Hey, Don't Hit the Road - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Hey, Don't Hit the Road - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

Our long-term 2015 Volvo S60 has very low-mounted front parking sensors that are easily triggered when pulling out of a steep driveway.

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saulster

Yep, same thing happens with my '15 S60 as well. It' annoying and distracting when pulling out from a less than gently sloped driveway at a shopping center or store. I suppose I would get used to it and ignore if my home driveway were that way, and if I backed into my home driveway. Which would be an exception for most home driveways.

Nice pictures and explanation!

herrstreet

I've had an S60 and now an XC and by far the most irritating is pulling out onto my street - because there is traffic and the thing just beeps for 30 sec at a time sometimes. But you can turn it off and I'd never want to get rid of the feature. Short of Nissan's camera system it's the best parking aid I've found.

allthingshonda

Maybe the sensors aren't malfunctioning or oversensitive. They may have the capability to sense objects that the vehicles undercarriage may not be able to clear, it would also explain why Volvo placed them low on the bumper. In this case it maybe warning you that your approach angle will cause the car to drag. Edmunds' long term Mercedes SLS Roadster parking sensors could do this.

locke42

My Audi has the same "problem," but the VW engineers were smart enough to only activate the proximity sensors if (a) I'm backing up, or (b) I turn them on manually. Otherwise, they stay off. So it's not really an issue. I'm surprised Volvo doesn't do the same.

schen72

locke42 said:

My Audi has the same "problem," but the VW engineers were smart enough to only activate the proximity sensors if (a) I'm backing up, or (b) I turn them on manually. Otherwise, they stay off. So it's not really an issue. I'm surprised Volvo doesn't do the same.

I had assumed most cars with front parking sensors automatically activated them during slow driving, like when you're parallel parking or slowly pulling out of a driveway. If you have to manually push a button to get the fronts turned on every time you parallel parked, that would seem annoying.

jeffm5

I agree with you on that schen. In my S60 they activate for a couple of seconds when I pull out of my driveway. It's very brief white noise in this specific situation.