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GlennD

Moderator
Joined
Jul 21, 2014
Messages
502
I stupidly shut the rear hatch on a small trailing rope at the grocery store. Since the hatch was jammed I drove off. I got the expected rear hatch unlocked display but in addition I got a parking assist disabled message. This tells me that first you need the hardware then the firmware needs an active code for the already installed option. I do not have parking assist as an option on my car.

I lucked out, after taking the frozen items through the rear door when I returned to the car the rope had compressed enough to unlock the car. I really was not looking forward to dissembling the hatch through the rear seat backs.

It makes sense that only one version of the firmware exists for a given model. When I purchased (leased) my B i8t was the only one of the cars on the lot had the range package. It was pure luck it was one of two white cars. The rest of the option is useless to me. I live near Disneyland and I garage my car. I can not see any reason to use the heated windshield. Just the lighted button and an enable code would have been enough for me.

Likely Mercedes will never allow dealers to add options. Too bad since I would love paddles. When you buy an old car from the lot you take what is available. If next time I order a car it will have my existing options plus blind spot warning. No parking assist!
 
Parking Assist was an unexpected option I got on a loaded B-Class, and I am pleased to say I use it quite often. When it presents itself, it is quite fast and accurate, allowing me to parallel park very very quickly and pay 100% attention to texting pedestrians who might be about to step into the parking spot I am about to occupy! I use it in NYC and also in my smaller town in Nyack NY. It has been foolproof. Hands off the wheel, I modulate the accelerator / brake and look at the camera AND turn my head around. It usually nails it in one move, no need for even a single gear change.
 
Parking assist would bed great If you parallel park often, Otherwise it is just wasted money . Forty years ago I had to parallel park on the company street. that is the last timer I parallel parked. It is a skill embedded in my physic.. Ater forty years I do not need a machine e telling me what to do. Most never need to parallel park
 
GlennD, I am going to side with WTZ. While I dont have that feature, in NYC, I see every day someone from the suburbs who have difficulty parallel parking even in generous spaces. They may have learned to pass a driving test but never practiced it like you did at work. For them, the feature is helpful, even if not a must have. In tight spaces, even though I have driven for decades, I often have to take two passes to get in.
 
I am by no means bad at parallel parking, I have been doing it all my life in Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. I'm just saying the Mercedes system is very accurate and works well. I use it as a novelty but it is actually a little faster than my doing it myself and it takes much less concentration, although I do "worry" about the system misjudging objects -- it has not been fooled yet. I would say I parallel park at least 5-10 times a week.
 
The only option that I really want is blind spot assist. I agree that most people are bad at parallel parking but where I am the need is not there. I can see it in NYC where most park by the Braille method. When I was in the Army if you wanted to park in the street it was parallel parking only so I got a lot of practice. Now most parking around me is in parking lots.
 
In Oregon more people fail the driving test because they cannot parallel park than any other reason. Downtown Portland is all parallel parking.

Parking is part of my package but I have never used it. All I need is about six inches front and rear clearance and I can put the car in the slot first try. It is all pictures and visualization.
 
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