Help Me Learn To Park My Model S Properly

[Barry]

You might benefit from the mirror trick. You need to calibrate, which you do by going to a pretty empty parking lot some time with lines at the front of the spots, and nothing to hit beyond the lines. Open spots on the other side of the lines would work well. Park all the way forward, as you would, then check where the front line of the spot to your left falls under the side mirror frame. If you are average height, and have your seat set as an average person would, there's a good chance that line will just be visible under the driver's side mirror frame. You may have to adjust, but as long as you can keep your head in the same place whenever you park, you'll know where that line should be relative to your mirror, so you'll know when to stop.

Thanks. I'll try that.

 

[scottreds2k]

I've found that if I back into a spot using the backup camera lines as guidance and get them parallel to the parking spot lines, the car is not straight in. If I back in using the tried and true rear view and side view mirrors, I get it straight.

Also, I did not know you had to adjust the mirrors down to get the auto down to work. I thought I was going to have to call the SC. That would not be the first time I found out I didn't know how to make stuff work in this car.

 

[efusco]

I can park OK after adjusting.

Syracuse Supercharger Updates - Page 17

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I just need to figure out how to pull in accurately on the first try. Perhaps there are no tricks, and I'll just have to practice.

You are not alone...even after over 2 1/2 years this car still gives me fits with parking, esp. backing in (forward I'm pretty good) and that has never been a problem before. The parking lines added to the backup camera helped a bit, but they are not exact and just sort of get me in the right proximity. I'm not sure I've backed into a spot without having to pull forward and adjust at least once more than a handful of times.

 

[Andyw2100]

You are not alone...even after over 2 1/2 years this car still gives me fits with parking, esp. backing in (forward I'm pretty good) and that has never been a problem before. The parking lines added to the backup camera helped a bit, but they are not exact and just sort of get me in the right proximity. I'm not sure I've backed into a spot without having to pull forward and adjust at least once more than a handful of times.

You don't know how happy I am to hear that! Seriously.

I just took the car out, and tried raising the seat, and also thought more about the whole issue. Raising the seat may have helped a little, but I only parked once with the raised seat, and I did still have to adjust, though my first attempt was better. What I noticed, though, was that I think those ridges really may be a factor. They curve inwards. So if we are trying to judge where the side of the car is, if we look for the side of the car at different points along those ridges, the sides will appear to be in different places. The effect this has on the way we park is probably subconscious. We just need to figure out a way to consciously overcome whatever optical illusion or whatever it may be is causing a problem for our subconscious.

Of course this only explains the issue with pulling in forwards, but it's a start.

I'm going to keep working on this!

 

[efusco]

You don't know how happy I am to hear that! Seriously.

I just took the car out, and tried raising the seat, and also thought more about the whole issue. Raising the seat may have helped a little, but I only parked once with the raised seat, and I did still have to adjust, though my first attempt was better. What I noticed, though, was that I think those ridges really may be a factor. They curve inwards. So if we are trying to judge where the side of the car is, if we look for the side of the car at different points along those ridges, the sides will appear to be in different places. The effect this has on the way we park is probably subconscious. We just need to figure out a way to consciously overcome whatever optical illusion or whatever it may be is causing a problem for our subconscious.

Of course this only explains the issue with pulling in forwards, but it's a start.

I'm going to keep working on this!

I've speculated that part of the problem is the body shape with the wider rear end throwing off the perception of when the vehicle is straight. I don't think it's the hood b/c I've driven many cars where I couldn't see the hood and that never mattered. I think when you look at the rear view mirror down the side of the car if you try to align the tapered body parallel to the parking line is when you get in trouble. You have to just imagine where the parallel center line of the vehicle would be.

Hope that description makes sense, but think of it as trying to park a triangle with the base being the back of the car and your mirror aligned down the length of one of the sides of the triangle. if you get that side parallel to the parking line, then the whole triangle is off center.

 

[gpetti]

This may sound like a joke, but it's not.

I have been driving most of my adult life, and have always taken pride in parking well. I've made fun of people who park badly. I've never before had trouble parking perfectly straight in spots, with the car pretty much perfectly spaced between the lines. I say never before, because since I've been driving the Model S I feel like I'm parking like a drunken monkey! (I usually adjust my botched first attempts, but adjusting looks and feels stupid, and the final result is still usually not as good as my effortless, no-adjustment-necessary parking used to be.)

