British manufacturer AB Automotive Electronics is to investigate the aftermarket possibilities for its recently launched alternative parking sensor.
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Its e-Park, which is now being shown to vehicle manufacturers, senses the ambient capacitance in the detection zone and then monitors for changes to this within specified parameters. It consists of two elements, a flat laminate plastic sensor mounted inside a plastic bumper and a small electronic module. This, it is claimed, gives it the advantage of being field based with no intrinsic gaps in the sensing zone.
Business development manager Derek Bennett believes that the product has potential in the aftermarket as a dealer-fit or through a “professionally fitted service”. There is no bumper area preparation, no conventional harness to be fitted and no additional constituent parts. The down-side is that e-Park is model specific, which could mean that franchise dealers are more likely to benefit.
However, Bennett says that the company could probably develop a universal sensor with only a small sacrifice in performance.
