Hi

I bought a used 2004 Mini, great shape and have found the forum very helpful in getting my questions answered along with other help in finding after market parts, etc.

Quick question:

I notice when I back out of our Garage, the Mini will start rapidly beeping and then stops once I'm out of the garage. I assume this must be the Park Distant Control that I read about on the forum. However, when I'm in a city parking garage and backing up or in a parking lot backing up close to a car, I don't hear the beeping. Any explanation?
Thanks a bunch.
DeviceSpy

 

It may be that the PDC is picking up your garage walls, or something else in the garage, that is within range of the sensors. This causes it to beep until your car is past whatever the sensors are detecting. In the parking garage or lot, there is probably enough room in the direction of the sensors they aren't picking it up.

Just a guess, but hopefully it helps answer your question.

 

To add to Mishka's comment regarding the sides of your garage wall, it might be that the rear-facing sensors are defective, but the corner ones are working fine.

Those little circles in your rear bumper are the sensors. In any case, you might want to do some careful testing with friends and solid objects, and test each sensor invididually to see if they work.

It might warrant a trip to the dealer for diagnosis and repair.

 

My new MINI does the same thing backing out of the garage, so it is definitely picking up the side of the garage on its way out. I agree you should test backing up to a "friend" as the PDC should go off.

 

Thanks everyone. I will check them out.

 

Hmm, I didn't think they offered OEM PDC until 2005 when they introduced the convertibles - I must be wrong

 

Yep - ditto the others - the "corner" PDC sensors pick up anything within a couple of feet of the corner of the car - so when I'm backing into my garage, it sees the front wall of the garage beside the door opening and goes crazy until I get past that. It's screaming " YOU IDIOT!!! AREN'T YOU LISTENING?!? THERE'S SOMETHING BACK THERE!!! OH! OH! OH! YOU'RE ABOUT TO HIT IT!!!"

Then I pass safely by...

 

Also worth mentioning is that if there is a fair amount of grime on them, they will go off.

 

They are standard on the convertible but have been available as an option on the hardtop since the beginning.

 

At which point it apologizes for worrying you,

 

thanks for clarifying, i've just never seen them on a pre-05 car and when we were looking at used it didn't come up on earlier years either.

we did get it on our second mcs and i love it, never had it not beep when near an object though, even when the car is dirty - when you say "backing up or in a parking lot backing up close to a car, I don't hear the beeping" do you mean the car is directly behind or to the side?