zainie786

Hi,
I have a 2007 320 LWB.
I have distronic and park assist, however I’m having some issues.
I’ve never had a blue P show up on the dashboard. 3/5 attempts, park assist unavailable shows up on dashboard and the sensors beep, and then show red.
when I use the parallel setting on the comand, it says steering wheel turned too far and the guidance stops.
what is likely the issue? I don’t have actual sensors, I think it’s the radar built in using distronic.

DaleB

Have you thoroughly read the owner's manual description of how Park Assist works in your vehicle? To describe it as "rudimentary" would be generous. I tried using mine for parallel parking once or twice and gave up... doing it without PA is much easier. Just use the camera. If you try to use PA, you have to remember the exact procedure the car wants you to use. Any deviation and (as you have noted) the car throws up its hands and says, "Well, I give up, you're not doing it right!" Very German.

The descriptions and videos you see that mention the blue "P" symbol are, I believe, for a later version of Park Assist (or Parktronic) and don't apply to your car. What they used in 2007 was very immature technology. The camera is great, but their attempt at "guided" parking - not great.

BOTUS

parallel parking on mine you always get the turned it too far message.... they seem to think the space is twice as long as any you'll actually find available, so you try to get it in the space and it says well you went a bit wild …. it can be calibrated but that's more during fitment.... they shouldn't got out of sync unless some components is changed or such

BOTUS

the world moved on in technology terms... my sister has "real" park assist on a 2013 Ford Focus and its brilliant.... it turns the wheel for you and it fits in tiny spaces and ends up 4" from the kerb perfectly....

George993

I would say the main issue is the park assist itself - apart from proximity sensors it is not of much use :-)

zainie786

Sorry to dig up an old post. I had a flick through the manual and it shows the P icon information, but I’ve never had it displayed on the panel.

BOTUS

is it the right manual.... No P on mine what page of the book?


much later I guess 220 PARKTRONIC SYSTEM (PTS)
mine has 229 PARK ASSIST
later cars get option 230 PARKING GUIDANCE

I have an extra with the camera that gives coloured moving lines - you manually swap between reverse (good) and parallel (useless) parking. Not sure if this is 229 or if that that's the parking sensors???


.

EasyPhil

230 - Parking Guidance is the feature that uses radar sensors in the front bumper and rear bumper to measure a space as you drive by it and then provides guidance on maneuvering into said space. I believe it's only available for cars with Distronic+ and requires 4 radar sensors front and back. A car with Distronic+ and Parking Guidance also has Blind Spot Assist.;

BOTUS

I have 5 radars with disctronic plus, 4 in the bumpers and one in the grille
I don't have blind spot
I have rear camera
with an option extra parking help - which brings active guide lines

I don't have option 230 nor did another with the same features I have

EasyPhil

You need 8 radar units to have option 230, 4 in the front, 4 in the back.

DaleB

Mine is a 2007 S600 with option code 229, "Park Assist" and 233, Distronic Plus. There are four radar sensors behind the front bumper cover, one dead center behind the grille, backup camera. I haven't had the rear bumper cover off, but the EPC shows two "City Assist System" sensors. They are the same part number as the four radar sensors behind the front bumper. The car most definitely does not have blind spot monitoring. The "Park Assist" feature gives you a front parking distance display, and guide lines superimposed on the backup camera to aid in parallel parking or backing into a spot -- supposedly. I've never found that convoluted system the slightest bit useful, it demands that you follow an exact process or it throws up its little German hands and says, "Ich gebe auf! Sie sind auf eigene Faust, Freund."

BOTUS

its works perfectly to park the correct way, reversing in to a space. But USA frown on that way of driving (in the movies its cos plod like to drive round and check the rear number plates - so illegal to reverse in)
for parallel parking its needs a very long space that doesn't exist where I live and is thus useless

DaleB

Utter nonsense. There is nothing preventing anyone in the US from backing into a parking spot; it's just not commonly done in most parts of the country. It may shock you to learn that not everything you see in movies is completely accurate.

BOTUS

traffic engineering analyst for the city, filled in the rest of the information. He said, first of all, parking structures and parking lots should all be posted with “no-backing-in” signs. With this ruling, police will be able to check if rear license plates are registered and legal.

DaleB

1. Traffic engineers do not make laws.
2. There are over 19,000 towns and cities in the US, with several hundred large enough to justify having traffic engineers. Whatever one might say, the others are (rightly) free to ignore.
3. Many states require license plates on the front of vehicles as well as the rear.
4. No cop is going to waste time driving through parking lots looking for expired plates. For one thing, parking lots are, by and large, private property, and there is no law against having a car with expired plates parked on private property - or, in most cases, even in a city owned lot. You'd have to be driving or parking it on a public road to be in violation of the law. Plus, they generally have better things to do.

There are no laws that I'm aware of anywhere in the US that have laws restricting how you park, as long as you're in a legal spot. The closest would be a required maximum distance from the curb when parallel parked on a public street. Nose-in, back in, whatever works.

Arrie

Waiting for the discussion about parking on the left side on a two-way street...😊

DaleB

Legal in the UK, I would guess.