Ford's Active Park Assist: Not just for impressing your friends

Ford has a new parking system that automatically steers your vehicle into a parallel parking space. Using front and rear ultrasonic sensors and electric power steering, Ford's Active Park Assist can quickly and accurately get you into that street space.

But, you ask, "Doesn't Lexus already have this same parking system?" Yes, Lexus was the first to have a self-parking system and it was initially greeted with much fanfare, but that has since faded.

However, the two systems have significant differences in technical specification and performance. The result is that Ford's Active Park Assist is superior to the Lexus system.

Let's look at the Ford parking system and see how Lexus' parking guidance compares.

Lexus Advanced Parking Guidance system uses ultrasonic (sonar) sensors to acquire the available space and determine if the vehicle will fit. For the actual parking maneuver, the Lexus system relies on a camera system when the vehicle is reversing. Ford's Active Park assist uses only ultrasonic sensors for its entire system.

Ford claims that their ultrasonic-based system is unaffected by rain, fog, and dirt, which could have a negative impact on a camera-based system. This is true, but in practice, the Lexus system is rarely influenced by these conditions.

However, Ford's parking system is much easier to use, with a simpler interface than Lexus, although the Lexus Navi display graphical interface is appealing and appears more high tech as it shows surrounding vehicles, the parking space, and trajectories.

With the Ford system, the driver presses but a single switch near the transmission shifter. After that a simple two-line display shows when the system is searching and when it finds a space. It then gives the driver instructions on pulling forward, stopping, and removing hands from the wheel when putting the vehicle in reverse. The requisite auditory beeps accompany each command. Grab the steering wheel and the maneuver is cancelled.

Where the Ford system excels is in speed and accuracy of parking, and the ability to park on hills. The Lexus parking is lacking in all three of these areas, especially the ability to handle any type of grade.

Because of safety concerns, Lexus cancels parking operation once the driver touches the accelerator pedal. And because there is insufficient engine torque at idle speed to climb all but the slightest grade, parking on hills is nearly impossible. Ford's system allows for throttle application to help the vehicle into the space.

Another big difference between the two is that the Ford system will allow for up to two corrections if the first backing maneuver is incorrect. For example, if the initial reverse approach is at too shallow of an attack angle, the driver could stop, put the vehicle in drive, then let the vehicle automatically steer forward to straighten (shown in the video). The Lexus system won't straighten or pull-up with a forward maneuver at all; that must be done manually by the driver.

Lexus had the first self-park system, and it was great for impressing your friends or potential buyers on a test drive. But Ford's Active Park Assist, while not as sexy in its Human Machine Interface as the Lexus system, is much more practical in everyday use.

Active Park Assist is available now on the Ford Escape Hybrid and Flex, and Lincoln MKT and MKS for $395, $550, $595, and $535, respectively.

If you live in an urban area and frequently park on the street, it's worth it.