Michael Moore
Veteran Member
I found this little information booklet about Park Distance Control in the owner's manual of the 2002 Golf TDI that I rented at Zürich airport this week. This particular car did not have PDC system installed, just the booklet in the owner’s manual.
To give you a very brief translation of what it says:
- PDC comes on automatically when you put the car in reverse. The system will make a beep when you put the car in reverse to signal that the system has activated.
- If you take the car out of reverse, the system deactivates.
- The system has an aural warning only. It will start to beep intermittently when it detects an object that is within 1.2 meters (1.2 yards) of the back bumper of the car. The frequency of the beeping increases as you get closer to the object.
- If it detects an object within 30 cm (1 foot) of the back bumper, it makes a steady tone.
- If you backup faster than 15 km/h (10 mph) the system is not entirely reliable. At any speed, it will not detect an object that is not within the range of the sensors (for example, a thin vertical object such as a fencepost).
- The sensors don’t work if they are covered with ice. If you steam-clean the outside of the car, keep the steam away from the sensors.
The information in the gray shaded box is just the usual warnings for the benefit of idiots and lawyers, suggesting you still use your eyes to see if there are any children behind the car, etc.
I have done some preliminary research about purchasing the parts needed to retrofit this system. It appears that the retrofit would be pretty simple, the system consists of 4 sensors, a wiring harness, a beeper, and a control unit. It probably gets electricity from the backup light circuit, since it is only activated when reverse is selected.
Total parts price looks like it will be about € 160 or so, for the wiring harness, beeper, and control unit. I still need to find out if the wiring harness includes the sensors or not. I’ll post the EKTA printouts once I get access to a scanner.
I have spent a fair amount of time looking for a Golf that has this option installed, and have not found one yet. It does not seem to be a commonly ordered option.
To give you a very brief translation of what it says:
- PDC comes on automatically when you put the car in reverse. The system will make a beep when you put the car in reverse to signal that the system has activated.
- If you take the car out of reverse, the system deactivates.
- The system has an aural warning only. It will start to beep intermittently when it detects an object that is within 1.2 meters (1.2 yards) of the back bumper of the car. The frequency of the beeping increases as you get closer to the object.
- If it detects an object within 30 cm (1 foot) of the back bumper, it makes a steady tone.
- If you backup faster than 15 km/h (10 mph) the system is not entirely reliable. At any speed, it will not detect an object that is not within the range of the sensors (for example, a thin vertical object such as a fencepost).
- The sensors don’t work if they are covered with ice. If you steam-clean the outside of the car, keep the steam away from the sensors.
The information in the gray shaded box is just the usual warnings for the benefit of idiots and lawyers, suggesting you still use your eyes to see if there are any children behind the car, etc.
I have done some preliminary research about purchasing the parts needed to retrofit this system. It appears that the retrofit would be pretty simple, the system consists of 4 sensors, a wiring harness, a beeper, and a control unit. It probably gets electricity from the backup light circuit, since it is only activated when reverse is selected.
Total parts price looks like it will be about € 160 or so, for the wiring harness, beeper, and control unit. I still need to find out if the wiring harness includes the sensors or not. I’ll post the EKTA printouts once I get access to a scanner.
I have spent a fair amount of time looking for a Golf that has this option installed, and have not found one yet. It does not seem to be a commonly ordered option.

