Rob,
You wrote:
"But MSHA does require back up alarms on all vehicles as well as horn audibles when starting a vehicle and beginning travel in forward or reverse."
What does the acronym "MSHA" stand for?
I've had vehicles with USDOT/NHTSA/ICC required back up alarms and wished (in campgrounds mostly) that I could shut it off, but in lot's of other
situations (malls and other parking lots) the back up alarm has helped to prevent several minor collisions (no speed, but in a big 4x4 MF box truck with no
back up camera there's a lot you can't see).
With all my Sprinters I've had the back up camera and now with the 2014 I have the backup camera with the rear proximity alarm and the lights on the Rear
View mirrors so I can actually see and the need for a back up alarm is reduced somewhat.
Where the back-up beeper is most helpful is when you are slowly backing out of a parking slot and it notifies drivers who might not understand that you are
backing out and can't see them (even with mirrors and reverse proximity sensors) what you are doing.
I'm always amazed at the number of crazy drivers that will see you backing out slowly into a parking lot aisle and go right behind you, like you can actually
see them. I catch them in the mirrors all the time and really want to find them and ask what it is about a larger vehicle backing up that they don't understand.
To me anyway that was the true value of the back up beeper. YMMV, but it's a really good safety feature and I almost wish I had ordered it on the 2014.
Roger