Next someone will start complaining about their "Lanewatch". Or "Airbags", or "disk brakes", or their "anti-lock brakes", or their "3-point seat belts", or any of the other hundreds of improvements made to a modern car to help us prevent and survive car accidents.

We live on a farm, and have cattle grazing on the other side of our cattle gate all the time. When those calves, who are not yet scared of cars, just stand there watching you, any tool that can help you avoid them is wonderful (the same goes for both small and large people in a crowded and busy parking lot).

This combined with the fact the "reverse backup lights" help illuminate the rear view in the camera, I think it is worth every penny of the cost. Our cattle are black, and at night it is very hard to see them. The backup camera is a godsend when backing out of our driveway (or a parking spot).

The sounds a commercial truck makes when backing up, or the previously mentioned reverse rear lights, are both tools for protecting people when you are in reverse. The backup camera is just another tool in your arsenal to drive safely.

As for allowing the presence of a backup camera to determine whether or not I would buy a car, it most certainly would. We purchased two new cars last year and they both have a camera. Our 2007 Honda Odyssey van does not. However, when we do trade the van, it's replacement will also have the backup camera. Taking that even further, I would not buy a used car that did not have one, just as I would not buy a used car without airbags.

 

What Vanguard said ^^


And not just because he always says nice things about my Fit.

 

I might not agree with you because I still using it each time I back out of the parking lot with two HUGE vehicles blocking the views. The camera show me the view beyond them better than my head, neck, eyes can reach beyond them!

 

You wouldn't be saying that if you had a brother in law with an HD camera factory and a family to feed. Think of the children!

I'll bet you hate puppies, too.

 

This. The Fit is so short and inevitably two giant SUVs park either side of me. It's like backing out of a canyon if it wasn't for the camera.

 

My last car didn't have the rearview camera. My wife's car did....and I was jealous because I was having neck issues and turning to look at my surroundings was painful. Then I got the fit 2+ months ago. Funny thing...after I had been driving it a few weeks I realized I wasn't even using the camera as my neck improved and then fit has really good visibility (IMO). With that said...I wouldn't want to get rid of it. Its a nice little feature I can choose to use when I want. Given the price of the car I am not sure if the addition of the camera increased the cost of the car noticeably. So its existance is just a bonus

 

I don't mind the rear camera at all. I use when necessary, like when my cargo is over the rear window blocking my view.

I applied RainX to the camera lenses to stop the dust build up and water beads. It works well.

If you really want to disable the rear view cam just put a small piece of black electrical tape over the lens. Cutting wires is illegal for future sale and is a costly hassle for the future owners to fix.

 

No I don't! They're delicious!

Before anyone jumps on me, the above is humor. I wouldn't harm a hair on Fido's head. Pet lovers are an order of magnitude more fierce about perceived slights to their pets than they are about their children.

 

I think OP doesn't want the display to change at all in reverse, not just go to a black screen.

There's got to be a reverse sense wire connected to the camera and headunit by some means. Without a wiring diagram you'd have to probe around and find it, but if you could disconnect that wire the head unit and camera would never know you were in reverse and would never activate the camera.

It's going to take a little work, but if you really want it done, there's no reason why you can't do it.

That's just logic speaking though, I have no wiring diagram or knowledge of the GK's headunit, camera, or electrical system. I just thought i'd contribute something other than a debate about the effectiveness or usefulness of the reverse camera.

 

I agree with Wanderer's above statement. When the 2013 Civic came out with the rear view camera adding said feature to the 2012 Civic that did not come standard with the camera was all the rage. It ended up being as easy as finding the correct pin in the iMID and hacking into it. I would assume that the reverse is also true to disable it.

Oh, and I really do hate puppies. They grow to be dogs and I don't like dogs.

 

Thank you, that's helpful. I didn't intend on this becoming a moral debate over the children. I just don't like the camera.

