I'm too chicken to use the Parking assist feature. What about you?

Be cautious but you HAVE to give it a shot. I've used both just for fun and it is awesome and a little disconcerting at first. The backend parking really only works well if there are two cars but will work if there's just one. I found that it doesn't quite park right with only a single car.

 

salesman tried to get me to use it to back into an angled parking space at the dealership during a test drive.
it started backing in, and was headed for the car next to the space when i slammed the brakes and bailed out.

 

I have the same package on my car, or I think I do!

From reading the manual, the car should do the steering as long as I keep it moving slowly by managing the throttle. I tried it once and it didn't work. I couldn't figure out what was happening. I may try again.

It's easy to park; visibility is reasonably good + rear camera + parking sensors all around...

I'm kind of chicken too. What if I want to back in between a car on one side and trees on the other? Will it work?

Usually where I would parallel park, there's a LOT of traffic waiting to get by. Not really a place to experiment and practice.

 

I don't know about a non-standard parking space. The key is to position the car before you try to park. The car uses the sensors to identify the cars around it and therefore the parking spot.

 

I've used it a lot for tight spaces. While I'm not bad at parking, there are some spaces I just wouldn't even try. Every morning I take my kids to school and I have to reverse parallel park on the opposite side of the road, in gaps that appear half the size of the car. I have to do it quickly due to oncoming traffic. Luckily, the car is REALLY good at knowing if you can fit into a space or not, and it's really good at getting in them quickly, usually in one swing. I just move over into the other lane, indicate, and hit the parking button, and drive past the line of cars. If it doesn't find a space I know there are none the car will fit into, manually or automatically, and I park further away. Sure, it's scary, and it can get very close to other cars, and many times I didn't trust it and aborted, but now I DO trust it. I use it twice daily, and it works every time it finds a space. It gets me in spaces I would otherwise not try, and it prevents me trying several spaces only to find they're too small.

Just give it a go. Once you've used it a few tens of times you'll never look back.

 

'know what worries me the most? If I use it, I'll lose the skill to parallel park manually.

I never back in park, I always back out, so I'm not worried about that feature. But if I did, I wouldn't want to lose THAT skill either!

 

See if it works by practicing parking between a couple of cones.

 

I suspect that won't work. The sensors need to measure where the car in front and behind where you want to park is, and they seem to measure at least half way along the length of the vehicles. Cones aren't going to simulate enough of a side of a vehicle, and the Prius won't detect it as a space.

 

No, not afraid. I love the IPA and use it all the time.

 

When I bought my car the sales guy tried it (parallel parking) out. Total fail. I too slammed on the brakes for fear of backing into a car. However, if there is ample space and time with no concern about nearby traffic, I may try it someday.

 

There was talk about it a while back - there are a few YouTube videos which might help. Mine hasn't got it - they don't offer it in Australia. I have a friend with it on his VW, he first tried it where there was a wide park, he tried a couple of times in different places, says that he doesn't even try doing it manually any more, he's so confident with it.

This is is TOYOTA's video:

 

What's an "MID"?

 

Hmmm - no idea - only sort I know about is a ".mid" as a MIDI file.

 

I don't have the "park assist" or safety package. But I doubt I'd ever use it. I park my Prius far away from other cars as much as possible. No door dings, no bumper rash, and I need the exercise walking.

Let's all be glad we are not driving a 1968 Buick. How in the heck did they ever parallel park those huge beasts?!

In America... the stupid thinking was/is bigger is always better!

 

Particularly if you learned to drive on something like this:


[Buick 5660mm long, Viva 4100 long]

 

I've used it twice. Both times backing. I hadn't had to touch the throttle. I just released the brake and it moves fine.
For me it's a novelty but an extremely slick feature. One I will rarely have the opportunity to exploit. Now, if I had to parallel park more often the story may be different only because it has been years since I've needed to do that. Maybe we'll go hunting for some this weekend. It's good to have a goal, right?

 

I took my driving test in a 1966 Buick LeSabre and passed.