That's the warning from veteran safety campaigner Chris Hanson-Abbott OBE, who is behind the SteerSafe campaign to highlight avoidable collisions.
He points to the benefits of 360-degree technology, calling it a "breakthrough" for driver visibility, but says safety systems like these are rendered useless if not fitted correctly.
"An operator may be tempted to hire the first available fitter to do a rush job. But duty of care demands fully trained experts to fit and to service safety equipment," he cautions.
"A jobbing electrician parachuted in to do a rush job is a hostage to fortune. This might get a vehicle on to site in a hurry, but in the witness box it could be an unexploded bomb."
Life-saving equipment such as this should be fitted by a supplier with its own in-house technicians, suggest Hanson-Abbott.
He cites cases of cameras being fitted upside down, acoustic alerters pointing inwards and sensors facing the ground.
"There is double jeopardy here," continues Hanson-Abbott, who is chairman of Brigade Electronics.
"Not only are blind spots still blind and detectors failing to detect but, worse, the driver may fall victim to a false sense of security.... Life is too short to cut corners with safety."