I'm wondering if there is something about the car's hood that is causing some optical illusion that is just messing me up somehow, and if so, I'm wondering if any of you have figured out tricks to avoid this.

It's not my vision, age, coordination, or anything like that, as when I drive an ICE I can still park just fine. And it's not the length of the car, as I've driven large cars without issue before.

I'm sure part of the problem is that I am trying to be overly cautious in keeping the car free of door dings, which may cause me to err on the side of adding more distance on the passenger side, since I can see and judge the space on the driver's side more easily. But that doesn't explain why I can't get the car in straight! Another issue could be that I'm also constantly messing with the rear and front camera as I'm parking, wanting to be certain I've pulled in far enough, but not too far. (I have Rick's front camera switch installed.)

I had picked up a couple of great parking tricks from other TMC members, before having the front camera. Those tricks were to use the rear camera to see the back line when pulling through a double parking spot, to the front spot, and to use the side mirror as a gauge for how far to pull forward by pulling forward until the marker or block at the front of the adjacent spot was just visible under the mirror. Those are great tricks. So I am wondering if anyone has any tricks that may help me regain my ability to park the way I used to be able to.

I should probably go out some night, to some deserted parking lot, and just practice parking, like a kid learning to drive. I've been avoiding doing that, but I fear I may have to.

Other than deserted lot practice, anyone have any great ideas for me?

I don't have any immediate advice though I will think about any procedures I've developed to adapt; however, I just wanted to acknowledge your points. There is definitely an optical illusion type effect both in backing up and driving in frontwards. Prior to the rear guidelines I used to use my side mirror - usually with it automatically lowering. I discovered that the visible body line I was using to be parallel with the parking lines always resulted in a crooked car. I've developed adjustments to this (which I haven't yet put into words) but once the guidelines arrived, this problem diminished quite a bit. It was only recently that I realized that the reason I was crooked so often when pulling in frontwards was that even when visually it appeared I was in alignment with the parking lines, the car was actually crooked. It's something to do with the swooped up parts of the hood on each side I think. If I can put into words the techniques I'm using to improve my parking I'll post further here - but I'm guessing (having not read the whole thread yet) that someone else will nail this before I get that far.

- - - Updated - - -

You don't know how happy I am to hear that! Seriously.

I just took the car out, and tried raising the seat, and also thought more about the whole issue. Raising the seat may have helped a little, but I only parked once with the raised seat, and I did still have to adjust, though my first attempt was better. What I noticed, though, was that I think those ridges really may be a factor. They curve inwards. So if we are trying to judge where the side of the car is, if we look for the side of the car at different points along those ridges, the sides will appear to be in different places. The effect this has on the way we park is probably subconscious. We just need to figure out a way to consciously overcome whatever optical illusion or whatever it may be is causing a problem for our subconscious.

Of course this only explains the issue with pulling in forwards, but it's a start.

I'm going to keep working on this!

I think between your description of front parking and efusco's description or rear parking, both of my issues are covered and explained fairly well. I fully agree with your sentence: "We just need to figure out a way to consciously overcome whatever optical illusion or whatever it may be is causing a problem for our subconscious." I suspect that the reason some people have a problem with frontwards and others not is down to whatever visual approach we are used to using and whether this works with the model S or not. For me: I have had to try to overrule my long taught subconscious parking instincts.

 

[caddieo]

I've speculated that part of the problem is the body shape with the wider rear end throwing off the perception of when the vehicle is straight. I don't think it's the hood b/c I've driven many cars where I couldn't see the hood and that never mattered. I think when you look at the rear view mirror down the side of the car if you try to align the tapered body parallel to the parking line is when you get in trouble. You have to just imagine where the parallel center line of the vehicle would be.

Hope that description makes sense, but think of it as trying to park a triangle with the base being the back of the car and your mirror aligned down the length of one of the sides of the triangle. if you get that side parallel to the parking line, then the whole triangle is off center.

I agree with this. Because of the wider rear versus the front per efusco's triangle analogy above, I find that I have no trouble lining up the driver's side of the car exactly parallel to the line. Then I get out of the car and when I walk past the other side, I see that it is slanted relative to the other line - and vice versa. This happens both with nose-in and back-in parking. I am slowly learning how not to obsess about this and be content if the car is generally centered between the lines.

