RV Modifications Part 5- Front Parking Sensors

October 21, 2021

RV Modifications Part 5- Front Parking Sensors

Our 2020 Winnebago View 24D was built on an "Limited Edition" VS-30 Chassis, which should really be called the "Economy" version.  It is fitted with manual vinyl seats, and the 7" entertainment system display.  It has a standard cruise control, not an adaptive cruise control, but does have active lane monitoring and back up camera.  One thing it doesn't have is front parking sensors.  The driver seat position is pretty high with excellent visibility from the cab, but it is hard to know exactly how close things are to the front bumper, and like most large vehicles, it has quite a blind spot directly below the hood line.  Higher versions of the VS-30 Chassis that have the adaptive cruise control and 9" entertainment screen have front parking sensors.  To avoid inadvertently damaging the very expensive plastic bumpers on this Sprinter Chassis, I installed aftermarket parking sensors. 

These were pretty easy to install after having previously figured out how to disassemble the upper dash board panels and trays.  The secret is you have to pry off the tweeter covers in the front corners of the dash to access T20 fasteners that hold all the rest in place, and to disassemble from the outside towards the middle tray.  I had previously figured out the passenger footwell fusebox for power access and the grommet in the firewall in the passenger footwell to pass wiring from the cab to under the hood.  

The one caution I would have to advise anyone undertaking this same task is to make sure that you mount the sensors with the correct orientation.  The sensors do not have a conical beam.  It is flattened like a fan so make sure the "UP" mark on the back of each sensor is installed in the UP position, otherwise they will falsely alarm all the time as they pick up the road surface.  

Also, make sure to wire the power to the sensors through a dash mounted power switch so that they can be left turned off when not needed.  I discovered that rain and other noise can cause annoying false alarms while driving out on the open road.