Principles of Operation

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2014 Lincoln MKX and 2014 Ford Edge. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

NOTE: Close the liftgate for correct operation of the video camera system.

The rear video camera system is active with the ignition in run and the transaxle selector in the REVERSE (R) position. The video camera receives commands and sends status over a dedicated Local Interconnect Network (LIN) to the Body Control Module (BCM). The video camera sends a video signal to the Accessory Protocol Interface Module (APIM) (vehicles equipped with a 8 in (203.2 mm) touchscreen) or the FCDIM (vehicles equipped with a 4.2 in (106.68 mm) display) on a pair of shielded video circuits. The APIM sends the video signal to the Front Display Interface Module (FDIM) (mounted to the APIM ) which displays the video image of the area behind the vehicle.

For vehicles equipped with a 8 in (203.2 mm) touchscreen, the video camera system has 4 video features that are controlled in the FDIM . The features are:

Active guidelines
Visual park aid alert
Manual zoom
Video camera delay

NOTE: Vehicles equipped with a 4.2 in (106.68 mm) display do not have any features that can be configured by the driver. The system displays fixed guidelines that cannot be turned off.

For each one of these system features except the camera delay feature, the APIM sends a network message requesting the system feature to the Instrument Panel Cluster (IPC) via the High Speed Controller Area Network (HS-CAN). The IPC sends the message to the BCM over the HS-CAN . The BCM sends the message to the video camera over the LIN . The LIN is a dedicated single wire communication line that sends and receives network messages from the BCM to the video camera. The video camera delay feature is controlled with in the APIM .

The messages sent from the BCM to the video camera are:

transmission selector (PRNDL) status
liftgate ajar status
camera configuration data
display manual zoom request
parking aid audible warning status
parking aid sensor distance to object data

The messages sent from the video camera to the BCM are:

camera status
display zoom status
camera part number data
visual park aid alert status
fixed guideline status

All of the video camera features are enabled and disabled within the FDIM menu screen.

The video camera fixed guidelines feature displays guidelines on top of the video image to assist the driver with alignment of the vehicle. A dashed line on the displayed image represents the center of the vehicle and 3 color-coded lines (red, yellow, green) identify different zones between the rear of the vehicle and objects.

NOTE: The color-coded lines cannot indicate accurate or consistent distances between objects located behind the vehicle and at the rear of the vehicle. This normal condition is due to variances in vehicle ride height, including, but not limited to, vehicle loading.

The video camera delay feature keeps the image displayed on the FDIM until the vehicle reaches 8 km/h (5 mph) when the vehicle is shifted out of reverse or if any button on the FDIM is pressed.

The visual park aid alert feature utilizes the 4 parking aid sensor inputs from the Parking Aid Module (PAM) and the video camera image. When the transaxle selector is in the reverse position and an object is detected in the path of the parking aid sensor, a network message of the distance from the parking aid sensor to the object is sent from the PAM to the BCM over the HS-CAN . The BCM networks the parking aid sensor message to the video camera over the LIN . The visual alerts are red, yellow or green and appear as highlights on top of the displayed image to indicate in which zone the object is detected. The highlighted visual alerts are still operational if the parking aid system is disabled within the IPC and the visual alert feature is enabled.

The manual zoom feature is controlled by the video camera. The manual zoom feature has 3 zoom levels that are only active when the vehicle is in reverse. If the manual zoom feature is enabled and the vehicle is shifted out of reverse the manual zoom feature is disabled. The manual zoom feature must be re-enabled the next time the vehicle is shifted into reverse. When the FDIM requests the video image to be zoomed in or out, the APIM sends a zoom request network message to the IPC . The IPC sends the message to the BCM , which sends the zoom request message to the video camera over the LIN . The video image sent by the video camera is then digitally zoomed in or out.