Auto Parking

[AliRafiee]

I have it on my 22. Way too cumbersome.

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[stevefelker]

I was lucky enough to only get the button my '23. Also got the label that said I can swing my foot under the rear hatch to open it. Neither actually do anything. I seem to have gotten the upgraded hatch release system, though. It works like the hood of most cars. Pressing the release button once, opens it just a little. Then hitting it again opens it the rest of the way...

 

[GreaseMonkey]

If it worked, people would use it. Park assist is about steering, not throttle control. If Ford allowed the driver to change gears and modulate the go pedal, more people would use it.

 

[SonicBlue]

I’ve got a first edition. Never used the feature. I guess I should try sometime but… meh.

 

[ChuckA]

I have park assist in my ‘21 Premium. Never used it since it isn’t needed.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I’ve got a first edition. Never used the feature. I guess I should try sometime but… meh.

Tried it twice in my 21. Not worth the effort. About three months ago I thought I’d give it another go just because. Then I asked myself “Why?”. So I didn’t.

It’s a cool button though.

 

[markboris]

In my first '21 (Job 1) Ford had no way to manually activate the cameras. Since I never would use the Park Assist feature, I modified that button to turn on the cameras. Later that year, when I got my '21 Job 2, I did the same mod. The next year in 2022, Ford had updated the Sync software and added a camera button on the display.

With this Park Assist button, the 360˚ cameras instantly come on (under 7 mph) and I don't have to take my eyes off the road to look at the screen to activate them. It's easy to find it with your right hand by feel. When I got my '24 last year, I did the same thing.

Even though you can activate the cameras on the Sync display, I would rather have the physical button plus been used to it for over 4 years. I also modified settings in FORScan so that if I push the Park button anytime the car is going over 7 mph, the rear camera comes on and will stay on until I push the button again. Was trying to figure out how to get 360˚ view while driving faster than 7 mph but have not had the time to look into it further so rear camera view is all I have for now.

My thread on how to do this if anyone was interested. It takes quite a bit of time as you have to remove interior panels, run a wire from the rear to the park switch and requires the use of FORScan.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/adding-a-direct-camera-switch-diy-how-to-instructions.23728/

 

[CarGuy11]

I wanted to try and retrofit but was never able to determine exactly what is needed on my 2022 with Prep Kit.

 

[A-A-Ron]

How many of you use the auto-parking feature

i haven’t tried it yet. Didn’t know if it was more gimmicky or practi

I found it to be terrifying and terrible. Maybe Ford would have fixed it had they not removed the feature and killed any chance of developers improving it.

Issues: it only works if there are cars parked on both sides of the spot you want to back into (or in front and behind what you want to parallel park into). Then you have to actually get it to find the spot, which is usually ok but doesn't always work. Then you have to actually figure out which way to press the damn rocker button (I've failed that one a few times). If you're in a busy parking lot, you've got to do all this while people are riding your ass, and it requires turning on your blinker to indicate where to look for a spot while you slowly drive around like a fool.

If you manage to get it to start auto-parking, it will either immediately accelerate straight into one of the cars it is supposed to park between until you freak out and cancel it - or it will successfully position your car between the other two cars and freak itself out at the success and cancel itself half way into the spot. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the code logic for success and "we're gonna crash" got switched.

Pretty sure I was able to successfully start auto-park 8 times and successfully complete auto-park once.

 

[RickMachE]

I found it to be terrifying and terrible. Maybe Ford would have fixed it had they not removed the feature and killed any chance of developers improving it.

Issues: it only works if there are cars parked on both sides of the spot you want to back into (or in front and behind what you want to parallel park into). Then you have to actually get it to find the spot, which is usually ok but doesn't always work. Then you have to actually figure out which way to press the damn rocker button (I've failed that one a few times). If you're in a busy parking lot, you've got to do all this while people are riding your ass, and it requires turning on your blinker to indicate where to look for a spot while you slowly drive around like a fool.

If you manage to get it to start auto-parking, it will either immediately accelerate straight into one of the cars it is supposed to park between until you freak out and cancel it - or it will successfully position your car between the other two cars and freak itself out at the success and cancel itself half way into the spot. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the code logic for success and "we're gonna crash" got switched.

Pretty sure I was able to successfully start auto-park 8 times and successfully complete auto-park once.

It only requires a car on one wide, not both.

 

[A-A-Ron]

It only requires a car on one wide, not both.

Yeah, there's 2 definitions of "requires" - there's "requires like the manual says" and "requires for the system to actually see a spot as a target and not drive past it without registering"

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

The feature was only installed through some point early in the 2022 model year. It works. More or less. It's simultaneously too slow and too fast. I found it easier to just park the car myself.

^ THIS ^

Like I said. It was removed after the first year. 2021 was the first year.

My 2022 GT (built in Feb 2022) has it. (I've tried it a few times but it basically never sees any space that I would have wanted it to park in, so I haven't tried it in years.)

 

[azerik]

It’s useless. Unless you have 5 min to park in between 2 cars and have nerves of steel or actually trust the car.

 

[Brent@ANParts]

I've tried self parking and I feel like it was a bit of a fad. Unless I'm released from liability I'm too scared to let the car take control around other parked vehicles.

 

[Adventureboy]

I've used it once on my 2022 to see if it works - it did, kinda.... No trust. Never used it again in 3 years.

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