Is that right? As in, is that actually supposed to be the way they work, or did your front sensor potentially not work correctly?
Because as you pointed out, them only coming on when in reverse does make absolutely no sense, every single car i’ve owned has them come on by default on slow speeds (and drive me nuts in the lanes, where they constantly pop off when squeezing past other cars).
.. nevermind, i just did google it quickly and indeed you’re right, you need to press a button on low speeds to activate the sensors (or select reverse). Well that’s stupid. Gotta double check, we got the Tucson on our shortlist, if that one does it the same way, that goes on the “contra” list. My front sensors saved our current Ateca twice already, or rather, the paint job – that just doesn’t make sense.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.