LIRS6

New to vehicle, can't find anything in the manual - what is the white "P" on blue background in the center top of dash. It goes out above about 20 mph.

TIA

luv2sleep

You have Park Assist and it's a pretty cool feature. Your GL will parallel park for you, kind of like an autopilot; you just have to actuate the brakes, the gas pedal, and the gear (reverse vs. drive). I had the salesman demonstrate this feature and realized I definitely want it since this GL will be my wife's daily driver. I'm tired of getting alloy rims repaired!
Try this: slow down to less than 20mph (preferably less than 10 mph or so), drive by very close to the parked cars (parallel parked, hence parallel parking), and when your vehicle thinks that it can park in that space (slowly pass the parking spot), a little triangle/arrow will illuminate next to the white "p" sign. On the center display (below the "p"), it will ask you if you want to proceed. If so, hit "ok" on the steering wheel. It will ask you to put the vehicle in reverse. You work the brakes and the gas pedal and just watch it do it's thing; it does a really nice job. It may also tell you to put the gear in "drive" when it needs to pull forward. Just follow the directions on the center display. fyi, I've never seen a steering wheel turn so fast!

blittle

I have this system and , while it CAN do it what it is designed to do, believe me it is cumbersome to use....takes to long to find the "open" space and then you have to respond to the commands from the system......in real traffic situations it is much too slow, particularly for the traffic waiting behind you.....i can do a better and quicker job using the old fashioned mirrors and eyes! ..... I have the same kind of system on my 14 Ford Fusion and it seems much faster, more precise.

JoeMa

I understand exactly what blittle is saying but with a little practice you can use the system quickly. The trick is turning on your right turn signal ahead of time so any cars following you know you are about to parallel park. You'll need to pull-up almost nose-to-nose with the car in front of the parking spot.

JimBarnhart

Just so everyone is aware, the white P on blue background shows up on my 2013 GL350, and I do not have park assist. It is replaced by the car with the lanes symbol as you increase speed. For people in my configuration I take it to mean that active lane tracking, etc is not yet activated.

wamochi

+1

i can never seem to get it to give me the arrow for spaces i want. i think there is some minimum size it's looking for, which kind of defeats the purpose. 9 out of 10 times the whole reason you are parallel parking is because there aren't a whole lot of choices!!

if the system needs a super huge space, that makes it really easy for me to do on my own. hell, i park in spaces all the time it deems too short - with the 360 degree cam anything is possible. and no, i have not gotten any curb rash

43221B

So what is the P for? It comes on at any speed below 20 mph. Is it's purpose to remind us to put the vehicle in park?

A300Capt

i have the same thing and the manual doesnt say anything about it......i think its the Pre-safe system thats activated when it sees something close in front of it and alerts you to something ahead so you can brake in time......and if you dont break its gives you an aural two tone warning.

JoeMa

When you see the P, the vehicle is scanning for a parallel parking space (right side only) to determine if the GL can fit in the space.


As I mentioned above, with the right turn signal on, slowly drive pass an open spot. If you see a white arrow next to the 'P' when you're just about even with the car in front of the open spot, stop, and place the GL in reverse. You'll be prompted to press OK to begin Park-Assist.

cmginc

Parking Guidance is automatically activated when you drive forwards. The system is operational at speeds of up to approximately 35 km/h. While in operation, the system independently locates and measures parking spaces on both sides of the vehicle. When driving at speeds below 30 km/h, you will see parking symbol as a status indicator in the instrument cluster.

When a parking space has been detected, an arrow towards the right or the left also appears. Parking Guidance only displays parking spaces on the front-passenger side as standard. Parking spaces on the driver's side are displayed as soon as the turn signal on the driver's side is activated. To park on the driver's side, you must leave the driver's side turn signal switched on until you have engaged reverse gear.

Parking Guidance will only detect parking spaces:
that are parallel to the direction of travel
that are at least 1.5 m wide
that are at least 1.3 m longer than your vehicle
A parking space is displayed while you are driving past it and until you are approximately 15 m away from it.

blittle

The 360 cam was worth the whole cost of the "parking assist system".....really allows for some "tight" maneuvering! .....and, allows me to parallel park faster than the automated system. I guess I just am more comfortable being in command of the situation rather than watching to react to commands from the system.

Ntuck

I couldn't agree more! The 360 cam has been worth it's weight in gold. I can parallel park better than ever with that feature. It's the best and everyone who sees it is amazed how it works!

baobay

I love the 360 degree cam. very helpful. I have the active parking assist but never used it. The cameras are USELESS in the dark. ABSOLUTELY USELESS.

blittle

....and that is true also!

43221B

FYI..I have one of the last of the 2014 450's produced and the camera image is very very good, much like it was in my X164 in dark conditions. I have parktronic with active park assist, but I passed on the surround camera. Sounds like either Mercedes updated the camera software/system sometime in the 2014 MY or having the surround camera setup degrades the image for some reason.

blittle

I believe that is the issue.....my rear cam on my 2011 GL450 was much better in the dark than the 360 system on the 2013......that being said, I still would prefer the 360 system. It really has been very helpful and amazingly accurate!

luv2sleep

This is where Infiniti shines. Their 360 camera is superior to that of the Mercedes IMO. On the Infiniti, the front camera automatically pops up when the front sensors come on. It can be manually turned on by push of a button versus the two step process of the GL. We are still happy with the one on the GL; it does its job.

paomien

Do the lights under the side view mirrors light up when you put the car in reverse?

baobay

yes they do but that does nothing. Mine is also a late build 2014 but I have the surround camera. Hopefully they come up with a solution to this.

Axxlrod

We have Park Assist on our GL, and the salesman showed us how it works when we picked the car up on delivery day. He was driving so he could demonstrate the system to us, and he applied a little too much gas, and the rear tire went up on the curb. .

Luckily, there was no damage to the wheel; just to his ego.

Venom-AMG

I don't think he was suppose to use the gas pedal. Only brakes

baobay

I haven't tried this option yet. I guess i'll park my other car and have my neighbor sacrifice one of his cars so I can practice. Hopefully everything goes well.

SndsoftheSbrbs

How do I know if my 2015 GL63 is equipped with this feature?

SndsoftheSbrbs

VIN Decoder says that I have it. I've never ever thought that I had it, so it must be standard.

SndsoftheSbrbs

Well...I finally was able to get it to activate, and whoa! This is some aggressive self-parking. Much more aggressive than the Volvos I’ve test driven. It works well for the most part. If other drivers are parked sloppily, then it will park too far from the curb. However, it parked damn near perfect on a Chicago side street tonight.