[Momzilla03]

So I got brave and used the Park Assist to parallel park for the first time this weekend. I have successfully done this to perpendicular park with Park Assist, so I thought that I would advance to the next level. Unassisted, I am a terrible parallel parker and avoid it at all costs. I know my limits. This Park Assist feature was one of the features that I've been most excited about in the Pacifica!

Ultimately, the car parked correctly, but the alarms that warn you of potential collisions (the one with the concentric arcs that get closer and closer to the van avatar on the dash and turn from yellow to red) were going off constantly during the maneuvers. I don't know if that is just a given in the parallel parking situation, but it made me nervous. As a result, I wasn't really trusting the van to do it's thing so I kept applying the brakes and reassessing the situation. It eventually parked us in spite of me and was centered on all sides that mattered.

So for those of you who have some experience with this, is this constant alarming sound to be expected when using Park Assist for parallel parking? It certainly doesn't make this constant alarm sound when Jim Gaffigan parallel parks it in the commercial!

I'm assuming that this feature will not let it hit either the car in front or behind me. Would it somehow "abandon" the parking attempt if it found the space to be too small or does it not attempt to park in spots that might be tight, and then notify me that it has cancelled the attempt?

I keep telling myself to trust these features, but I have nightmares of crunching into someone's car.

I know that there was a thread on perpendicular parking, but parallel parking seems to have this unique situation built in and no one has posted about it.

Thank you for any tips!

 

[generaltso]

It won't select a space to park in unless it knows it will fit. It's normal that the proximity sensors in the front and/or rear will sound as you get closer to the cars in front and back of you. If you're going slow enough, it will let you hit the car behind you (if you ignore the proximity alarm), so you still need to pay attention and operate the brake.

 

[PacificaLimited]

I am wondering if it stops all the audible alarms when you deactivate the button on the cluster under the Nav screen. I have *MY* alarms disabled there for NORMAL driving/parking... not sure if they stay disabled when using the parking-assist feature.

I have only tried the perpendicular parking, not parallel yet.

I am someone who is impatient to wait for "technology" to go through its steps to auto-park. Being an over-confident male driver who used to drive bucket-trucks and a boom crane that needed to be maneuvered and parked in tight locations with only mirrors (and sometimes a spotter)... I am generally very comfortable zipping into parking spaces unassisted.

Having said that, it might be nice to get into spaces that are tighter than I might attempt unaided.

Looking-forward to trying some time.

 

[Damoncaravanman]

the salesman told me to try it, so i did, first with perpendicular parking, he said to me after I shift the tranny I do nothing, not even hit brakes, so I let it go and a reflex right before it side swiped a truck I hit the brakes......I said uh, oh, must be a first off the line needing tweaking. So we tried parallel parking, found a spot with a big space, well again, it was doing fine then when it was turning into the spot it oversteared and hit the curb and jumped it, again, I said I thought this was to do it all on it's own. He again said it was......when we were manually backing into a spot the van was applying brakes when it was getting close to a bush, so my question, was the salesman wong, we are to control the braking??? If so then why does the van control braking when backing up close to a bush but it doesn't when paking with Park Assist almost hitting cars??? Confused...

 

[PacificaLimited]

I just saw this in the manual:
"NOTE:
• It is the driver’s responsibility to use the brake and accelerator during the semi-automatic parking maneuver."

 

[generaltso]

was the salesman wong, we are to control the braking??? If so then why does the van control braking when backing up close to a bush but it doesn't when paking with Park Assist almost hitting cars??? Confused...

Yes, the salesman was wrong. The vehicle will control the steering, but you need to control the accelerator, brake, and transmission. As a safety feature, the car will slam on the brakes right before you hit something, but you should be controlling the speed of the car with the brake before it gets to that point.

 

[Damoncaravanman]

Thank you so much, before I get my new one and tried again!!!! I believed two separate salesman from 2 different dealers. I just sent both of them as well as the new car managers this info with a copy of a video. I guess some were not listening when being trained.

 

[generaltso]

Most car salesmen don't bother to learn how things really work in the cars that they sell. Every time I've gone into a dealer over the past 20 years, I've known far more about the vehicle I'm looking at than the salesman.

 

[Damoncaravanman]

Me as well.......it's funny how they look at you like "what the **** am I hear for, and I say just to fill out the papers"

 

[PacificaLimited]

every time i've gone into a dealer over the past 20 years, i've known far more about the vehicle i'm looking at than the salesman.

^^ this ^^

 

[Momzilla03]

Thank you for all of your responses!

I'm still confused about the braking situation when parking either way (parallel or perp). I seem to recall that others said that they did need to supplement the braking during the maneuvers to slow it down. However, I can't imagine that it would allow me to hit another car while backing in if it is properly sensing the obstacle. I know it is a different situation, but if I am backing out of my driveway and there is a bike or wagon stationary behind me, doesn't it advertise that it stops the car on it's own? Why wouldn't this be available in the parking situation?

I know I need to get my DVD manual out, but my laptop doesn't have a disc drive. I'm sure all of the answers I'm looking for are in there!
I wish that the DVD version of the manual (the full one, not the abbreviated version in the car) was available online. It would be great to be in my van (parked of course) and be able to use my phone to look up any info I might need. I have no idea why it needs to be a hard copy DVD vs. online.

I'll update here when I find out some of the answers to questions raised here!

 

[generaltso]

I seem to recall that others said that they did need to supplement the braking during the maneuvers to slow it down. However, I can't imagine that it would allow me to hit another car while backing in if it is properly sensing the obstacle. I know it is a different situation, but if I am backing out of my driveway and there is a bike or wagon stationary behind me, doesn't it advertise that it stops the car on it's own? Why wouldn't this be available in the parking situation?

It's more of an "emergency stop" where it slams on the brakes right before you hit something. It will do that while it's parking you as well, but it's going to be a jolt when it slams on the brakes. You really need to control the speed of the vehicle with the brake before it's about to hit something. If you're daydreaming and don't, it should stop you right before you hit the car behind you though. Of course, that assumes that you're not going to fast or too slow. If you're going over 7mph the reverse sensors don't work. There's also a lower speed limit at which the auto braking in reverse doesn't work. That's how I back out of my garage with my Jeep Cherokee. It sees the side of the garage door opening as I'm backing up and slams on the brakes. I have to back out very slowly for it not to do that. If that was another car behind me, it would let me hit it as long as I was going very slowly. Likewise, as I back out of the driveway, I sometimes hit 7 mph and a message pops up in the EVIC screen saying "ParkSense disabled, Speed Too High".

In general, never rely on the vehicle to brake by itself. It should really be treated as an emergency feature that should only kick in if you're not paying attention.

I wish that the DVD version of the manual (the full one, not the abbreviated version in the car) was available online. It would be great to be in my van (parked of course) and be able to use my phone to look up any info I might need. I have no idea why it needs to be a hard copy DVD vs. online.

Chrysler has all of their full owner's manuals (including the Pacifica's) available online at Owners & Service Manuals - Chrysler - Cars & Minivans
You can also call them and they'll send you a free paper owner's manual. I always do that so I can include it with the car when I inevitably sell it or trade it in.

 

[PacificaLimited]

Bottom-line: **YOU** control everything but the steering.