Can I fit parking sensors to my leon?

N77A

Active Member
Nov 8, 2019
87
4
Bought a seat leon 2014 and want to get parking sensors. I am aware of the kits you can buy off ebay or amazon but i would like it done professionally so that it looks factory made and works well for a long time.

I know seat can fit them but i don’t live near any of the branches that offer this service so will probably need to get the fitted by someone else.

Where can i buy the proper sensors and who can i get to fit them? Also will they be able to fit it so that it shows the display on the stereo instead of just the sound
 

Legojon

I only wanted a remap
Staff member
Moderator
Jul 7, 2015
5,284
2,713
You could try posting in the Listers and Hortons sections and ask for prices for the actual sensors. I'm not sure if an independent garage would fit them for you. Worth phoning around. I get a mobile auto electrician to do my bits n pieces. I believe he does rear parking sensors, so it's worth checking who covers your local area (mine does West Midlands only I think).
 

Lozzy15

Mods mods mods
Staff member
Moderator
Mar 24, 2015
570
376
Ilkeston, Derbyshire
Yes, they can be fitted as if they were factory fitted. I've written a guide for fitting the front sensors, that does assume you already have the rear ones installed.

However, the rear ones can be retrofitted as well if you don't currently have them. Prices for the genuine sensors second hand are around £13 each, and the brackets to hold them are around £10 each. Bearing in mind you'll need 4 of each it can get costly quite quickly.

You can also get sensors from places like Aliexpress where I got 4 sensors and the brackets for £38 for the lot, but of course they're not genuine. That being said, the ones I got and fitted work perfect and look absolutely identical to the originals.

The rest is wiring into the loom and fitting a control module under the drivers side dash, which isn't overly hard to do if you're a practical person. You can even get ready made wiring looms from Kufatec which you just have to install and route through the car, although they are expensive and making you're own looms again isn't crazy difficult.

If you're thinking of doing it yourself them drop me a PM and I'll try and help with what you'll need. Think I even have a spare control module for rear sensors you can have if you want it.
 

N77A

Active Member
Nov 8, 2019
87
4
Ah tbh i don’t think i’d be capable of fitting it myself as I’ve never done anything like this before, thank you though.

I’m thinking to just buy the sensors myself an get an auto electrician to fit it, you know the same people that fit car stereos etc.
 

Lozzy15

Mods mods mods
Staff member
Moderator
Mar 24, 2015
570
376
Ilkeston, Derbyshire
That's fair enough. Fitting them is abit more technical that doing a car stereo, you have to route the wiring, fit a control module, add pins and wiring to the existing wiring loom connections to the BCM which requires wiring diagrams to do, cutting the holes in the bumper for the sensors.

I know I'm making it sound a massive job, it isn't really, but to an auto electrician they might make it out to be a big job to justify increasing the cost. It could easily be done in half a day.

There are some companies that specialise in retrofitting to the MQB platform, they provide everything and do the job for you, but they do charge a high price for the privilege.
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
The ones fitted at the factory are Cobra Parkmaster, which are now branded Vodafone I think? They are flush to the bumper and CANBUS compliant so won't muck up your computer.

They can be retrofitted and look identical to factory. I've done five or six cars now. It's honestly not that difficult, the hardest part is removing the bumper. Getting the 'park pilot' to show on the screen is altogether more complicated and to be honest is not worth doing. Unless you have cameras as well the display tells you nothing useful.

Total cost of the parts, including rattle cans to paint them, is under £100.
 

N77A

Active Member
Nov 8, 2019
87
4
The ones fitted at the factory are Cobra Parkmaster, which are now branded Vodafone I think? They are flush to the bumper and CANBUS compliant so won't muck up your computer.

They can be retrofitted and look identical to factory. I've done five or six cars now. It's honestly not that difficult, the hardest part is removing the bumper. Getting the 'park pilot' to show on the screen is altogether more complicated and to be honest is not worth doing. Unless you have cameras as well the display tells you nothing useful.

Total cost of the parts, including rattle cans to paint them, is under £100.
Any
The ones fitted at the factory are Cobra Parkmaster, which are now branded Vodafone I think? They are flush to the bumper and CANBUS compliant so won't muck up your computer.

They can be retrofitted and look identical to factory. I've done five or six cars now. It's honestly not that difficult, the hardest part is removing the bumper. Getting the 'park pilot' to show on the screen is altogether more complicated and to be honest is not worth doing. Unless you have cameras as well the display tells you nothing useful.

Total cost of the parts, including rattle cans to paint them, is under £100.


