I'm having one of mine replaced in a couple of weeks due to a stone chip. The car is on a salary sacrifice scheme but I still have to pay £250 excess for the damage.
The repair centre needs the car for a week. They do need recalibration and as most repair centres do not have the kit to do it they have to call someone in.
Front Parking sensors
I went to a Bodyshop I've used before today.. and they showed me how to replace the sensor.
All mine for £25... and some elbow grease. Thankfully mine is one of two centre ones which don't need spraying to match the car colour.
Under the car at the front there is a panel with 4 torx screws (all in one line). If you take that off, you should be able to reach around and remove the sensor. Others have managed to wiggle it out through the grille, but I wasn't able to unclip it, probably need stronger fingers!
I'll be trying it when the sensor arrives next week
Pretty sure it's rubbish about them needing calibrating. I've unplugged and plugged a side sensor which was bashed in by another car, actually punched out of the bumper, once plugged back in, it worked fine.
Managed to get my phone inside as well and get a photo of the part number on the sensor, which matches the one on the part number I bought on Ebay! It's a standard VAG part used across Skoda, VW etc.
All mine for £25... and some elbow grease. Thankfully mine is one of two centre ones which don't need spraying to match the car colour.
Under the car at the front there is a panel with 4 torx screws (all in one line). If you take that off, you should be able to reach around and remove the sensor. Others have managed to wiggle it out through the grille, but I wasn't able to unclip it, probably need stronger fingers!
I'll be trying it when the sensor arrives next week
Pretty sure it's rubbish about them needing calibrating. I've unplugged and plugged a side sensor which was bashed in by another car, actually punched out of the bumper, once plugged back in, it worked fine.
Managed to get my phone inside as well and get a photo of the part number on the sensor, which matches the one on the part number I bought on Ebay! It's a standard VAG part used across Skoda, VW etc.
Last edited by JBorn on Wed Jul 31, 2024 9:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
.I can confirm its not the same black, it's quite a lot darker than the one already fitted. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it though, you actually don't notice it as they both blend in. I ended up just wiggling it through the grille. The access panel on the bottom is blocked by something that prevents you from reaching through.
Mine is working fine now. I tested the auto-park and this is working fine too. Make sure to get the code that is already on your car, different starts such as "1EA" and "5WA" refer to with or without auto park functionality. No re-calibration needed! I think this is only required when the bumper is taken off.
In the end, I used my phone on selfie mode as a reverse camera, and a very large allen key as a way to get leverage on the top clip.
Before you can push the clip up, you have to push the cable loom (bunch of wires) away from behind the parking sensor housing, as this prevents the top clip from being pushed up.
The top clip is the hardest to pop open, because you have to push up and you can end up just pushing against the grille if you're not careful.
After that, you need to pull down on the bottom clip, which is easy, then push the centre of the parking sensor until it has dropped out. You then have to pull the parking sensor down, and fish it through one of the grille holes. The ones near the bottom are slightly bigger and you can wiggle it through.
You then have to push on the top (the visible end) of the gray tab which is holding the parking sensor in place. You can use a flathead screwdriver to push the parking sensor out of the socket.
Put the new sensor in, then push the cable loom back behind the parking sensor housing or it'll stop you from poking the parking sensor back into place.
Make sure the sensor you buy has "6.5" on it as this refers to the detection range on bosch produced parking sensors.
Mine is working fine now. I tested the auto-park and this is working fine too. Make sure to get the code that is already on your car, different starts such as "1EA" and "5WA" refer to with or without auto park functionality. No re-calibration needed! I think this is only required when the bumper is taken off.
In the end, I used my phone on selfie mode as a reverse camera, and a very large allen key as a way to get leverage on the top clip.
Before you can push the clip up, you have to push the cable loom (bunch of wires) away from behind the parking sensor housing, as this prevents the top clip from being pushed up.
The top clip is the hardest to pop open, because you have to push up and you can end up just pushing against the grille if you're not careful.
After that, you need to pull down on the bottom clip, which is easy, then push the centre of the parking sensor until it has dropped out. You then have to pull the parking sensor down, and fish it through one of the grille holes. The ones near the bottom are slightly bigger and you can wiggle it through.
You then have to push on the top (the visible end) of the gray tab which is holding the parking sensor in place. You can use a flathead screwdriver to push the parking sensor out of the socket.
Put the new sensor in, then push the cable loom back behind the parking sensor housing or it'll stop you from poking the parking sensor back into place.
Make sure the sensor you buy has "6.5" on it as this refers to the detection range on bosch produced parking sensors.
No probs - I was pretty horrified at the cost as the first one was done under warranty, I don't know why they do some and not others, as the first one was stone chip damage too. I couldn't believe it cost so much to have a sensor that you can get new for £25 - £50 on ebay - no doubt VW dealers can get a discount on this, I think they are just covering their arses because they don't really know how to do it on the new cars, and I very much doubt they would really remove the whole bumper and re-calibrate the radar, if they realised you can just poke it through the grille instead.
I forgot to mention in the post above - make sure you get the right sensor for your car - easiest way to check is poke your phone in through the grille on selfie mode to see the serial number on the back of the sensor. It seems that some Cupra Born's have the sensors starting with 5 like "5WA.919.275.C 905" and the number "6.0" whereas others like mine have "1EA.919.275.C 905" and number "6.5".
When I got the sensor, it came with a slightly different number on - "1ED.919.275.C" and was "Made in China", not made in Spain as advertised on the photo. It still says "VW AG" so hopefully all to the same spec. All I can assume is that it's the same specification but just a different origin, maybe thats why it's "1ED" vs "1EA". Or maybe it's a new part which supercedes "1EA".
If you do order the wrong sensor, it seems that there is a type of "key" in the plug which prevents you from plugging in an incompatible sensor. So should be easy to tell anyway if you've bought one which won't work with your car.
I'm too impatient to argue with the seller on ebay, so I fitted it anyway despite the part number being slightly different and being made in China not Spain, and it works perfectly, and the autopark all works too so as far as I'm concerned I can forget about it now.
I forgot to mention in the post above - make sure you get the right sensor for your car - easiest way to check is poke your phone in through the grille on selfie mode to see the serial number on the back of the sensor. It seems that some Cupra Born's have the sensors starting with 5 like "5WA.919.275.C 905" and the number "6.0" whereas others like mine have "1EA.919.275.C 905" and number "6.5".
When I got the sensor, it came with a slightly different number on - "1ED.919.275.C" and was "Made in China", not made in Spain as advertised on the photo. It still says "VW AG" so hopefully all to the same spec. All I can assume is that it's the same specification but just a different origin, maybe thats why it's "1ED" vs "1EA". Or maybe it's a new part which supercedes "1EA".
If you do order the wrong sensor, it seems that there is a type of "key" in the plug which prevents you from plugging in an incompatible sensor. So should be easy to tell anyway if you've bought one which won't work with your car.
I'm too impatient to argue with the seller on ebay, so I fitted it anyway despite the part number being slightly different and being made in China not Spain, and it works perfectly, and the autopark all works too so as far as I'm concerned I can forget about it now.
I believe that if any of the sensors are replaced they need to ensure the sensors are all calibrated to ensure the parking function and the stop/go or travel assist function works correctly. I’ve had 3 sensors fail with no evidence of chips or scratches (and just had another one stop working). The dealer has replaced these under warranty.
