I took delivery of my 2003 E320 a few days ago.
One of the many options was the "Parktronic" parking aid.
It is a real disappointment.You only see the front or back LCD lights and there is no audible
beep until one is 10-12 inches away from whatever you are about to hit.
My niece has a Chrysler van with a similar system.
It is far cheaper and works perfectly well. It beeps the minute you start reversing. The beeps get louder and quicker as one gets close to an obstacle. This is NOT the case with M.B Parktronic.
In fact I bumped into a retaining wall the second day I had the car. By the time I heard the beep the car had hit the wall

 

My experience with Parktronic is quite different. I like it and use it almost daily. I have really good depth perception, but with aging I suspect it's not what it used to be. I find that it simply confirms how close I think I am to something. I had viewed the on-line movie at the MB site, so I knew what to expect going in. I would not want a constant audible tone. Let me know when I'm a few inches away, but heck, I'm usually aware I'm in a tight spot and I'm looking for the Parktronic's feedback.

I am sorry to hear about your hitting that wall.

 

I also personally think the parktronic on MBs is great. You just look at the bars to see how close you are getting... then within the last foot, it starts beeping.
The BMW system for example, does not have the light bars and only beeps, which I think can be a little annoying at times.

 

I've got to agree with Psyrtash. I ordered parktronic, but I recognized the no-audio-til-10-inches limitation (saw it on the mbusa interactive video stuff in the E class section).

A jaguar x-type I rented this summer in Denver had a similar system and it had the repeated audio pulse feature that was mentioned. On my E500 test drives I played a bit with the parktronic and wished for the tones as well as the visual cues.

I like the idea of an audio warning that provides me constant feedback while I continue to look around the vehicle.

Personally, I prefer the Jag/Chrysler style beep-beep-beep-beeeeeeeeep over the audio-at-the-last-second in Parktronic.

A software configurable choice would be nice.

 

what is supposed to happen when your at a set of traffic lights and there's people walking in front and behind you close to the car? Do the other cars with the audible parktronic sensors beeb all the time?

 

Hmm..good question.

When pulling out of the parking slot on my last tet drive, the cars were parked in a 6-pack on the dealer's lot. Salesguy drives the front-center out, I pull forward the back-center car. As I pull forward and turn into the aisle I got a quick beep, which might have been the right rear (outside corner as I was turning left)

so it seems like it might make noise in congested traffic areas. Hmm.....

Chris? any comments on Parktronic in Houston traffic?

 

Page 214 of the E Class Operator's manual states the following with regard to Warning Indicators:
"Rear area: An intermittent acoustic warning will sound when the first segment lights up. This signal quickens with each additional segment lit. When the eighth segment illuminates, the acoustic warning becomes a constant signal. The signal is canceled when the selector lever is placed in position D or P."
The respondents to my posting seem to indicate that they, like me, hear only the last second signal and not the signal from the time the first segment lights up. Could I ask the respondents for a more exact description of when they first hear the audible signal in relation to the light indicators.
Thank you.

 

When backing into the parking space on my test drive, I deliberately backed up til I had all-yellow, then stopped the vehicle to get out and walk behind the car to visually examine how much distance was left. There were no audio cues, but this was a dealer car and I don't know if any configurations were changed.

We also had fooled with the suspension settings on the drive, so the salesman might have pressed parktronic-silent (which is on the passenger side of the Airmatic setting button I believe). I didn't check this.

 

The manual seems to clearly state that the audio should be heard with the first contact and continue until it becomes solid (about 10" to one foot).

This is what I had understood that it did. The Lexus works this way also.

Anyone have a unit that is working as described in the manual?

 

Check to see whether the Parktronic button near the transmission has been switched off.

 

Regarding Parktronic in heavy urban traffic: My first thought was that I should switch it off. (It's just to the right of the suspension selector.) However, I've left it on all the time. I rarely get close enough in bumper to bumper to have it light up more than one or two amber lights. And once you reach any speed at all, it switches itself off. It's great parking, though. I left a concert Monday night, and you know how those parking garages can be. I was not only able to monitor what I was doing, but also what the crazies around me were doing. And yes, I did see red once or twice then... (No bumps, though!)

 

The reason I did not get Parkatronic is that its not 100% of the time useful really. Like others said, if you keep it on and people walk infront or behind your car it beeps. My cousin was driving with me in his 2002 w210 when I went to order mine and he has it. He was trying to convince me to get it too and as we were parking it was beeping loudly although he was way far from the curb! Another friend of mine backed up and hit the car behind him in his 500CL!! although he has it so I thought to myself its not worth getting and I got the wood wheel instead!

 

Was any Parktronic-equipped W211 owner able to confirm the audio behavior in US-spec cars?

MB's documentation says beep-beep-beep-beeeeeeep (tones increase in tempo until steady/redlight), yet posts and the mbusa.com 'interactive feature spotlight' indicates that you only get 1 type of tone, namely *steady* once the indicator goes all-red.

Yet another case of the website, the brochure, the owner's manual and the regional online manuals having different explanations from each other, and different from the way the vehicle actually behaves.

One wonders if MB is going to send out CDroms with documentation error pages on them!
-james

 

the way it works is that there aer 6-7 lights, they are yellow, and there are 2 red..when the first red lights up, there is a beep beep, when the second lights up there is a beeeeeeeeeeeeep, then thats it, it doesnt continue, so it isnt to annoying, we like a lot, it is very usefull getting out of our garage