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I installed Volvo's backup warning system on my wife's 97 GLT wagon in Norway. It's called the ParkPilot made by Bosch. It lasted about three years before it started going wacko. I repaired it once (had to remove bumper to get at sensors and clean connections), but early this spring it went gunny bag again on me. When you put the car in reverse you should get a single loud beep, telling you the system is activated. When it starts to go on you, instead of a short single beep you get a long erratic beep, and it won't warn you of anything behind you. In addition to being very expensive, about $300, it only has a range of about one and a half meters, i.e. five feet. It's too short a distance for your reaction time if you're backing up and there's a car behind you. A month after I left Norway my wife backed into another car. Had the system been working she would have avoided that one.
Is there a really good backup system out there, one you can install without doing violence to the chassis, like drilling a hole in the back door to make an electrical connection (I have a 97 R wagon I drive here in the States). It would be nice if you could adjust the warning distance to say, maybe ten feet. Bosch's system was okay, an absolute bear to install, though it didn't take a rocket scientist, just a very specialized hole cutter (1 & 7/32", electrical supply house if you want one) and it's apparent life is relatively short. And you can't adjust the distance. I wouldn't object to making a hole in the bumper, and I know I can come up inside the chassis through a hole behind the bumper that was put there for the ParkPilot
An recommendations and where to look would be deeply appreciated. Thanks in advance to all who reply. Dick
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