Park Assist System

[stmarys45729]

Any comments, pros and cons, on the park assist system? How was the "confidence factor" the first few times when perpendicular parking?

[Cobra348]

I've had mine for nearly a year and still too chicken to try it out. I'll be curious on the responses as well.

[rjrfusion]

I live in a city with tight parking and use it all the time. First time I used it I thought the parking assist did turning and braking (should have read the manual). Car backed into the space accurately and quickly hitting the car behind me. Quickly realized I needed to do the braking. The monitor tells you when to brake and shift. Now that i figured it out it's a great feature that never gets the parking wrong.

[stlouisgeorge]

i use all the driver assist features including parking. I have only tried vertical parking. A few notes:

 

1. Never use park assist if pedestrians are nearby or other cars are jockeying for spots nearby (like right out in front of Wal*Mart on Saturday).
2. Always make sure you have your full attention on the sync screen and your right foot.
3. Feather the gas pedal to move as slowly as possible.
4. The park assist has NO IDEA where the parking lines on the ground are. It will place you mathematically between two cars. If those two cars are not centered in their spots you could end up way out of center.
5. As you go into "search mode" (slowly trolling forward with blinker on the side you want to park), ignore any open spots where two vehicles are "sticking out" an uneven distance. Trying to park between an F-150 crew cab and a fiesta aint gonna work.
6. Most important! Never attempt this procedure with a mother in law in the vehicle (or anyone else who might freak out.

My friends with the other brands tell me they never use any of that tech. Especially Honda. Adaptive cruise is awesome. The exclusive 2017 stop n go is wonderful. Ease into it with some common sense and you will be a pro in no time!

[djminfll]

I live in South Florida (Ft. Lauderdale), where parallel parking is a rarity, but vertical parking is an everyday event. I have used it numerous times, and it has worked 100% perfectly every time, with the exception of #5 from stlouisgeorge's list above - trying to park between an F-150 and a Fiesta. The car ends up almost perfectly centered between the two cars. I also find that angled parking is a problem as well, but you aren't supposed to back into those spaces anyway.

While parallel parking doesn't happen much in Ft Lauderdale, I have used it to parallel park as well, and that worked flawlessly. But to be honest, I grew up and learned how to drive in NYC, and I probably parallel park better than the park assist system! LOL!

But don't be afraid to use it - keep an eye on the screen, go slowly, and brake it you feel like you're getting too close to anything.

Edited July 18, 2017 by djminfll

[Cobra348]

... <large snip> ...

Most important! Never attempt this procedure with a mother in law in the vehicle (or anyone else who might freak out.

This, Sir, takes all the fun out of it! My brother has a 13 equipped with lane keeping and he demonstrated it to my sister-in-law without telling her what to expect. Needless to say, she tweaked! Gotta have some fun in these things!

[luckyleo]

I have used the parallel parking several times and it worked flawlessly.

Perpendicular is another story. Like others stated, it tries to park equidistant between the two cars.

On one occasion it took up two spots trying to equidistant itself between the other two parked cars.

On another occasion it ignored the spot and starting going right into an occupied space. I had to brake and takeover the parking process.

Still a very new experience for me, but will continue to use the system to see it's successes and failures.

I have never needed to control the gas, only the brake.

[stlouisgeorge]

..to see it's [..] failures.

I have never needed to control the gas,..

 

Failures? I hope not!

Do NOT put your foot on the gas :)

 

I got it to work with a "one sided" perpendicular park the other day (two spaces open). Didn't know that would work.

[mwr]

Why would you want to use the system to perpendicular park since it's so easy to do manually? Parallel parking, oh yes...

[billford]

Be aware the sensors cannot see everything.

 

I seen a car with the fender torn off. The driver was parking behind a flatdeck truck. The flatdeck was sitting higher than the cars sensors, so the sensors did not see the deck, but I guess sensors just seen the trucks rear tires and thought that was the rear of the vehicle, and miscalculated.

[rdr]

And I think it is discontinued for 2019.

[Cobra348]

And I think it is discontinued for 2019.

"Advanced Active Park Assist" - available only on gas model Sport. All other gas models, FFH and FFE do not have it. Source: tri-fold Fusion sales brochure (in full color) showing option packages, etc.

 

However, this makes one wonder why the Sport has it and nothing else. Is the Sport ... a) special or b) needing it badly?