I can barely notice them on my car but maybe they're more noticeable on non-black cars. I can honestly say nobody has ever asked me "what are those?", even folks that have no idea about cars and wouldn't already know about parking sensors.

It's not hard to park a car, sure, been doing it for ages. BUT, it does really take some of the guesswork out of parallel parking when you're just not sure how far the bumper is sticking out of that SUV behind you with the big old riot grill or the old boat with the low low bumper that sticks out 6 inches from the hood.

Also, I have to reverse into my underground parking spot where I also keep my motorcycle. The GS is a long car compared to my previous ones and they barely both fit together in the spot and the sensors sure take any fears away from my wife accidentally knocking the bike over even if I neglected to park it in exactly the same position every time. It's also tricky because on the sidestand it angles away from the car and looks further away than it really is.

Bottom line is these things are super useful in the city where parking is always tight.

 

can you bypass them (the defective one)