Park assist buzzer (H15) failed and disabled my reverse camera

[jack in oz]

This is just a heads up for anyone trying to diagnose a failed reverse camera.

The Park Assist system on my B7 Passat stopped working (beepers, proximity indications and reverse camera). After many hours of troubleshooting I tracked it down to a dead reverse buzzer. It's just a 50 ohm, 36mm diameter mylar speaker. Mine was open circuit. That was enough to cause the Park Assist system to fail its power-up test and shut the whole system down. It was giving error code 1080340. I can't believe VW would design the system that way.

To make things worse, the buzzer is located under the rear parcel shelf. To access it you have to remove the C pillar trims, bench seat, side airbags and the parcel shelf. It's an incredibly stupid place to put it. Had VW mounted it from inside the boot it would have been a 2 minute job.

I have pulled the buzzer cable back into the RH wheel well where it exits from. I will mount the replacement buzzer in there so if I ever need to replace it again it will be a simple job. It won't be as loud, but I had the beepers switched off anyway so I don't care. Currently there's a 47 ohm resistor plugged into the socket. That tricks the system into working.

Hope this helps someone one day.

[tek199]

Had the same issue with the '09 Tiguan. The buzzer that failed was around the steering column behind another module. My triple jointed hand saved the day. I have no idea what VW puts these "consumable" items in such difficult to reach places.

[Mark1316]

I have just joined ans possibly same issue . I'm guessing your car is a right hand drive ? Had a look in the repair manual and it looks a right pain to get to ? I'm even thinking of getting it from the boot by cutting a piece of metal out of the parcel shelf ?

[jack in oz]

I have just joined ans possibly same issue . I'm guessing your car is a right hand drive ? Had a look in the repair manual and it looks a right pain to get to ? I'm even thinking of getting it from the boot by cutting a piece of metal out of the parcel shelf ?

Yes, right hand drive. If you can cut the metal without damaging the shelf that sits on top of it, that would be a MUCH easier way of replacing the beeper.

[MIG]

You should be able to get to the wiring from the RH side wheel well; taking the trim out of the boot is much easier, and re-terminating the wire there might be much simpler, and you can just wire up a simple, cheap speaker instead of the $100+ VW want for the tiny speaker.
(Yes I paid that when my front one went )

[jack in oz]

You should be able to get to the wiring from the RH side wheel well; taking the trim out of the boot is much easier, and re-terminating the wire there might be much simpler, and you can just wire up a simple, cheap speaker instead of the $100+ VW want for the tiny speaker.

That's an excellent idea. Just make sure the speaker you buy is 50 ohms. Most speakers are 8 ohms and might fail the self-test. I think I paid $15 on eBay for an aftermarket buzzer identical to the original.