[TwinPowerF30]

if the car comes with rear Park Distance Control, can the beeping feature be turned off at anytime? 335i coupe..

i checked out this 2005 x5 without navigation and it had this P button which can toggle the sound on/off.


the button looks just like this button below in this pic of the 3 series.

[Revlis]

Yup, But don't waste your money, just leave it off the car...

I find it plain old silly in a coupe with good visibility.

[GregL]

Not to my knowledge. European 3-series that have front and rear parking sensors can have the front disabled by a button in the same row as the heated seats, but I believe the rear is always on.

[Revlis]

hmm, good point, Canadian version might be different.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by Revlis

hmm, good point, Canadian version might be different.

Hum? Oh, sorry for the confusion, we get the same cars as you do south of the border when it comes to that option but I was just saying that only the front can be turned off even in European cars. It seems that the rear is *always* on in reverse.

[aspiring335]

Originally Posted by GregL

Hum? Oh, sorry for the confusion, we get the same cars as you do south of the border when it comes to that option but I was just saying that only the front can be turned off even in European cars. It seems that the rear is *always* on in reverse.

Are you sure? I seem to remember my friend's E46 325i allowing you to turn off the rear PDC, but I could be wrong, and it might be different for the E90.

[veightkiller]

i dont see any botton on mine to turn it off.

[poiney]

I don't think you can mute the beep, only turn off the screen.

I guess you guys are not talking about 3 series. I could only get rear sensors.

[GregL]

Alright...somehow things got a little off track.

1. Front and rear sensors are an option in Europe, in which case they have a button by the heated seats to toggle enabling or disabling the front.

2. It's nice that the E46 let you turn off the rear, but it's a luxury they've stripped from our generation of cars. Might be a liability issue in America which sadly spilled over to Canadian cars too, but Mercedes for a long time has had a button which disables the entire system until it's pressed again or the vehicle is restarted, so I don't really know the reasoning.

Attached is a page from the manual to show what I mean:

[fibercus]

PDC is great for the distances below the rear bumper (bumper to curb, wall, etc)

Theres no way you can see that without getting out of the car, no matter how good the visibility is

[Comet]

+1 sf_loft
I know my car very well.. and I don't need it... however I have it... why?
because sometimes it is really dark outside, and if it is raining, or cold or whatever, u dont want to get out of the car to check, back up, check, back up, check... :P

[TwinPowerF30]

so according to the picture of the manual above, it can be turned off? i'm talking about the 335i coupe

[Kruz]

That is an e46 manual. My 335xi with Idrive allows me to disable the beeping. I believe the screen cannot be disabled, but if you throw it in reverse right away the Nav safety disclosure occupies the first few secs of the screen anyway.

BTW...PDC far exceeded my expectations. It is one of the most underated options...especially for the little money it costs.

[aspiring335]

Thanks for the clarification. I agree, it's probably a liability issue re. not allowing the rear sensors to be disabled. I can imagine the lawsuit: "I turned the sensors off and forgot and backed into someone and spilled my coffee into my lap which was too hot so BMW and Starbucks owe me $1 billion."

Originally Posted by GregL

Alright...somehow things got a little off track.

1. Front and rear sensors are an option in Europe, in which case they have a button by the heated seats to toggle enabling or disabling the front.

2. It's nice that the E46 let you turn off the rear, but it's a luxury they've stripped from our generation of cars. Might be a liability issue in America which sadly spilled over to Canadian cars too, but Mercedes for a long time has had a button which disables the entire system until it's pressed again or the vehicle is restarted, so I don't really know the reasoning.

Attached is a page from the manual to show what I mean:

[phantom330]

can't say it's the greatest option but I have it and it keeps you from guessing. Overall I like it although it's certainly not 100% necessary, but then again neither is a BMW in the first place.

[Herknav]

Let me be the unpopular one again...

I think it is a crutch. I have two friends who have that sort of system on their car (one a BMW, the other a Volvo) and both of them ran into something when driving a car without it. The reason? The car didn't tell them when to stop. The same friend (with the Volvo) can't seem to remember to turn his headlights on, since the car normally does it for him...

All you have to do is study automation and aircraft accidents to see how it isn't always better to have more automation... PDC and self parking cars and adaptive cruise teach slovenly BAD driving habbits and make the roads MORE not less dangerous.

Please, don't anyone get thier panties in a bunch, this is just one man's (likely unpopular) opinion and does not reflect the opinion of this station, the management, or the parent company.

[mickym]

If you switch off the PDC by the button in the centre console - rear and front PDC is off - there is no possibility to switch off PDC individually.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by Herknav

Let me be the unpopular one again...

