I have a new C 300 and never owned a car with a backup camera. I find myself parking the old fashioned way (turning around) because I don't understand the grid lines.

How much distance does each yellow line represent?
How far away is the car behind from the center horizontal line?
How do I judge the distance of my car from the curb?

I tried to use the grid parking in a tight spot yesterday and did a terrible job.

Please help me understand the information the camera is giving me.

Thanks so much

 

well using your eyes to see the lines are just as subjective as using you using your eyes when you turn around to see.

just as you've gotten used to making eyeball measurements when turning around, you will do the same with the lines in the backup camera. maybe someone out there has measured those lines with accuracy, but it differs on all cars so there is no standard.

im sure you know this already too, but as long as the car doesnt all the way up to your bumper, you're good...i think the camera shows the edge of the rear bumper of your car

And distance from the curb isnt easy to measure with a backup camera, that's why our cars also have the side mirror reverse memory where you can set the mirror to angle down when in reverse to see how far your wheels are to the curb. i use that every time i park to make sure im within the lines of a space or close enough to the curb.

 

No one told me about side mirror reverse memory. Do all cars have this option?

 

All good cars do. Place your car in reverse, keep your foot on the brake, select the right mirror adjustment button, angle the mirror downward so that you can see the rear wheels/curb. When you place your car in D or Park the mirror will return to it's original position after about 3 seconds or so. Next time you engage reverse it will return to the low angled position you set in reverse before.

 

this works on both mirrors too, in case you need it. when you're in reverse you can select which mirror the car uses to point down

 

The owners manual has a very good description of the meaning of all the lines and the distances they represent. I tried to paste the picture and description here, but was not successful. It's on page 208 of the manual I have.

 

The red is just about at the point of contact, so I use the last yellow line as my stopping point.

 

The book says the yellow line is 3 feet and the red line is 12 inches. That seems pretty accurate in my experience. I find the side lines indicating the width of the car and the wheel track very useful.

 

For S205 owners ...


yellow line horizontal also helps judge the space you will need to access the rear hatch and open the door and hence to not have the rear hatch hit anything when you open it after backing in...