[mf4j]

I have auto parked twice in perpendicular spots. Yesterday I tried to do it at a mall parking lot and the system would not find a parking spot. After browsing you-tube videos, it looks to me like the system has to detect autos on both sides of the parking spot with the sonic sensors in order to declare a parking spot? Also, it doesn't seem to use (or at least need) parking lines.

So my question is what are the real requirements for auto park to work? Lines or not? Cars on one side / end of the spot, cars on both sides / ends to declare a spot? It was pretty clear from my visit in the parking lot that it wont find an open spot when there are no other cars but good bright lines.

Please, no opinions. I need first hand experiences and / or actual facts. It's not in the manual, believe me I've looked.

Thanks,

Gene

 

[generaltso]

Hi Gene, welcome to the forum! I can tell you that Park Assist does not use lines at all. It only uses the sonar parking sensors, so it relies solely on the distance to other cars as well as the curb (if there is one). I've never tried perpendicular Park Assist, but I've used Parallel Park Assist several times. I can tell you that that requires at least one car to park behind. It won't find a spot if there are no cars or if the spot is in front of one car with no other car in front of it.

 

[mf4j]

generaltso,

Thanks for the info and the welcome. That matches my limited experience exactly.

Gene

 

[PVD]

I have auto parked twice in perpendicular spots. Yesterday I tried to do it at a mall parking lot and the system would not find a parking spot. After browsing you-tube videos, it looks to me like the system has to detect autos on both sides of the parking spot with the sonic sensors in order to declare a parking spot? Also, it doesn't seem to use (or at least need) parking lines.

So my question is what are the real requirements for auto park to work? Lines or not? Cars on one side / end of the spot, cars on both sides / ends to declare a spot? It was pretty clear from my visit in the parking lot that it wont find an open spot when there are no other cars but good bright lines.

Please, no opinions. I need first hand experiences and / or actual facts. It's not in the manual, believe me I've looked.

Thanks,

Gene

I tried perpendicular several times, it worked only once so far. It parked parellel to the other vehicle. So I guess, someone has not parked correctly, this won't. Also, I am yet to figure out the optimal speed to start it working. removing foot from gas pedal doesn't work for me, I have to reduce the idle speed by slightly pushing the break.

 

[Mike17Pac]

When the van was only a few days old I tried the perpendicular parking assist. Because I didn't trust it yet I went to a nearly deserted parking lot. I was surprised that with so many spots available it couldn't find one. I tried it again another time with the same results. And then I tried it in a parking lot that was nearly full and it worked, so now I have come to the same conclusion that you have that you need other cars to be present in order for it to find a spot. When it does find one it works very well.

 

[coupon_ninja]

It will also work between a car and a tree or shrub like an end cap median. It also doesnt like when one of the vehicles in either space are substantially different lengths.

 

[coupon_ninja]

Also, I just crawl down the lane, more toward the center than I would typically drive. It doesnt seem to look if you're on the brake. I haven't looked in the manual about this but I believe it only looks on the right side

 

[generaltso]

Also, I just crawl down the lane, more toward the center than I would typically drive. It doesnt seem to look if you're on the brake. I haven't looked in the manual about this but I believe it only looks on the right side

Activate your left turn signal and it will look on the left side.

 

[coupon_ninja]

Activate your left turn signal and it will look on the left side.

Ahhh! I will have to tell my salesperson that

 

[generaltso]

Ahhh! I will have to tell my salesperson that

You would think that more salespeople would read the owners manual for the cars they sell. Sadly, I have never found that to be the case.

 

[Pacificasteve]

So my experiences mirror what’s posted here. It doesn’t do a very good job of locating spots and it also is a slower process than just doing it yourself. I think it’s more gimmicky than useful. The engineers should also consider making the switch a three position switch. Press once for parallel and a second press foe perpendicular. Having to press the console button then use the ok button to switch and then turn on the directional signal if you need a left hand spot seems like a lot of commotion/ distraction.

 

[pachyderm]

So my experiences mirror what’s posted here. It doesn’t do a very good job of locating spots and it also is a slower process than just doing it yourself. I think it’s more gimmicky than useful.

Sad to say that this is true. It's especially frustrating because all of the pieces are there to make this a good system like Tesla has, but it appears that all FCA wanted to do is be able to check off the box on a features list.