I'll have a look at the wiring over the weekend, see if there's anything obvious. Otherwise, it may not be a good idea plucking random wires, lol

 

No, this is how you framed your opinion (post #8):

"Maybe it's a cultural thing, as I'm not from this country, but it seems like people here don't like claiming responsibility for their actions. They want to blame someone else, or have electronic nannies designed to compensate for either ignorance or laziness".

You mentioned you were from another country, so I will assume you don't have a clear grasp of the English language, or you would have realized how offensive your statement was.

 

I am indeed from an English speaking country, and perhaps my statement wasn't flattering, but I don't think it's far from the truth.

After travelling the world, the US is the only country where I see car ads showing how electronic nannies can compensate for bad driving. From the Infiniti ad showing the Mum who doesn't look back while reversing, to the Mazda one showing the blind spot monitering keeping tabs while the driver is weaving in his lane, to the Mercedes one showing the distracted driver and the car slowing itself down before hitting a semi. The most cringe worthy is the Ford ad with the mother showing her teenage son how to parallel park with the self-park tool.

Sorry, but most countries require drivers to learn to drive a manual transmission and most developed countries have much stricter guidelines to pass a driving exam.

All these nannies are very cool and are neat technology, but I do see the trend in the US that people MUST have them to drive. Somehow, we survived all this time without them, and people continue to do so elsewhere

 

I agree with all of that^

The commercials make me die a little inside and crack me up at the same time.

 

People survived for thousands of years without indoor plumbing, and many still do, but I don't have any desire to return to the day's of outhouses, despite what many other countries are doing (for a visual aid, visit Haiti).

All these "nannies" as you call them, are but a small stepping stone to driverless automobiles, which are coming, and will undoubtedly arrive in our country before many others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car

Technology is intimidating to some. For me, I could not imagine going back to the typewriter, when I have access to a computer. I can't live without spellcheck, but do still own a dictionary (in the event of a power outage). In fact, I should loan you my dictionary, so you can see the correct definition of what your statement represents ("not flattering", is not the correct answer).

 

What is the big deal about the back up camera? Just ignore it. It goes away soon as you go forward. I find it very useful when backing up in tight spaces like my garage. I always look via mirrors and rear windows when backing up. The backup camera is just an added bonus as third view when backing up.

I'd say the same for the lane change camera. Helpful at times but I still check via mirrors to be sure. These are just tools to assist you in driving. Someday when cars drive themselves all of this will be unnecessary along with traffic jams.

 

Hey, while we are getting rid of technology to appear manly, let's do away with ABS...who needs that? How about disc brakes...don't need them either, drums work. Better yet, how about starters. A crank works and build muscles at the same time!

 

I do the same with cars with back up cameras. Park like normal, improve my distance to the car/wall/whatever behind me with the camera. /shrug

 

There is one thing I am very anal about when parking at work. Plenty of trees and shrubbery with every chance to dump leaves and sap onto my car. I park at a spot with long parking spot so when I pull in I don't get close to the front of parking bumper. I put the car in reverse and turn the camera facing downwards to I can see the striped lane and let go of the brakes briefly until I don't see the strips anymore. Means I'm parked legally within the parking strips but far away from the shrubs and trees at the front.

I park in the back unused areas of the parking lot so not really bothering anybody.

So the back up camera is very handy for stuff like that. Even tho what I am doing is retarded. lol

 

I just got a 2016 LX Fit and the first thing I found to modify would be the accessibility to the backup camera. I would like to be able to manually access the camera when in the park gear.
Here is my thinking on this. I do not understand why Honda chose to only allow a view when the car is in reverse. Because the vehicle is in gear and will move if the brake is not engaged, a more dangerous situation is created than when the car is in park. When I first get in my Fit needing to back it up in order to go on my journey I would like to also view the area behind my car by using the camera without the car being in reverse gear and then engage reverse and backup a little more safely than otherwise.
Finally I assume I may be in the wrong discussion area for this question so my apologies and could someone direct me to a more appropriate area, if so? Thanks