Parking Mode

A dash cam with parking mode monitors the vehicle’s surroundings even when parked and the engine is not running. Incidents can occur even when you’re off the road, and a lot can happen when you’re away from your car. With parking mode you’ll be prepared in case of parking lot hit-and-runs, break-ins, vandalism, and theft. Parking mode is a very useful feature to have that provides 24/7 protection and surveillance for your vehicle.

What is Parking Mode

As you know, dash cams are designed to record your drive. But, a dash cam with parking mode can also monitor your vehicle while you’re off the road. All kinds of incidents can happen on the road as you drive. But, they can also take place in parking lots, garages, and even your own driveway. This is where parking mode comes into play. Parking mode is the term used to describe the function that allows a dash cam to record footage while the vehicle is parked and turned off. You may also hear other names like parking monitor, sentry mode, parking surveillance, or parking guard–these all mean the same thing. Think of it as an extra set of eyes and ears to stand watch while your vehicle is left unattended.

How Does It Work?

Dash cams with parking mode are capable of sensing when your car is parked and can auto shift from normal recording into parking mode recording without manual intervention.

When the vehicle is parked longer than 5 minutes or the engine is shut off, the dash cam will go into a state of hibernation and turn on only if triggered by impact or motion. When triggered, it will turn on, record a 30s video, save the file, and then turn off again.

Impact Detection

Impact detection is the first type of sensor that can trigger your camera to start recording in parking mode.

Impact detection, also known as collision detection, relies on the camera’s internal g-sensor to register vibration due to sudden impact.

When impact is detected, the camera will automatically save the current recording to a separate events folder so that it’s easy to find and safe from loop recording.

Motion Detection

Motion detection is the second type of sensor that can trigger your camera to start recording in parking mode. Motion detection relies on the built-in G-sensor to detect movement such as walking pedestrians or moving vehicles.

If the camera is triggered by motion, the current recording will save to a separate event folder so that it’s easy to find and safe from loop recording. You can set the sensitivity for motion/impact detection on low, medium, or high depending on location and surrounding activity.

How To Activate Parking Mode

In order to utilize parking mode you must install your dash cam with either a Smart Hardwire Kit or an Intelligent Hardwire Kit. The hardwire kit draws power from the vehicle’s fuse box. There is no one size fits all, so whatever dash cam you decide on make sure you check which hardwire kit is required.