Parking Assist Question

[gieso]

I have the parking assist option and I am not sure if it is working properly.

Here is an example of the problem: When I pull into a parking space with a wall behind it, I never hear any beeps from the front sensors when driving forward. From the manual, I would expect high pitched beeps when I was within 4 feet of an obstacle taller than 10". When I put the car in reverse, I get the quick, high pitched beeps indicating something is in front of me.

Does this sound like what others observe?

[stephent]

The parking assist automatically turns on when you put the car into reverse. But after you put the car in drive, it automatically turns off once you go faster than 5 mph (otherwise they'd be beeping every time you stopped behind another car at a traffic light). Pulling forward into a parking space, assuming they were off from normal driving to get to the spot, in order to activate the sensors you'll have to activate it manually using the overhead button. You can tell whether they are on or off by glancing at the light on the button.

[Noel Park]

#2 stephent

Right you are. Don't worry gieso, it to me a minute to figure it out too, LOL. What a great feature. I swear that it has saved me from backing into unseen objects at least twice. And it really does help me to parallel park, which has never been one of my strong points, hahaha. I STRONGLY recommend it to all Volt buyers.

[dgruber]

I manually turn on the front sensors when pulling into a garage space, etc. If I stop when the sensor starts beeping, I know that I won't damage the front air dam. I even use it in my own garage in order to position it where I want it. Nice feature, although I do get a little tired of all the beeping when I'm backing out of those same garage spaces, including my own.

[Cord]

Seems we learn something new each week about our Volt.

To add my this week infomation:

The sound system will have the BEEPing from the front or back speakers to indicate the sensor location.

I may have my sound adjustment off and did not pick up on the changing beep location before now.
I think it is only front back with no right/left information.

and yes it is in the manual.

[Voltster]

The parking assist automatically turns on when you put the car into reverse. But after you put the car in drive, it automatically turns off once you go faster than 5 mph (otherwise they'd be beeping every time you stopped behind another car at a traffic light). Pulling forward into a parking space, assuming they were off from normal driving to get to the spot, in order to activate the sensors you'll have to activate it manually using the overhead button. You can tell whether they are on or off by glancing at the light on the button.

I've wondered the same thing as the original poster. I thought it was strange that the parking assist feature didn't seem to work when I really needed it. Now I know that I can switch in on when I have to. Thanks!

[MichaelH]

It may seem a little silly compared to pushing the overhead button, but you can also activate the front portion of parking assist by putting the car in reverse briefly and then putting it in forward; i.e., start into a parking spot, back up a little, then pull in the rest of the way. Sometimes one does this anyway to get straight in a spot.

[Fulgerite]

The parking assist is activated when you put the car into reverse. If you are pulling in nose first...in Drive it will not be on.

However on the 2012 volt there is a button located near the front dome light that I believe will manually activate the parking assist if you want it on. You might try pressing that button before pulling in nose first.

[Rusty]

However on the 2012 volt there is a button located near the front dome light that I believe will manually activate the parking assist if you want it on.

As dgruber mentions, the parking assist has the manual activate you describe here. It's not just a 2012 feature though. In the 2012 it's half of the button you describe (the other half being the traction control disable). In the 2011 the button's also there, but there's no traction disable half - it's all parking assist (and it's a honking big button for it!).

[gieso]

Thanx everyone. It works as described. After three months, I am still learning new things.