2009 New York Auto Show: Behind the wheel with Ford Active Park Assist

Ford will soon roll out a self-parking system that promises to help the parallel-parking challenged sit back and let the car do the work. Much like the system introduced by Lexus a couple of years back, Ford’s Active Park Assist lets the driver sit back and watch the steering wheel spin back and forth as the car glides smoothly into an available space. But unlike the Lexus system, this one promises to be truly usable in the real world – at least some of the time.

Impressive as the Lexus system was when we first tried it, it had severe limitations in the name of safety. (See our claim check video on the Lexus self-parking system.) If you pressed the gas, it canceled out, making backing into a space on a hill impossible. It also needed a lot of room, because it had to get into a space on one try. It couldn’t jockey back and forth.

Active Park Assist addresses both of those concerns, and in a brief test drive, it got us into a space set up in front of the convention center several times without incident. It eased a demo Lincoln MKS back and forth into a space, relying on the driver to avoid hitting cars in front and back with the aid of ultrasonic sensors, a camera and audible signals. But the system still couldn’t be relied on to consistently get us close to the curb, neatly lined up with cars in front and back.

Still, progress is being made, and maybe parallel parking skills are destined to go the way of the manual transmission and clutch.

Active Park Assist will be available on the Lincoln MKS this summer, and it will follow on the Ford Flex, Escape, and Mariner in the fall. Ford says the price will be less than $1,000. 

—Jim Travers

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

Comments

[John]

Is there really a market for this? I would be surprised if any significant number of people would be willing to pay anywhere near $1000 for this feature. Most people either rarely need to parallel park, in which case they wouldn't want to pay for it, or they parallel park on a regular basis and have learned how to do it. It isn't that difficult.

[Ben]

God forbid anyone should have to actually LEARN how to parallel park!

[Jayme]

This looks to be something that people probably will find pretty useless at first. As time progresses, however, this will become more common, and people will start to wonder how they ever got along without it. As with many new technologies, just because it seems frivolous now doesn't mean that it is useless. If you think about, in the long run, this is just one more step towards self-driving cars.

[Mike]

Gee, now people can yak on their cell phone, eat, do makeup, watch videos on their dashboard displays and park all at the same time. Isn't technology wonderful?

[DAM]

I for one enjoy driving, which includes a manual transmission. This "advancement" especially when/if it becomes standard, is just another step in easing the driving "burden" for the chemically and electronically lobotomized drivers out there...and their name is Legion.

[Scott]

Let's think about those- elderly or otherwise-that either have shoulder or other problems that makes turning the wheel painful. The "frivolous" comment could also be applied to power steering...

[Derrick G]

Let's think about where most parallel parking spaces are: in busy urban centers. True, the trick is in learning where to stop and when to start turning, but often these days you're boxed in with impatient drivers behind you, some trying to block your jockeying into the space so they can have it. I can't see a real problem with a system designed to speed the process up and take some of the anxiety out of the process. Do any of you claim to actually like doing your own parallel parking?