Driver assist features are one of the most requested items on many vehicles now. Many vehicle brand manufacturers including Volkswagen VW are now providing these features as factory fitted components but in the older models also, these features can be retrofitted. Park Pilot and Park Assist are two most common features that are a part of Volkswagen drive assist system and helps in parking with tight spacing or maneuvering in jam packed areas.
By name these two features may sound similar but there is a clear difference between these two. Both of these features have a different level of control during the parking process. With park pilot, the driver remains in control of all functions of vehicle and with park assist; the vehicle is in control of steering during the parking process.
What is VW Park Pilot?
Volkswagen Park Pilot is also called Park Distance Control System and uses a series of visual and auditory signals to alert the driver when the vehicle is in close proximity to another object or vehicle. This can be really helpful for the drivers when they are judging the space during parking process.
What is VW Park Assist?
Volkswagen Park Assist is sometimes referred to as Automatic Parking Steering Assistant. This is a more advanced feature than Park Pilot which allows the vehicle to take control of steering functions while parking or parallel parking. It involves the use of cameras and sensors mounted around the vehicle to determine f the space has enough room and then guide the vehicle into place. The driver is still in control of the accelerator and brake during this process.
How Park Pilot works in VW?
Park Pilot or Park Distance Control feature has sensors that can help you back out of or drive into a parking spot. Audible signals and the optical parking system on the display indicate how much space you have behind and, on some vehicles, in front of the vehicle when parking. If you get too close, the system beeps as a warning. The closer you get, the higher the beep sound. Maneuver Braking (included in Park Pilot) can apply emergency braking force automatically to help mitigate and in best case prevent collisions with stationary obstacles while you maneuver the vehicle in reverse gear.
Why Park Pilot feature fails?
This helpful system may experience a failure and a warning message will appear on your dashboard saying “ Park Pilot is currently not available” which means the driver has to be extra careful during parking sessions until this error gets resolved. Park Pilot may stop working either due to a malfunctioning component in Parking distance control system such as sensors or PDC control unit, or may be a software glitch.
How to fix this error?
Apparently the first step is to ensure and update the software with new version and if that fails to cure the problem, then the dealer has to move to step two, whatever that is.
Next step is to inspect Parking Distance Control sensors for any external damage. If none of them are found in damaged condition and working fine then PDC control unit may be checked for it’s functioning.
Parking Distance control unit is responsible for controlling and functioning of all sensors and transmission of information during parking process therefore, any issue with its job will eventually cause this error. Make sure that control unit is working fine.
Once you locate the faulty component which is usually a sensor, simply replace it with a new one and the error will be fixed. After replacement, check if error gone and your VW is now good to drive. Take your car to the dealer such as xenons4u where you will get all the required replacement parts and expert replacement services.
