Chinese Makers Find New Opportunity in Helping Drivers Park

Parking sensors, or parking assist systems (PASs), are among the most important safety devices found in modern cars today. They make parking easier and safer; this helps to avoid accidents, therefore protecting cars from expensive damage and, more importantly, drivers and passengers from injury or worse.

These devices produce a signal when there is any obstacle, visible or invisible, up to two meters behind the vehicle. They improve low-speed maneuvering, and today they are found as a standard item in most middle-end new cars as well as a popular choice in the aftermarket.

A PAS is basically a set of ultrasonic sensors with a control box and a display that indicates the distance and/or location of obstacles. The system begins working when you shift into reverse gear, detecting obstacles behind and transmitting the information to the control box, which provides a visual or audio alarm.

The automotive aftermarket provides big opportunities for PAS makers that have not tapped into the OE (original equipment) parts supply chains of the automakers. In China, most suppliers of these products are content to remain in the aftermarket; some leading manufacturers, however, have become qualified suppliers to both local and foreign car brands.

One of the foremost of these is the Shenzhen Zhengdafei Industry Co., an ISO 9001: 2000-approved company that specializes in developing and making PAS-related products including parking sensors, reverse cameras, and displays.

The company's sales manager, Tu Changfong, reports that Zhengdafei is working hard to develop exports of its PAS products while upgrading product quality and corporate management. "We carefully control sources of materials so as to assure overall product quality from step one," Tu says. "Also, we exert every possible effort to improve our product design and technical ability so that we can make our devices more functional and competitive in the international market. We provide training courses for our employees, and pay them reasonable salaries. The resulting stability of our work force is a key factor in achieving more stable product quality as well."

Zhengdafei also assures product quality by using the most precise, highest-end testing and inspection equipment. All items produced have to pass stringent tests including 72-hours of continuous power-on, anti-decay, high/low-temperature operation, along with other safety-related tests and inspections.

To further strengthen the functionality of its PAS products, Zhengdafei also provides reverse cameras that can be connected to the system to transmit the view behind a vehicle to its multimedia entertainment system.

The company currently supplies reverse image cameras with a 92-degree angle of view for passenger cars and a 120-degree angle of view for larger vehicles.

Zhengdafei markets its PAS products throughout the world under its own "FEDA" brand. Its monthly production capacity now totals 15,000 sets, which it exports to customers in Europe, the U.S., the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Another leading company in the line focuses on both the OE and aftermarket PAS business: Shenzhen Baisheng Xingye Technology Co., an integrated developer and manufacturer of car security and multimedia entertainment systems.

Shenzhen Baisheng Xingye supplies traditional PAS devices, sensors, and reverse-image cameras. It offers both charged coupling device (CCD) and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras with 300,000-pixel resolution.

Terry Hu, the firm's marketing manager, says that his company can develop and produce custom PASs to meet customer requirements. In addition, he stresses, its strong technical capability allows it to extend the effective distance of its sensors to three meters, compared with just two meters for competing products.

Shenzhen Baisheng Xingye currently supplies products to both the OE (original equipment) and AF (aftermarket) customers. It exports high-quality PAS products to major markets in Europe, the U.S., and Southeast Asia, and provides system-integration services to automakers in China.