I think it is a crutch. I have two friends who have that sort of system on their car (one a BMW, the other a Volvo) and both of them ran into something when driving a car without it. The reason? The car didn't tell them when to stop. The same friend (with the Volvo) can't seem to remember to turn his headlights on, since the car normally does it for him...

All you have to do is study automation and aircraft accidents to see how it isn't always better to have more automation... PDC and self parking cars and adaptive cruise teach slovenly BAD driving habbits and make the roads MORE not less dangerous.

Please, don't anyone get thier panties in a bunch, this is just one man's (likely unpopular) opinion and does not reflect the opinion of this station, the management, or the parent company.

Alright...but for argument sake does the same apply to other transparent technologies such as traction and stability controls? Mercedes only started introducing such in MY1996 cars, prior to that we had to rely on our ability to control our vehicle, understand what it can or cannot do, and predict how it will react in varying conditions. Given a failure on the driver's part in any of those aspects, and the right...or rather wrong conditions, he or she will probably crash.

But now we have these technologies as standard, it lets people drive their cars in ways that could be considered dangerous by pre-stability control standards. I know this well as my '78 Benz is a nightmare to drive in the rain vs any contemporary car. A little too much throttle in an otherwise ordinary turn and things can start getting out of control.

Does having these things make people worse drivers? Probably, it lets them do stupid things without knowing how potentially hazardous it could be as the vehicle's brain scrambles along to fix things without the driver knowing, other than perhaps an obscure flashing yellow light somewhere on the dash.

Should we all know how to drive a car without these technologies on board (parking sensors included)? Sure, that would be great, but the fact is that the technology is here to stay, and I feel that if it allows a somewhat marginal driver to go about his or her daily business while endangering the rest of us less because of it, I'm for it.

So likewise, nothing personal. As for your friends, I think thats more to do with the driver and ignorance vs the car and it's onboard conveniences. I too see way too many cars at night here in Toronto with no headlights on at all, it seems that people can't be bothered to even turn on the auto headlight feature. Strangely enough I noticed most of the time it's a Lexus...

Herknav, again I'd like to say that I'm not challenging your opinion, but raising a point of my own.

[Herknav]

Originally Posted by GregL

Herknav, again I'd like to say that I'm not challenging your opinion, but raising a point of my own.

Taken in that spirit, thanks.

Not all assist technologies are transparent I think. But that isn't really the issue. The issue is that problems with assist technology arise when that technology is absent or malfunctioning. Accidents/incidents don't occur when everything is working, they occur when something is not working. Whether that something be the technology itself, or the operator of the technology (anyone heard the story of the guy putting the cruise on in his motorhome and then going to the back to make a sandwich?). Just accepting that your vehicle is doing something that normally you would be doing is not the right answer; the operator should know what is going on with his machine. Unfortunately, Americans are lazy and are completely willing to let the machine do the work, to let "someone else" handle it.

There are important safety technologies that make us all safer on the roads. Traction control tech is one of them. But not every car has it. And if you get very used to traction control, then drive a vehicle without it, and then wreck that vehicle, is it a failing of the vehicle manufacturer or the operator? Personal responsibility and common sense say it is the operator. Would that stop someone from suing? Nope. we are putting helmets on our children now... to walk around... helmets. wtf?

Wow, this turned into a societal rant didn't it?

I think the short answer is that there are some assist techs that truly work in the realm of safety, and then there are some that are more of a luxury item. Traction control works to keep the vehicle and operator safe, and I think adaptive cruise and PDC are more of a luxury item. Lets not even get into automatic parallel parking..

edit: My friends who have dinged up a different car are not dumb, they just got reliant on their technology. And they both know better.

[bimmin]

Originally Posted by poiney

I don't think you can mute the beep, only turn off the screen.

I guess you guys are not talking about 3 series. I could only get rear sensors.

3 series has front and rear parking sensors in Europe. People in North America only get rear on the 3 series.

[mickym]

Originally Posted by bimmin

3 series has front and rear parking sensors in Europe. People in North America only get rear on the 3 series.

You have here the option - without PDC, only rear PDC or both rear and front. But I think if you have PDC, regardless if only rear or both, you have the button in the centre console to switch it off, or? Or is this the reason, why the thread creator has this question, that you can not switch it off even if there is only the rear PDC installed?

But why I wrote: the button in the centre will switch off PDC completely and not only the front PDC as mentioned before.

[mjh93sa]

You only get the dash button if you have front and rear PDC.

It allows you to turn the system off when you want to, but more importantly to turn the system on when you are approaching an obstacle without having first selected reverse. The car would otherwise have to turn the PDC on every time you slowed to a crawl going forwards which would quickly get tedious in traffic.