DaveWendel

The parking assist sensors on my 2014 seem to be performing strangely. In a normal driving scenario when I pull into a parking garage, the front sensors don't signal the cement wall is just inches away.

If I put put the car in reverse, the then in drive, the sensors alarm immediately (the Parking Assist button on the dash is also illuminated). It appears that I must manually push the Parking Assist button before parking near objects. This seems to be wrong ...

Does anyone else have similar operation? Shouldn't the Parking Assist always alarm when approaching an object within a few feet without manually engaging it?

fkaufman

Strangely enough, that's how the system works. It appears that the parking assist system only wakes up when either the car is put into reverse or when you manually push the Parking Assist button.

superswiss

Do you really want the sensors to start warning you whenever you are creeping along in traffic or coming to a stop at a traffic light? How would you suggest the car could differentiate between driving slow in traffic vs. maneuvering in a parking lot/garage?

BasicSlvr

The parking sensors in my previous D3 A8 would activate when pulling into a garage / tight parking space. But, would not activate in slow moving traffic. Like the OP, I expected the sensors to operate in the same manor in the A7. Minor nit. 2.5 years and 36K miles later, still receiving compliments on the A7.

superswiss

Interesting. There must have been a reason Audi opted for manual activation in the current models. From the A3 to the RS7, parking assist needs to be manually activated, which activates the backup camera and all sensors. Haven't driven a current A8, but judging from the console buttons it needs to be activated manually as well. Perhaps the automatic activation suffered from too many false positives? Unless the GPS tells the car when it is in a parking lot, I can't imagine the automatic activation being very accurate.

DaveWendel

I am not sure how other manufacturers do it, but I know that in my last Lexus, it was automatically activated appropriately. It could activate when pulling into garages, drive-thrus, etc. but I never had a false positive in traffic ... but I don't generally get within 2 feet of other cars.

superswiss

My guess is they just activate at low enough speeds. However, here in CA, lane splitting is legal, so they would go off every time a motorbike comes up on your side in stop & go traffic.

midnite c

I have owned 2 Lexus (Lexi?) and never had trouble with front sensors and I prefer it to the extra effort to have them operate. I am glad someone else has this problem so I know I wont have to take my A7 in for warranty work. Its not very intuitive, prefer it to work automatically since i "kissed" a short pipe I did not get a warning about.

superswiss

Seems like the Germans have opted for manual activation. At least BMW is the same way. Not sure about Merc. Part of it might be that nowadays you get the car graphic in the MMI/iDrive whenever the sensors are active to show which sensor(s) is/are picking up an obstacle. I think it would be a bit annoying if the MMI switched to the car graphic every time you slow down below say 6 mph.

Out of curiosity, I googled the topic a little bit and found a thread on one of the BMW forums. Several people brought up the same concerns about the sensors starting to warn in stop & go traffic if they were automatic. I've never owned a Lexus, so I'm not sure about the range of their sensors, but Audi and BMW's sensors look to the side and front, so I think the likelihood of them picking up an obstacle in traffic is high. Just thinking about bicycles and motorbikes around here. I guess if you live somewhere where lane splitting is illegal and nobody rides a bicycle and you never stop too close to the car in front of you, then automatic activation could work, but around here I'm pretty sure I would find myself having to manually turn them off more often than I now have to manually turn them on.

DaveWendel

My A7 is at the dealer for service and I have a loaner A6. The A6 has the parking sensors and a rear view camera.

When backing up, the sensors and camera act as you might expect. All the sensors are active and the camera shows the rear view and the potential vehicle path based upon how you are moving the steering wheel.

When moving forward and manually activating the parking assist, the parking sensors are activated all around and the rear camera is also activated showing your vehicle path as if you were backing up. This is at the least distracting at the very least when you are observing the sensor indicators for the front as you are moving forward.

What are these engineers thinking?