 

[Cyclone]

I agree with this. Because of the wider rear versus the front per efusco's triangle analogy above, I find that I have no trouble lining up the driver's side of the car exactly parallel to the line. Then I get out of the car and when I walk past the other side, I see that it is slanted relative to the other line - and vice versa. This happens both with nose-in and back-in parking. I am slowly learning how not to obsess about this and be content if the car is generally centered between the lines.

I would guess why I don't experience this scenario. I back up using my mirrors, so I'm lining up the both end on each side to be evenly between the lines. I'm sure in a couple thousand more miles, you will get better at it now that you know what was throwing you off.

 

[santana338]

I've been having issues lately after 2 years of ownership. I just don't think I was really noticing before. I decided one time when I was backing in to use my tried and true boat backing method of just looking backwards to line up a reference point (it turns out the rear middle headrest lines up nicely with the T emblem on the rear window). As I was lifting myself up tout of the seat o get a better view I discovered a not-so-nice feature of all the butt-in-seat sensors. The car applied the brakes and dinged at me because my tush had left the seat. So much for the old methods. I still think that I will continue to manually look out the back window to get my initial line up right when backing in, then use the camera and side mirrors to fine tune.

I'm still looking for that reference for pulling in a forward space. It's funny. When I first got the car I don't remember having any issues. I don't know if I just didn't notice being a crooked parker in the beginning or if over time I have started parking more crookedly. It is definitely something I notice now. And I noticed this before I started reading these threads.

 

[Soolim]

I select "Park Mode" with the left scroll wheel, wait until it identifies a space, and then push the gear selector stalk down twice, and it parks itself. Doesn't everyone do that?

which model of the car are you driving?

 

[Madartist]

which model of the car are you driving?

I think the donv was being sarcastic about the delayed release of the promised auto park feature.

 

[BoerumHill]

I select "Park Mode" with the left scroll wheel, wait until it identifies a space, and then push the gear selector stalk down twice, and it parks itself. Doesn't everyone do that?

Did you actually read that NDA before you signed it?

 

[donv]

Nobody actually reads those things... do they?

Did you actually read that NDA before you signed it?

 

[gpetti]

Now that I look at the front of the car again, it seems obvious to why I'm crooked parking in frontwards sometimes. The only
lines on the hood I can see are the ones for the raised feature. Unfortunately they are not parallel to the sides of the car, they actually angle from the outside to the inside. Thus if I park using the line on the left as a reference, the car could be angled to the left. I'm not sure if I always do this and it's possible that this could have gotten worse as my comfort level with the car has gone up and I don't think about it as much, I.e. More sub conscious.
The rear is the same thing. If you use a side mirror to back up and you try to keep the most visible part of the car (the rear fender) parallel with the parking lines, you will be crooked as the line is not parallel to the car centerline.

 

[Andyw2100]

Now that I look at the front of the car again, it seems obvious to why I'm crooked parking in frontwards sometimes. The only
lines on the hood I can see are the ones for the raised feature. Unfortunately they are not parallel to the sides of the car, they actually angle from the outside to the inside. Thus if I park using the line on the left as a reference, the car could be angled to the left. I'm not sure if I always do this and it's possible that this could have gotten worse as my comfort level with the car has gone up and I don't think about it as much, I.e. More sub conscious

Yes, exactly. That's what I was trying to say.

On top of that, that raised feature, as you refer to it, is not the left side of the car, though it appears to be from the driver's seat. This, I think, explains why I'm still always too close to the line on the left side: I'm trying to leave the same amount of room on the left side, based on how wide I think the car is, as on the right side, but I am subconsciously judging where the left side of the car really is, believing it is not as far out as it actually is, because I am thinking it is where the raised edge is, when in actuality that is not the widest part of the car.

Perhaps with this knowledge we will be able to overcome our parking issues!

 

[ghost640]

+1 How did I go a year without knowing this? What a great forum!

One trick I learned here on TMC is how to have the side mirrors tilt down so that I can see the stripes or curb while backing.

The trick is that you need to adjust the mirrors down while in reverse and then save your profile. Next time you back up the mirrors will automatically tilt down so you can see the stripes. After you put it back in drive the mirrors then go back to their old position.

Makes my parking a lot easier.

John

 

[gpetti]

Yes, exactly. That's what I was trying to say.

