS it!!!!.....

What does the owners handbook say about "false" readings?????

Was in a Renault dealership a couple of winters back....woman was complaining that the lane assist/colision avoidence?? system was saying she was going to crash when passing down a narrow road that had been snow ploughed leaving "walls" either side which the sensors were picking up!!.......also for the past couple of winters many other people I know who have reversing or other sensors have compained as the sensors register snow/ice on them as a wall (to the sensor it is as a solid layer has been placed over it)....technology....works great until nature FUBARS it!!!!.....

What does the owners handbook say about "false" readings?????

Sounds to me like a case of "the wrong sort of snow".

Fred

Oh FFS!

That is what these sensors are designed for.

Detecting when stuff is in the way.

They make no distinction between a wall or snow and ice because they can't.

the system is either ON (detecting an obstruction) or OFF (not detecting an obstruction) there is no grey area.

Simple answer, if it bothers you, clear the snow off the reversing sensors before you drive, so they can "see".

It wasn't a problem, and doesn't bother me, at all, I was just surprised by how sensitive the sensors were. Now I know that they will react this way I will dust them off at the same time as I clear the snow from my windscreen.

It wasn't a problem,and doesn't bother me, at all, I was just surprised by how sensitive the sensors were. Now I know that they will react this way I will dust them off at the same time as I clear the snow from my windscreen.

Sorry Bobdog, my comment wasn't aimed at you, just a general observation (not very well expressed) about the "average" owner's reliance on technological things on cars.

EG:- One of my neighbours complained last year that the headlights on her new Golf were not hot enough to melt the overnight snow on them when she first went out in the morning and as a result she couldn't see where she was going! And her heated rear window took ages to melt the snow on there too! Errrr.... brush it off you silly woman!!! You just wouldn't believe it would you? :giggle:

Woke up this morning to about a centimetre of fresh snow. Last winter, with my old Volvo V50, that would mean staying at home - I wouldn't have been able to get the car safely down/up our hill. However, with Betty equipped with her winter boots I had no hesitation in heading out to get the weekend's provisions (wine rack was looking a bit depleted). Started to reverse off my drive when a loud insistent beep from the reversing sensor made me hesitate ... but there was nothing behind me. Got out and had a look - one sensor had a dusting of snow on it. Brushed snow away, back into car, no beep.

Snow is nothing, that is always easy to swipe away....but wait when in the morning you have there a solid thick and incredibly strong layer of ice covering the bumper and sensors, the only thing you can do then is to disable the radars, put that car to some warm place to melt or poor hot water from some bottle over the sensors until the ice has gone...and wipe it then dry so it doesn't get ice layer again, at least for the next couple of hours. Repeat this all in the next morning.

Snow is nothing, that is always easy to swipe away....but wait when in the morning you have there a solid thick and incredibly strong layer of ice covering the bumper and sensors, the only thing you can do then is to disable the radars, put that car to some warm place to melt or poor hot water from some bottle over the sensors until the ice has gone...and wipe it then dry so it doesn't get ice layer again, at least for the next couple of hours. Repeat this all in the next morning.

Alternatively I could just drive forwards?