Using Park Assist
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Joined: May 2020
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W221 S Class
Using Park Assist
I have a 2006 W221 Distronic car. I'm confident that it has Park Assist. How can I tell if its working? It there anything to turn on? Does Distronic need to be active? I drove slowly past a row of parked cars but nothing happened although there may not have been a suitable sized space present.
Any advice gratefully appreciated.
Any advice gratefully appreciated.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
So your car is fairly old and these systems have massively improved over the years and how you use them have changed a bit in the latest models, but with park assist there should be a blue P symbol in your dash and once it detects a suitable parking spot an arrow to the left or right of the P symbol indicates where it found the spot, and then when you put the car in reverse it should ask you if you want to start park assist. In the latest models there is a dedicated button for the parking assist on the center console that in addition to the P symbol brings up a guided UI in the COMAND display showing all the parking spots it detects (parallel and perpendicular) and then you can select the exact parking spot you wanna park in, along with if you wanna park forward or reverse in case of a perpendicular spot and then the system takes over and parks fully on its own. Here's a video I found of an older version of the system, which is what I think should be in your car if it indeed has it. This shows you how it works.
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Joined: Oct 2010
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From: Southern US
2010 E550, 273 Engine: 2012 S550, 278 Engine
I have parking assist in my 2010 E550 and I think the same in my 2013 S550. These are not active parking assist like the video show. 2006 model for sure does not have active one.
The assist in my cars works so that when you drive slow and the car sees a spot to park an arrow lights up next to the blue P-sign. If you stop and put reverse gear ON the car display in the cluster shows how much to turn the steering wheel and instructs to move the car until it asks to stop and turn the wheel again and move.
There is nothing to turn on other than I think you need to activate it in the settings. If you have the system and it is activated just drive slow past a spot long enough for the car and the little arrow shows up when the car sees the space.
I think you need to have left blinker ON if you want the car to monitor left side to park on the left side.
The assist in my cars works so that when you drive slow and the car sees a spot to park an arrow lights up next to the blue P-sign. If you stop and put reverse gear ON the car display in the cluster shows how much to turn the steering wheel and instructs to move the car until it asks to stop and turn the wheel again and move.
There is nothing to turn on other than I think you need to activate it in the settings. If you have the system and it is activated just drive slow past a spot long enough for the car and the little arrow shows up when the car sees the space.
I think you need to have left blinker ON if you want the car to monitor left side to park on the left side.
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S500
on the early ones, alongside the RFK (rear camera) there was the option of active guide lines and then of park assist
if you have park assist when in reverse with the rear camera on screen at the bottom you get options to select assist for parallel parking or reversing into a space backwards. you select the one you want and the active guidelines change position on screen to suit the manoeuvre
the parallel parking might work in USA at its seems to be for parking an aircraft carrier, in European cities where the space is half an inch bigger than the car it offers no value at all.
the revere parking assistance is well thought out, but I believe its mostly illegal to park the right way round in the USA
I have three sets of lines, I think I got the colours right
orange where the car will end up going due to the way you are playing with the steering wheel
blue where the car needs to go
red where you ought to stop
if you have park assist when in reverse with the rear camera on screen at the bottom you get options to select assist for parallel parking or reversing into a space backwards. you select the one you want and the active guidelines change position on screen to suit the manoeuvre
the parallel parking might work in USA at its seems to be for parking an aircraft carrier, in European cities where the space is half an inch bigger than the car it offers no value at all.
the revere parking assistance is well thought out, but I believe its mostly illegal to park the right way round in the USA
I have three sets of lines, I think I got the colours right
orange where the car will end up going due to the way you are playing with the steering wheel
blue where the car needs to go
red where you ought to stop
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Joined: May 2019
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From: Omaha, NE
2007 S600
I have a 2007 with Distronic-Plus and Park Assist. It's nowhere near the later model years Park Assist. You'll get a front distance indicator when pulling into a spot nose-first. Useful for pulling in as far as you can without bumping into things. No "P" in a box, just a horizontal line with a gap in the middle that fills in with blocks from the outside toward the middle as you pull closer in. It auto-enables when you're below 5 or 10 MPH, and you'll also get frequent alarms ("Park Assist Unavailable") when stopping at traffic signals if there are numerous models of Fords, Nissans, Subarus, and some others in the area.
Backing up will, as has been stated previously, give you different colored lines on the backup camera display, and a series of red & amber LEDs above the rear window, visible in the rear view mirror. They're supposed to help you parallel park or back into a spot. You'll have to read the owner's manual carefully and practice a few times if you want to use it. Honestly, like Night View, I think the rear park assist is a flashy gimmick. It's less difficult to learn to parallel park than it is to figure out how to use the little blue and yellow lines... plus, if you don't follow the process outlined in the manual to the letter, Park Assist says, "Well, screw you then..." and just shuts off.
Later models have very, very different versions but I don't know what features were introduced when.
Backing up will, as has been stated previously, give you different colored lines on the backup camera display, and a series of red & amber LEDs above the rear window, visible in the rear view mirror. They're supposed to help you parallel park or back into a spot. You'll have to read the owner's manual carefully and practice a few times if you want to use it. Honestly, like Night View, I think the rear park assist is a flashy gimmick. It's less difficult to learn to parallel park than it is to figure out how to use the little blue and yellow lines... plus, if you don't follow the process outlined in the manual to the letter, Park Assist says, "Well, screw you then..." and just shuts off.
Later models have very, very different versions but I don't know what features were introduced when.
Last edited by DaleB; Aug 29, 2020 at 02:56 PM.
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From: Tampa Bay, FL
2014 E350 Wagon, 2009 SL550 no ABC
Has anyone found in the DAS/Star a way to disable the Park Assist (to stop the annoying "Park Assist not avail, see Oper Manual" alarms while driving), but WITHOUT disabling the Distronic-Plus which is a very useful feature?
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Super Member
Joined: May 2019
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From: Omaha, NE
2007 S600
Not yet. I just try to remember to push the button to disable it when I get in the car. I don't want to disable it completely, but I would love to have it disabled by default when the car is started.
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S500
I was about to say different systems
however, the hidden parking sensors of the early 221s make use of the two hidden outer disctronic plus radars and whilst parking sensor features turn off above 10mph, the fact these radars pick up garbage from some other cars systems would suggest the message is ambiguous / totally incorrect. as its interference on the two outer minor radars - it ought to disable cruise control and say that.
It has the main radar for higher speed longer distance sensing directly in front and when in slow conditions (round town) the minor radars add peripheral "vision" to allow it to safety navigate other traffic / stop / miss things.
When I was with an expert who knew how to wind up the vol on the std parking sensors for Mercedes, he was surprised he couldn't find anything on my 221 to do the same
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2009 S550, 2016 Kia Soul EV, 1973 Avanti II
