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A Quick Intro to Vehicle Parking Assist Systems

By: Jason Lancaster


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Almost every kind of vehicle has experienced a growth in size over the past decade. An "entry-level" car by a company such as BMW nowadays might be near the size and weight of a mid-size car ten years ago. As vehicles have gotten bigger, parking has become harder and harder.

The most obvious vehicle size increase has been in the pickup truck segment, where "small" trucks like the Dodge Dakota now look like giants beside their early predecessors. Full-size trucks have also been expanding, becoming heavier, wider and taller. Toyota too has participated in this growth trend. The Toyota Tundra was originally a mid-size pickup marketed to full-size buyers. Toyota realized a larger vehicle could fit more customers, and as a result, the 2007 Tundra was much bigger than earlier models in almost every dimension.

Size may have its benefits, but it has its downfalls as well. The biggest problem with bigger vehicles is that parking has become a lot harder. Sitting behind the wheel of a new Toyota Tundra, it might be hard to gauge just where the truck begins and ends. To make things easier, vehicle designers have introduced "parking assist" as an aid to drivers struggling with parking their new vehicles.

"Parking assist" is, on most vehicles, a system of sensors mounted on one or both sets of bumpers which beeps as the vehicle approaches an object. The beeps usually begin from about 6 feet away from an obstacle, and increase in frequency as you approach, becoming a continuous tone at about 6 inches from the obstacle. Beeping frequency and onset vary between different systems. The parking assist is a great tool for parallel parking, and can also serve as a warning if a small object such as a fence post or child is near your vehicle. But how does it work?

Basically, a set of eyes are mounted in the vehicle's bumpers. These "eyes", or special sensors, transmit highly focused sound waves at regular intervals from the bumper. When these sound waves come into contact with a solid object, they reflect back towards the sensor. Since the speed of sound is fairly constant through air, a computer uses the time it took for the reflection to be returned in order to calculate the distance between the bumper and the object. This is exactly the same principle employed by submarines using active sonar underwater, except that water transmits the sound waves much better than air, allowing for better range.

Although the sensors can effectively detect stationary objects such as parked vehicles and garage doors, they're not sensitive enough for smaller mobile objects, such as animals or children. These objects might not generate a warning beep, or at least not consistently. Therefore, drivers still need to use caution and be aware of their vehicle's surroundings when parking. Parking assist, also called parking sonar, is definitely a useful tool, but is not a replacement for a careful driver.

High-end luxury cars have started to move on to the next generation of parking assist systems, which use a video camera and complex computer program alongside the sound sensor system. The result is more accurate input to the vehicle, which instead of merely warning drivers close to an object, will actually steer and park the vehicle for them. This is very useful with parallel parking - you just have to let the car control the steering, gas and brake. What interesting and amazing technology we have these days!

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Author Jason Lancaster is the editor of TundraHeadquarters.com, a web site with information, news, and reviews of Toyota Tundra accessories and Tundra parts.



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