Park Assist - Bay Parking experience?

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Jerodequin

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Hello all,

Has anyone had experience of the bay parking function on park assist?

Before going into the details, just wanted to get the whole 'I don't need it/I won't ever let a machine help me' line out of the way - if that's the way you feel, that's great - please feel free to start another thread ;-)

I'm a bit of a gadget freak, I had park assist on my previous car (but parallel park only) and thought it was rather cool (although to be honest in 4 years of ownership I can only think of one time where I used it 'in anger').

On the A3 I saw that it not only supports parallel park assist (which I haven't tried yet) but it also supports bay parking... The gadget freak in me meant it had to be added as an option - along with all the other tech goodies of course.

I've now attempted to use the feature on 3 occasions and each time it's either made a total hash up of the attempt (i.e. if I hadn't put the brakes on it would have just taken me into one of the cars on either side of the space) or it's tried to do some sort of crazy forward and back dance - each time this has been spaces that I can just pull up to and reverse straight into in one movement if I'm controlling the car myself.

Is there something wrong with my park assist do you think? Am I somehow using it incorrectly (the user manual only actually covers parallel park assist) or is the bay parking feature really that poor?? I'm hoping the parallel mode is better - it always worked perfectly on my previous car (Mk3 Focus) - if it is that bad, I guess I'll be regretting not spending the cash on some other option.
 
I had this on my Tiguan R Line & yes it was quite hit & miss as you have described.

You (also the other drivers around you) need to be patient as the system takes its time finding the space and does not always get in the space in a single manoeuvre. You need to decide when to pull forward & then let the park assist steer. I always seemed to lose my patience having to follow the procedure of indictate, double click the assist button, creep forward wait for the car to say stop etc etc.....

It is clever but maybe we expect a bit too much from it? But like everything else it will develop & get better.
 
I have found that when you follow the instructions patiently and precisely it does a really flawless parking in that the car is parked exactly equidistant and parallel to the neighbouring vehicles. However, you may sometimes wish to be further away from one vehicle than the other, (depending on the location of driver doors or the state of the other vehicle, etc). When deciding to use it or not, I usually avoid it when other cars are around because it can take a number of moves to get into a parking I'm pretty sure I could simply have reversed into with a few minor adjustments.

In terms of parallel parking, the few times I've tried it it was really an impressive single maneuver. It also maintained a good distance from the curb. Really a pleasure.

My main concern is that I find it challenging to follow the instructions on the dash while simultaneously looking outside the car and keeping an eye on the visual aid on the MMI, particularly when the steering wheel obscures the screen during turns. The system should give audible instructions ("reverse", "stop", etc). Also, the system will bring you within continuous beeping territory before telling you to stop, and I've had some really close calls including a minor scratch which I'm really not happy about.
 
I don't tend to bother using the bay park mode - it's more effort than it's worth. If you have the reversing camera then bay parking is an absolute doddle anyway. I use the parallel mode a lot though and that works really well.
 
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chadc said:
I have found that when you follow the instructions patiently and precisely it does a really flawless parking in that the car is parked exactly equidistant and parallel to the neighbouring vehicles. However, you may sometimes wish to be further away from one vehicle than the other, (depending on the location of driver doors or the state of the other vehicle, etc). When deciding to use it or not, I usually avoid it when other cars are around because it can take a number of moves to get into a parking I'm pretty sure I could simply have reversed into with a few minor adjustments.

In terms of parallel parking, the few times I've tried it it was really an impressive single maneuver. It also maintained a good distance from the curb. Really a pleasure.

My main concern is that I find it challenging to follow the instructions on the dash while simultaneously looking outside the car and keeping an eye on the visual aid on the MMI, particularly when the steering wheel obscures the screen during turns. The system should give audible instructions ("reverse", "stop", etc). Also, the system will bring you within continuous beeping territory before telling you to stop, and I've had some really close calls including a minor scratch which I'm really not happy about.
Click to expand...

Interesting - the thing is, when I try the bay parking mode, there don't actually seem to be any instructions on the screen - all that happens is the usual parking display is shown, and the wheel is controlled, but there is nothing to say 'reverse', 'stop' or 'move forwards' or anything like that?!
 
Really? I get the instructions, but it goes on forever - takes it 4 or 5 cycles of back/forward before it's happy whenever I've tried it all the way!
 
Actually, thinking about it - I wonder if it's because I have been putting the brakes on once the parking beep becomes solid and in fact the car is wanting me to continue a bit further - I'll try again another time, but really don't want to prang my (or anyone else's) car at work!
 
It always tells me to change direction at the point that the parking beep becomes continuous. Doesn't sound right to me.
 
cemerson said:
It always tells me to change direction at the point that the parking beep becomes continuous. Doesn't sound right to me.
Click to expand...

So how does it work when you use it?

This is what I've been doing:

- before approaching an empty space (between two cars), press the park assist button twice to put it in bay parking mode (using indicator if necessary to get it to look on the correct side)
At this point the display just shows a picture of an empty bay with two filled bays next to it - it doesn't tell me to do anything or make any sounds.

- I then drive slowly past the empty bay
At this point, it also never seems to tell me to do anything - I've tried driving a little past and right past and it doesn't ever appear to detect a bay or tell me to start reversing

- I now put the car into reverse anyway
At this point I finally get an instruction! It tells me to make sure all is clear etc - as I reverse, the car is doing the steering - but this is where it will generally just try and reverse me into another car - I get to the point where the parking beep is continuous and it doesn't say anything at all

- I now select drive and the car continues to steer as I pull back away from the car it seems intent on steering me into
At this point there are still no instructions and there doesn't seem to be any sensible steering taking place, so I usually end up grabbing the steering wheel which cancels the whole operation - I then reverse it into the space myself the old fashioned way whilst hoping no-one has been watching my 'special' manoeuvres ;-)
 
veeeight said:
Click to expand...

Thanks, but that's the parallel park assist (which I've yet to try) - works essentially the same as it did on my previous car, it's the bay park assist that I'm having issues with!
 
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Too many assists ;)

Hold Assist
Parallel Park Assist
Bay Park Assist
Call Assist
Hearing Assist
 
High Beam Assist
Lane Assist
Blind Spot Assist
Vision Assist
Panoramic Roof Assist
 
Maybe the next revision will come with an Assist Assist too? ;)
 
veeeight said:
Too many assists ;)

Hold Assist
Parallel Park Assist
Bay Park Assist
Call Assist
Hearing Assist
Click to expand...

Yes. I didn't opt for assist package on
my car. I want to drive my car.Not the
car drive me. :thumbs up:
 
Please keep this thread on topic and dont be abusuve to others. :) x
 
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