What Is the Difference between Parktronic and Park Assist? We Explain

Parking is probably one of the most complicated things in driving. Especially when you drive in a busy city and can't find a proper place to park your vehicle. Especially, if you don't have the proper experience behind the steering wheel.

So, car manufacturers react to this and create new technologies that help us park without hitting someone's car or the curb. For example, we have Parktronic and Park Assist systems in modern vehicles. But what's the difference between them?

In short, Parktronic alerts you whenever you come too close to some object on the road while Park Assist can help you park your car even automatically without you doing anything. In different vehicles, the functions of Parktronic and Park Assist may be different.

In today's article, I want to give you a quick overview of both functions and tell you how exactly they work. This will allow you to use them with the most benefits and avoid problems when parking your vehicle.

Let's get started!

Parktronic - classic and helpful technology with no automation

The Parktronic is essentially the set of sensors installed in your rear (and sometimes also front) bumper. This set of sensors is connected to the camera or, in cheaper versions, with a special control unit that gets the readings and alerts you when you come too close to some object on the road when parking your car.

In some cars, Parktronic is always active while in others, it will activate only when you shift to reverse.

The majority of modern vehicles have screens and rearview cameras, so Parktronic is often connected to that camera and works in a team with it to form the safest way to park your vehicle.

It's especially important when you are parking in a certain area where you can't see all the possible obstacles. Also, when parking in a very tight place, you will get some help from your Parktronic because it will show you how much space you have to park the car.

The majority of Parktronics give you some visual information in the form of blinking lights and also sound information - they will beep with different frequencies to indicate that you are approaching the object that you can hit.

The sensors work just by sending waves and then catching the waves that were mirrored by a certain object on the road. This helps them count the distance between the bumper of your car and the object on the road. Everything is simple and pretty reliable unless the sensors are blocked or covered with something.

What's the Park Assist and how does it work?

Park Assist is an automated system that may work differently in various car models. In most cases, the system is used to automatically park your vehicle. It may be used for different types of parking including parallel parking or getting into a tight spot in the supermarket parking lot.

When Park Assist systems only started their way in the automotive industry, they were more like toys and they actually couldn't provide you with good and reliable parking. If one sensor was dirty, these systems may have caused a car accident, so drivers preferred to not use them.

Here's how the traditional Park Assist system works:

• if you want to park, you turn on the system by pressing the designated button;
• the sensors are activated now and they start searching for a place to park your car;
• when they find such a place, they give you a sign by beeping or showing the message on the dash;
• you press the Park Assist button once again to acknowledge you want to park here;
• then, you let the car do the job for you - it will steer, use brakes, and also accelerate if needed;
• once the car is parked, you will hear another beep and see the message on the dash;
• now, the only thing you need to do is to put the transmission in Park and stop the engine.

Of course, you should still keep your foot on the brake pedal because bad things may happen. If you feel that something goes wrong, you can immediately press the brake and deactivate the system. But, in most cases, modern vehicles are really good at parking automatically.

One weak point in Park Assist systems is their sensor network. Once one sensor is blocked by mud or snow, the system will not work at all. It will throw the error message and will get on your nerves even if you don't want to use Park Assist right now.

Do cars have Park Assist and Parktronic at the same time?

Yes, if your vehicle has the Park Assist system, it doesn't mean that it will not have Parktronic. First of all, not all drivers use Park Assist because it takes their time - they prefer parking on their own without pressing all those buttons and playing with those toys. But they still need Parktronic to make sure they won't hit any other vehicle on the road.

Also, the Parktronic sensors work along with the Park Assist system, so they actually complement each other and work together to create a wonderful team of parking assistant features. And yes, you can use them together or one by one depending on the situation. Usually, Parktronic is activated automatically whenever your car parks or just moves close to some objects on the road. But the Park Assist feature just needs to be activated by the special button.

Why Parktronic and Park Assist are often misunderstood?

Different car manufacturers have various ways to name their technologies. For example, you may have Park Assist in a Lexus but the same technology in the Mercedes vehicle will be called Parktronic.

This is one of the reasons why so many people are puzzled by these names and keep asking questions about the difference. If you see just parktronic as a general word in the manual for your car, you may understand the definition that I gave earlier in this article. But if your manual says Parktronic®, this will probably mean that this car is equipped with some kind of Park Assist that is called Parktronic.

I actually hate it when car manufacturers give so misleading names to their technologies that you need to google them each time you get some message on the dash. But the future is here and the number of technologies used in modern vehicles is insane, so they have no other choice.

Why does my Parktronic malfunction?

Problems with Parktronic are usually caused by affected sensors. They may be covered with snow or damaged in small accidents. Parktronic sensors are all open and installed in the bumper. If you get into an accident, these sensors are easily damaged and they just stop working, and the system starts glitching.

Also, the wiring may be the problem. Parktronic sensors are located pretty low in the bumper and they can get some water damage. Electrical connections will not live a long life if they are covered with water and mud.

What are the most common Park Assist problems?

Park Assist has much more common issues than its ancient brother, Parktronic. The assisting system has much more sensors and they are located in different places covering 360 degrees around the car. It means that there are more chances of malfunction.

Also, here are the most common problems with Park Assist systems:

• even one blocked sensor can cause total failure of the system;
• you will often see messages that the Park Assist is not available;
• maintaining and replacing these sensors is not easy because they are located in unexpected places;
• the system is pretty slow and this may discourage you from using it at all;
• control modules are very dependent on the quality of the electrical supply;
• the system may throw a surprise by glitching and hitting some car or another object.

I haven't seen any problems with different present-day models but earlier park assist systems were much worse than the modern ones. First systems could easily hit a car in the parking lot and it would be your fault because the manual tells you that the system needs your assistance at all times.

Final thoughts

Although the idea of having a good Park Assist is not new, only recently cars have started getting really reliable and good parking assisting systems. It doesn't mean that you will still enjoy using these systems because they are pretty slow and are now always available. For example, snowy or rainy weather may easily stop the system from functioning properly.

What you can learn from this article is that Parktronic is the system that alerts you about obstacles on the road and in the parking place while Park Assist is the system that parks your car automatically taking over steering, braking, and all other functions of the vehicle. You just shift gears and hold your right foot on the brake pedal just in case.