This one suggests that it is a very high percentage. The point is that children are not stationary objects as you know. If one suddenly popped behind your car you are more likely to notice him or her with a camera.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/n...dies/index.htm

I am sure that of the 14,000 people who ran someone over in reverse last year, many thought themselves attentive drivers who had no need for a backup camera.

You may be perfect. I myself am a pretty good driver - M School graduate, trained in urban pursuit driving by the British Army during my early years, capable of parallel parking in the narrowest spaces with no aids. However I still think having a backup camera is a sensible and safe thing for me to have and I wouldn't buy a car without one.

 

I am with Stealth and SWA on this one.

This car has very poor rearward visibility. Period. It doesn't make a difference if there are other cars with worse visibility....prospective owners for those cars should also think carefully about getting parking aids.

You can compensate for bad visibility by knowing your car and by taking great care while parking. Likewise, by taking driving carefully and exercising skill you can avoid the need for airbags or ABS brakes. So yes, to be pendantic about it, airbags, ABS, or a rear facing camera are not necessary. But it's not good advice to prospective owners to leave out ABS brakes just because you can use driver skill to deploy brakes correctly in a skid.

I think it's not correct to correlate the need for the rear view camera with driving skill.
There are plenty of skilled drivers who just like using the camera for safety because it provides a field of vision in addition to the mirrors.
There are also plenty of terrible drivers who know how to park a car without using a camera.

Whatever buyers decide, they should be made aware that the F-Type has very bad rearward visibility when they consider this option. It's possible to park the car and drive it safely without the camera, but it's a hell of a lot easier and safer with the addition of the camera and the guides.

 

I agree--it was much easier to see out of my H2 Hummer than my F type R coupe
and believe me, the Hummer had MASSIVE blind spots. After a long road trip one time I found a mini cooper wedged in the bumper.

 

Spindoc,

I find no fault in your argument and no reason to disagree with you. I have said many times in, many different ways, that such aids are useful. It just so happens that I found the car I was looking for in stock with no options. I specifically wanted, and was only looking for, the basic F-Type, with no extra options.

I don't feel handicapped without the aids, because I'm willing to exercise the extra care necessary to compensate for the blind spots. I've done that with many cars over the years including many vintage cars and basic, spartan, sports cars with zero aids and often without options of any kind because I relish the "pure" driving experience. The vast majority of the time, I have the screen and sound system turned off in my F-Type. For me, the base F-Type had too many "options" as standard equipment that I wouldn't have chosen, if I'd had the choice.

Once again, are the aids useful and nice to have? Yes, they absolutely are. Are they absolutely necessary? No they are not. Would you leave the car at home if your camera or parking aids weren't working because the car is unsafe? I don't think so.

And lastly with regard to parents backing over their kids, I'm not sure the U.S. mandate to have all cars equipped with rear cameras will actually eliminate those types of tragedies, although I agree it may reduce the number. I also agree that it is a good thing considering the population we're dealing with. However, I suspect there are too many mindless drivers, who will not even bother to look at the camera image and become victims of the same horrible fate.

 

Too funny!!!

 

I think it is important to note that these items are "enhancements" and not a substitute for good driving skills. However they are very good enhancements that increase the safety margin and help prevent minor dings to the vehicle.


Lets face it a human being cannot possible be as accurate judging the exact distance to the vehicle as the technology can. You're in the cockpit the sensor is on the bumper.


Having been in aviation for 40+ years I see many parallels between the technology being added to cars and the advances to jet aircraft.


Years ago many seasoned pilots scoffed at the idea of an autopilot. Autopilots do fly the aircraft much safer, smoother and efficiently, IF THEY ARE WORKING.


I also remember a young pilot very upset because the pitch channel did not work on a trip and he had to hand fly the Learjet from Dallas to NY. (Poor baby!)


So if you got 'em, use 'em. If you don't need them, don't buy them.

 

I too have been in the aviation safety business for 36 years and am a pilot. One of the ironies of what you say above is that the big debate these days in aviation safety circles is that there is so much automation in today's state-of-the art aircraft that too many in the younger generation of pilots is not proficient to fly the aircraft manually. There have been 3-4 fatal major airline accidents worldwide over the last half dozen years where this factor was cited as the probable cause in the formal accident investigation.

On the other hand, there is no question whatsoever that automation has been a major contributor to an extraordinary reduction in the number of fatal accidents worldwide. It's a question of balance as in all things. Today's pilot is there in case all the automation fails, which does happen on rare occasion. We saw a recent example of that at SFO, when the automatic landing aids were not available that particular day to an Asiana 777 copilot, who was incapable of flying a visual approach on a perfectly clear day.

At the major airline where I worked for many years, we used to do "turn it off training" during every recurrent cycle.

 

Package definitely must have. All cars will have back up camera by law soon.

 

Foosh


Sounds familiar doesn't it?
ADSB, CPDLC, FANS1A....

 

Yep, it does.

 

I paid £350 extra for the front sensors and rear camera.

I still use the mirrors for reversing most of the time.

The camera does prove useful in low light conditions however (in addition to its entertainment value in normal driving).

Most of the "Driver Aids" cited appear to reduce the competence of the user, who instead of taking the time to make sure there isn't a potential problem blindly assume the technology will sort it out.

It may help, but it cannot replace paying attention to what you're doing. Additionally, there is the issue of what happens when your eyes are telling you something different to the technology. Spatial disorientation anyone?

And, that's before we start into the integration and fusion of information sources. Which system do you trust when they disagree? Is waiting for a consistent picture to emerge going to be better, or worse than acting on incomplete information?

 

The back-up camera is totally worth it. Visibility near the b-pillar on the passenger side is particularly lacking. So backing out of your driveway or parking spot is certainly less precarious if you utilize the camera. It's more than a convenience. It's safer.

This feature coupled with the blind spot indicators on the rear view mirrors adequately compensates for the sub-optimal rearward visibility.

If you want to experience what awful rearward visibility feels like, try backing up in a Lotus Exige. Yes, there's a rear view mirror, but all you see is intercooler.

 

For a simple question this thread has prompted quite a bit of traffic. As I've said earlier, I have it - not that I intended to get it (the car I bought had it as one of the options) - happy I have it, and use it.

It augments my knowing what's going on around me and doesn't supplant it.

 

You're not kidding. Many don't seem to understand that not one single person (even me) has argued in this thread that it was not "useful" or not "worth it."

I, for one, have said I don't NEED it, but I have had it, used it, and thought it was worthwhile on several of my other cars. I didn't need it on them either, but I liked it.

So, let the record show that 100% of people on this thread think the camera is useful, and put this to bed.

 

Brevity is the soul of wit.

 

I just spent the last two days discussing platform CNI.

I may be suffering from PowerPoint Fatigue...

 

Save the five grand.

Jmo

 

And put it towards your F-Type...you know, the one with the back up camera.

 

Question: do you actually own an F-Type? I'm asking just because there is quite a lot of confusion on this thread already, and it's not very helpful to add opinions from folks who don't actually drive the car.

 

<br />
Well as I'm at my local Jaguar dealer on Monday to sign the order I have last minute thoughts.😊 it would be nice to see on the identity of the user a logo to indicate if one is already an owner or if one is a would be buyer, or a colour coding 😊