Anyone know how to disable the Parking aid on a new Ford?

I bought one of those Tekonsha trailer emulators and it did not work on my 2006 Ford F250, just FYI for others...reverse sensing alarm still goes off...

You can set the Parking Aid off, but it will come back on again next time you twist the key.

But some progress:

I confirmed that a trailer with electric brakes would be recognized and would turn off the Parking Aid. I had no luck trying to fool the brake controller with any resistive load down to 1 ohm. However on '12 or so and up trucks, there is a setting in Settings>Driver Assist>Trailer or thereabouts to allow selecting Electric Over Hydraulic brakes instead of Electric. With this setting enabled, I was able to consistently fool the brake controller with a 100 ohm wirewound resistor. Less would probably also work, but will dissipate more power when you brake (because the controller will drive it like it is brakes). 230 ohms did not consistently fool it, 470 ohms never fooled it. With a 100 ohm there are occasional spikes of current (about 110 mA) that seem intended to look for a trailer.

I plan to wire a 100 ohm 5W+ wirewound resistor between the blue and white wire on the camper's 7 pin receptacle. Then when I plug in the camper 7 pin, it should recognize it as a EOH trailer and shut the Parking Aid off. Unplug it, and it is back again. The only inconvenience with this method is if you actually do pull an electric braked trailer without the camper you would need to remember to change the brake type back to electric.

Supposedly this works on 2012's

In the center display:

Settings > Driver Assist > Rear Park Aid > Off

Otherwise, the emulator, like DJ has is what I did. Except I didn't pay 30 bucks for it. Got it from Amazon.

I don't know about Chevy but Fords continue to do this. Ram can be shut off. I had a 2013 Ram and it has a button in the dash you could use to turn it off. When you went to back up it would still give you a beep and an alert in the dash that you had your backup alarm disabled. I don't remember the exact wording of it, but it was just one beep. My 2014 Jeep has the same thing. When I tow my ATV trailer I just hit it one time and it stays off except for the quick beep until I turn the system back on. So there is no reason Ford couldn't do the same thing if they chose to.

For the 4 pin you could do what DJ said that he did and that is wire in a separate 4 pin plug for towing a trailer.

Thanks for clearing that up, Beagle.

Years ago Dodge had lawyers designing trucks too, but IIRC in that case it was on trucks with automatic transmissions that would have the warning sounds come on when backing up with the drivers door open (like in eyeing up a trailer.)

Can't help but appreciate you answering.

The "Parking Aid" is the ultrasonic sensors in the bumper that cause a beep when you are getting close to something backing up. I would not have ordered them on a custom build, but they are present in some of the packages and happen to be on the truck I bought.

It beeps more rapidly as you get closer to something, also puts blocks of color up on the reverse camera screen. The problem is, anything at all on the back of the truck - tailgate down, camper, trailer - causes it to beep rapidly and loudly whenever reverse is selected. When it is beeping, Ford allows you to hit Down>OK and turn it off. But it comes back on again next time you start the truck because their lawyers have no nuts. If you have a trailer with electric brakes, the system senses their presence, and disables the Parking Aid. But that only covers some trailers: if you don't have brakes, or have surge brakes, or have electric-over-hydraulic brakes, or a camper, or the tailgate is down, the scheme does not work.

Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:
Pull the fuse?

Anything you do to disable it causes a beep and notification every time the truck is started.

One solution posted on the net is to cover each of the sensors with sound absorbing foam, but that seems like a lot of work too.

I think my first step will be to experiment with a resistive load on the brake control line to see what it takes to fool it. If that doesn't work or is impractical, I'll buy the Tekonsha unit and take it apart to see what they have in there.

What I want is something I can put in the cable or the camper, so that it does what is is supposed to do: Plug the camper in and it shuts up. These trucks are pretty expensive and sophisticated, I would like it to work the way it is supposed to.

Mr Biggles wrote:
Are you talking about the proximity warning when backing up ?

I am with Biggles. Inquiring minds want to know. What exactly is "the Parking aid on a new Ford?" I am ignorant... I am reading about possible solutions but not understanding exactly what is the issue or concern?

Thanks for 'splaining.

Pull the fuse?

Thanks for the responses so far.

I have read the manual, yes you can disable it but only until you shut off the key. It is quite an annoying rapid beep, mutes the radio, keeps you from hearing anyone giving you directions. I applaud the ability to only back up twice per trip, I find it to be more like 20 - 30 times. At least once every time I start the truck. I'll wear out those buttons.

DL, I saw the old thread where you said you were going to try the Tekonsha device, but it ended there, thanks for confirming that it will work.

I have searched the internet (I am pretty good at that actually) and there are TONS of complaints about this in all brands, all models. The consensus is that the lawyers won't allow this "safety device" to stay off for fear of lawsuits. There was no solution I could find in 20 pages of Google response other than *maybe* the Tekonsha device mentioned above, and buying a brake magnet to hook up (or cutting the wires to the system). A brake magnet is about 3 ohms, a resistor might work in its place but it is going to have to be really HUGE because that is a lot of power. A 50W 12V light bulb might work.

What do you call 200 lawyers drowned at the bottom of the sea? A good start...:)