Anyone else have a rear backup sensor system randomly not engaging?

[csuwldcat]

I have owned my Camaro for a bit longer than a year, and have had 3 or 4 occasions where the OEM rear backup system has failed to engage when I put the car in reverse.

Basically, when I put it in reverse that initial beep sound does not fire off to let you know the system is active, then it never beeps to let you know when you are close to something.

I wrote it off the few times it happened as me putting it in and out of reverse too quick or something I did, but yesterday I didn't notice it wasn't active and counted on it. Unfortunately, I was backing up past a pillar in a parking garage and I knew it was really close to the car. When no sound ever came out I thought it was good...until I heard a scrape :( It barely made contact with the rear passenger-side quarter panel wheel flair and scratched it for about 10 inches. Has anyone else experienced throwing the car into reverse and the backup system not coming on?

[trganey]

Haven't had any problems yet. Sorry bout your damage!

[Eich]

Yes, it's happened to me. When I didn't hear the initial beep, I took it out of reverse and put it back in and then got the initial beep.

[csuwldcat]

Originally Posted by Eich

Yes, it's happened to me. When I didn't hear the initial beep, I took it out of reverse and put it back in and then got the initial beep.

YES, thank you Eich! That is exactly what I had done the few times I noticed it and it works once you take it out of gear and put it back in. Thank god someone else has actually experienced this (though it sucks there is a bug in our systems), it was so infrequent that I wasn't sure if it was just me

[GARYSSS]

The only times it has happen to me, is when I put it in reverse and I'm actually in 6th gear. You only know this if you let the clutch out and go forward , otherwise you just think the sensors not working. If your actually backing up and it's not working, then yours is not working.

[csuwldcat]

Originally Posted by GARYSSS

The only times it has happen to me, is when I put it in reverse and I'm actually in 6th gear. You only know this if you let the clutch out and go forward , otherwise you just think the sensors not working. If your actually backing up and it's not working, then yours is not working.

Yeah I've actually been in reverse when it has failed to activate. It's hard to remember the exact details from the last time it happened before this (it was in summer, maybe 3 months ago) but from what I remember, it seemed like going from another gear to reverse very quickly might have been the condition that caused it. I'm going to go play with it this afternoon, hopefully I can report back with concrete steps to reproduce it.

[Mr_Draco]

I've not noticed it with mine. What tranny are you got?

[Wakemaker89]

I too had something similar happen I was pulling into my garage space and backing up to straighten out and thought I had more room because I never heard the beep and THUMP! right into the rear fender of my dads grand cherokee luckily it was slow enough so no damage occurred!

[Brutal SS]

I had this happen only once, and I backed into my cousin's car as a result. Hasn't happened before or since!

[Sevn86]

No problems here either

[Revo1]

Even active, you can't rely on the backup sensors. If the object is narrow, or not directly behind you, those little bastards will drop the ball. Mine went off AS I bumped into a narrow pole- a whopping 10 days new.

$2300 in damage. Don't count on the sensors, seriously.

[bkscott]

I noticed mine wasn't as reliable after I put the skip shift in. Go figure. It used to beep like crazy, now it seems to be less sesitive.

[csuwldcat]

Originally Posted by csuwldcat

Yeah I've actually been in reverse when it has failed to activate. It's hard to remember the exact details from the last time it happened before this (it was in summer, maybe 3 months ago) but from what I remember, it seemed like going from another gear to reverse very quickly might have been the condition that caused it. I'm going to go play with it this afternoon, hopefully I can report back with concrete steps to reproduce it.

So to the one person that asked, I have a manual 6 speed.

I tested the system with a buddy yesterday in a parking lot that had various features like poles and different sized curbs. I found out a few interesting things:

1. In the time I was testing I did get the system to completely fail to engage twice. It seemed like the first one was due to quickly coming out of another gear into reverse, while the second seemed to happen when I was in reverse and gear checked it to ensure it was in fact in reverse by clutching and barely moving it out of and back into reverse.
2. Trying associate a given action to the two instances out of about 100 where it did this were hard, the stupid initial beep that lets you know when it is active has such a long delay that you can do a lot of other things with the shifter before it goes off as a result of being activated.
3. One of the biggest problems I found was not even from the system failing to activate. It was that once it was active, it was incredibly inconsistent (as Revo1 mentioned). I would do the same maneuver about 10 times next to the same pole at the exact same angle, and it would yield different results! Another issue was that when an object was on the side of the car beyond the distance of the bumper (as was the case in my pillar backup accident) it would sometimes notice it and beep and other times it would never make a sound, even under identical conditions.
4. Sometimes it would beep when I was parallel to a curb because the tires were close to it (I assume that is why it beeps in such a circumstance) and sometimes as with the objects to the side-rear of the car, there is no beep at all.

Basically, the system cannot be relied upon to serve its stated purpose: reliably letting you know if you are getting close to stuff when backing up, and that sucks :(

[Brutal SS]

Originally Posted by csuwldcat

So to the one person that asked, I have a manual 6 speed.

I tested the system with a buddy yesterday in a parking lot that had various features like poles and different sized curbs. I found out a few interesting things:

1. In the time I was testing I did get the system to completely fail to engage twice. It seemed like the first one was due to quickly coming out of another gear into reverse, while the second seemed to happen when I was in reverse and gear checked it to ensure it was in fact in reverse by clutching and barely moving it out of and back into reverse.
2. Trying associate a given action to the two instances out of about 100 where it did this were hard, the stupid initial beep that lets you know when it is active has such a long delay that you can do a lot of other things with the shifter before it goes off as a result of being activated.
3. One of the biggest problems I found was not even from the system failing to activate. It was that once it was active, it was incredibly inconsistent (as Revo1 mentioned). I would do the same maneuver about 10 times next to the same pole at the exact same angle, and it would yield different results! Another issue was that when an object was on the side of the car beyond the distance of the bumper (as was the case in my pillar backup accident) it would sometimes notice it and beep and other times it would never make a sound, even under identical conditions.
4. Sometimes it would beep when I was parallel to a curb because the tires were close to it (I assume that is why it beeps in such a circumstance) and sometimes as with the objects to the side-rear of the car, there is no beep at all.

Basically, the system cannot be relied upon to serve its stated purpose: reliably letting you know if you are getting close to stuff when backing up, and that sucks :(

Excellent info! I think what happened in my case is I didn't wait for the long delay, and you helped me to be aware of this in the future. Thanks for the constructive input!