On top of that, that raised feature, as you refer to it, is not the left side of the car, though it appears to be from the driver's seat. This, I think, explains why I'm still always too close to the line on the left side: I'm trying to leave the same amount of room on the left side, based on how wide I think the car is, as on the right side, but I am subconsciously judging where the left side of the car really is, believing it is not as far out as it actually is, because I am thinking it is where the raised edge is, when in actuality that is not the widest part of the car.

Perhaps with this knowledge we will be able to overcome our parking issues!

Yeah, on reading back a bit I realize I'm regurgitating what others have already said but it was a bit of an epiphany when I stopped and thought about it. I was tempted to take a couple of pics to really illustrate this, possibly even add some arrows and make a useful post for the Model S "tips" thread; however, my iPhone camera has stopped working - one drop too many.
I was playing around with the side mirrors too and the effect seems similarly obvious now. I always use the side mirror "dipping" feature but it's possible that dipping them down further removes the flared fender from view but I think the bottom line is that you still can't use the line you see in the mirror to line up with any parking lines. The best way to appreciate this particular effect is to park the car parallel to something (adjust if necessary by getting out of the car) and when the car is straight, look at the view in the side mirror. You can clearly see that that the visible car line is at an angle to the parking lines. I think that a combination of the side mirrors to detect proximity to the side objects, complimented by the camera guidelines to make sure you are straight, is possible the best way to back up (for me anyway).

 

[Andyw2100]

Yeah, on reading back a bit I realize I'm regurgitating what others have already said but it was a bit of an epiphany when I stopped and thought about it. I was tempted to take a couple of pics to really illustrate this, possibly even add some arrows and make a useful post for the Model S "tips" thread; however, my iPhone camera has stopped working - one drop too many.
I was playing around with the side mirrors too and the effect seems similarly obvious now. I always use the side mirror "dipping" feature but it's possible that dipping them down further removes the flared fender from view but I think the bottom line is that you still can't use the line you see in the mirror to line up with any parking lines. The best way to appreciate this particular effect is to park the car parallel to something (adjust if necessary by getting out of the car) and when the car is straight, look at the view in the side mirror. You can clearly see that that the visible car line is at an angle to the parking lines. I think that a combination of the side mirrors to detect proximity to the side objects, complimented by the camera guidelines to make sure you are straight, is possible the best way to back up (for me anyway).

Some really great information here, as well as elsewhere in this thread.

I'm just really happy to learn I'm not alone!

I'm not one of the 90% or whatever the number is of people who believe they are better than average drivers. I'm fully willing to believe that I may be an average driver. But I have always taken pride in parking well, and the evidence with parking is pretty objective: you can pretty easily judge how well you are parked versus others when walking through a parking lot. I was a good park-er. Really! perhaps even an excellent park-er. So I've been feeling quite ashamed these last few months, as I've come to realize that I'm still parking the Model S poorly, at least by my own standards. Knowing now that others are experiencing the same thing, and the reasons for it really makes me feel a heck of a lot better.

I hope this thread is helping others in similar ways. While that wasn't my original intention when starting it, as I thought I was alone, that is where it has gone!

And again, with the information we're turning up, and perhaps new ways of thinking about things, perhaps we'll all start parking better!

 

[Ingineer]

I decided one time when I was backing in to use my tried and true boat backing method of just looking backwards to line up a reference point (it turns out the rear middle headrest lines up nicely with the T emblem on the rear window). As I was lifting myself up tout of the seat o get a better view I discovered a not-so-nice feature of all the butt-in-seat sensors. The car applied the brakes and dinged at me because my tush had left the seat. So much for the old methods.

If your seat belt is fastened it will not do this, I had to learn the hard way. It was habit for me to unbuckle the seat belt so I had more freedom to swivel, but in doing so the car slams into park as soon as my butt lifts. I think this "feature" should be disabled in reverse at low speeds.

Maybe I'll wire up a little relay so that when the car is in reverse it bypasses the seat detect switch. (I shouldn't have to work around this!)

 

[Zarwin]

Didn't see it mentioned, but since the rear view camera is slightly off center, the back line of the parking spot (curb if there is one) will be ever so slightly angled when you are backing straight in. This causes my brain to try to compensate a little and angle the car to make that back line flat since my brain is treating it like a centered camera, which of course makes me slightly angled in the spot. I've learned to ignore the slight angle and only use the side mirrors to align the car backing up.