Radar Detectors

[morgie]

Hi all,

Does anyone have a radar detector on their T Sport or know of any that have had one fitted? A face lift that I've looked at has one fitted, not sure if it's possibly the sign of a car that may have had a hard life (as owner must really enjoy speed?), or just a cautious owner who wants to be safe. Also, are there certain configurations that make them illegal? Thanks!

[CorollaD4D]

radar detectors are legal, far as i know the ones that jam the radar signal are illegal and if you get caught with one of those in your front grill you're really in the sh*t lol. what do you mean by fitted? cos don't u normally just plug em in and put them on the screen like you would a tomtom?

[morgie]

There was a switch in the compartment to the right of the steering wheel and an LED popped up above the dash. The garage told me the actual detector is on the front of the car. It's not something I know anything about really, what else if anything is needed, a screen or is it just an audible sound? How can you tell a legal one from an illegal one?

[Corrolla18]

As far as I can tell that sounds like a radar jammer - they are normally mounted at the front of the car and present an error message when a copper targets the front of the vehicle with a laser based radar gun. If it is a jammer then these are illegal and if you get caught with it you can potentially be done for perverting the course of justice(i've heard). In general your safe with a gps based "safety device" which highlights blackspots, gatso's and popular mobile camera sights. I beleive that the laser based "radar detectors", which pick up a laser beam targeted at the vehicle are due to be outlawed. Having used these myself I can also confirm that they are really unreliable and can pick up all sorts.

Don't use a laser based radar detector in france as I found out they are illegal and you will get busted.

Hope this helps.

[morgie]

Hmmm, yeah, definitely had something on the front under the number plate - guess any future owner could hopefully remove it quite cleanly (otherwise France is off the holiday list!). Should there be a connection somewhere to plug something in as well then?

[Corrolla18]

No - you normally get an audible alert on radar detectors. As mentioned before though the normal method is a suction cup unit mounted to the windscreen - this sounds more and more like a radar jammer.