Any ideas where i can buy this one?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
The ones fitted at the factory are Cobra Parkmaster, which are now branded Vodafone I think? They are flush to the bumper and CANBUS compliant so won't muck up your computer.

They can be retrofitted and look identical to factory. I've done five or six cars now. It's honestly not that difficult, the hardest part is removing the bumper. Getting the 'park pilot' to show on the screen is altogether more complicated and to be honest is not worth doing. Unless you have cameras as well the display tells you nothing useful.

Total cost of the parts, including rattle cans to paint them, is under £100.

No, what has happened is, factory only fitted their own versions of sensors and controllers, Cobra was VW Group dealerships supplier of choice of retro fitting kits that did not integrate into any cars infotainment systems, then Vodaphone bought over Cobra and some time later offered these Parkmaster kits that used sensors and mountings that made the completed installation look exactly like the factory fit sensors - which was a huge step forward for anyone considering buying a retrofit parking system.
I'd expect any proper retrofitter to want to pick their preferred supplier of kits or discrete parts - why would anyone want to get the job of fitted someone's supplied cheap stuff then need to justify why it all went wrong during installation or a few months later - not good for their reputation I'd say.
I went down the route of buying cabling from Kufatec, used buzzer, switch and controller from ebay, and new sensors from a couple or more sources on ebay - everything worked first time and still works - I was upgrading rear parking to full OPS in an Audi S4 2011.
Doing things the same way as factory will cost you a lot of money, even if you were able to do it your self, maybe consider the SEAT dealer provided Vodaphone solution and live with not having OPS just warning tones, but externally it will still look like factory fit?
 

CRNeo

Active Member
Feb 5, 2016
394
3
Liverpool
I had a set fitted to my old astra estate - ordered off a website that also offered professional installation, they just book a local auto electrician (which tbh you could do yourself)

Think I paid around £100 all in and they came out, removed bumper, fitted and no issues... was a good job.
 

Flycatcher

Active Member
Nov 16, 2019
11
2
Hi, i'm considering putting fr bumpers on my se. Sorry i'm not technically minded, especially when it comes to parking sensors. In order to get them working on the car do I need a control unit then + what other relevant bits? Thanks
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Yes you will need a parking sensor controller and maybe some extra cabling and a change of coding in a few other controllers.
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
In order to get them working on the car do I need a control unit then + what other relevant bits?

If you want them to hook up to the radio, yes, but you really don't need that. If you buy the Vodafone/Cobra kit everything you need is in the box except the tools.

We have cars with the sensors hooked up to the radio and cars in which they aren't. It makes zero difference either way.
 

N77A

Active Member
Nov 8, 2019
87
4
Can anyone recommend any auto electricians that fit parking sensors in west yorkshire?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
In addition to Mr Pig's comments, the cost difference between factory version fully integrated and aftermarket Vodaphone version is quite scary, I retro fitted front sensors to an Audi S4 buying new cable forms and new sensors and used other hardware, and carried out all the work myself, and that cost me £365 back in 2017 with extra tooling and other needs another £150 roughly. The Kufatec complete kit was priced at over £550 so that sort of thing is what a retro fitter would expect you to provide, and then add on quite a few hours labour!

I have no reason to believe that an equivalent SEAT kit would cost any/much less.

I had no issues with the cost as I just wanted "as factory fit" front parking sensors added to my car that came with only rear parking sensors, so no regrets there, now if I had a car with no parking sensors, I'd have a hard job convincing myself that the Vodaphone option was not the way to go.
 

Flycatcher

Active Member
Nov 16, 2019
11
2
Thanks for the replies folks. If I get a set of Fr bumpers I just might get the holes filled in before spraying. Sounds like that might save me a fortune, I haven't seen any mk3 fr bumpers without sensor holes. Does that sound like a good idea?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I'd think that Vodaphone retro fit kits could replace the official SEAT ones in your bumper, these sensors are a good way to protect your new FR bumpers.
 

N77A

Active Member
Nov 8, 2019
87
4
I got quoted £200 to get “flush fit oem style” sensors fitted to my car. Is this a good quote? At first i thought it was a little pricey considering how much the kits cost off amazon but i would never be able to fit it myself. However, the flush fit ones look more genuine so is it worth the price?
 

SteveGSXR600K1

Active Member
May 6, 2017
572
187
This is what you're looking for, but their service isn't cheap. They use genuine SEAT parts and includes the button on the console, shows on the display, etc. Exactly as if it was all there from new. I'm really want to add front sensors to my FR but cannot justify nearly £700. Don't forget the prices shown are ex.VAT!!

http://poollretrofits.com/seat_optical_parking_sensors_front_rear_retrofit/

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