Backup Sensors and Truck Drivers

Consumers in trucks drive demand for backup sensors

Consumers, many now driving trucks with big blind spots that block the view behind them, are rushing the market for alarms that warn when they are backing close to something.
Drivers of minivans, pickups and sport-utility vehicles are backing into and killing an average 88 people a year, besides causing billions of dollars of property damage. That's out of an average 116 people a year killed — a third of them children — by any kind of vehicle backing up, says the Centers for Disease Control. backup sensor

Backup alarms that beep inside a truck or car when it is backing close to something are becoming one of the hottest automotive products, either as a manufacturer's option or aftermarket addition.
backup sensor
Outside, the systems look like several buttons set into the bumper. Inside, they beep faster as the vehicle nears an obstruction.

Ford Motor has one of the most sophisticated systems. It uses signals from both sonar and radar sensors in the rear bumper to detect moving and stationary obstacles up to 20 feet behind the vehicle. backup sensor

Ford figured 20% of buyers would take the option last year on its Lincoln Navigator full-size SUV. Instead, 80% did, so Ford made it standard on the '03 Navigator and is looking to expand the number of models that offer it.

That kind of demand has created additional problems:

Drivers who have the alarms are developing false confidence. Automakers say most of the systems are designed to prevent backing into stationary obstacles, such as posts or other cars, and can't reliably detect children, pets or other moving objects.
By David Kiley USA TODAY usatoday.com/money/autos/2002-10-13-back-up-alarms_x.htm