Ford to Eliminate Park Assist Feature - Will Stellantis follow?

[DEG]

Wonder how long it will be before Stellantis follows Ford's lead and eliminates Park Assist?

Ford says no one uses it and it will save around $10 million annually. Interestingly, Ford is able to tell what features customers use through connected services. I would guess Ram is doing the same.

Ford is getting rid of 1 vehicle feature to save $10M — but many people won’t notice

 

[BowDown]

I've never used it. Lane assist either for that matter

 

[Oldphart]

So it costs Ford $60/vehicle and they charge $355 for it???

Nice markup - 592%!!!

 

[Scap]

I sure won't miss it.

 

[DEG]

So it costs Ford $60/vehicle and they charge $355 for it???

Nice markup - 592%!!!

Ford's profit margin for last quarter was 4.65%. I make more profit on a 6 month CD at my bank.

 

[ben b]

I thought it was a great feature when I bought my Ram. I ended up using it one time, just to see how it worked. May use it again in a year or two just to see if it still works.

Won't miss this feature at all.

 

[DEG]

Yea, I won't miss it either if they get rid of it. I played with it a few days after I got my truck and it's faster to just do it myself. It's extremely rare that I need to parallel park and don't really have a problem doing it when I do.

 

[User_3336]

Ford's profit margin for last quarter was 4.65%. I make more profit on a 6 month CD at my bank.

That's because they lose money for some vehicles as soon as they roll off the ling. Look at the Lightning.

 

[DEG]

That's because they lose money for some vehicles as soon as they roll off the ling. Look at the Lightning.

I understand exactly how it works. My response was related to Oldfart's tunnel vision on the profit from a single option.

 

[Oldphart]

I understand exactly how it works. My response was related to Oldfart's tunnel vision on the profit from a single option.

Talking about a single item is tunnel vision? I'm wasn't concerning myself with anything else but the thread subject and I wasn't the one that expanded it, you did.

 

[Jray22]

Ohhh Well! They can also get rid of Auto Start/Stop too. It does absolutely nothing at this point

 

[DEG]

Talking about a single item is tunnel vision?

When the context of that single item is profit for a company it is absolutely tunnel vision.

 

[mikeru82]

Ohhh Well! They can also get rid of Auto Start/Stop too. It does absolutely nothing at this point

I agree, at least for where I regularly drive, although I can see it being a benefit if you do a lot of city driving with long traffic lights. I'd rather see them get rid of MDS if we're picking things to eliminate. At least there are alternatives for permanently disabling stop/start that won't affect your warranty (cough...autostop eliminator).

 

[Jimmy07]

I'd rather see them get rid of MDS if we're picking things to eliminate.

They did, on everything except the HD Rams…

 

[Malodave]

I've never used it. Lane assist either for that matter

With Lane Assist and Adaptive Cruise, a Comma 3 or 3x can make the Truck drive similar to a Tesla.
I have about 30k miles with it driving my truck. Makes long drives a breeze and you are not frazzled at the end.

Comma.ai

Comma.ai

Anyone interested in getting this? I, for one, do not have the ability or skill to program all of this., but I am definitely ready for it.

5thgenrams.com

Malodave

 

[n8zcc]

My 2022 came with the park assist and before it came in I watched YT videos of the feature. To me, it seemed like a lot of work to park the vehicle using park assistance over just parking the truck. My assumption was correct when I got the truck and tried the system.

Lane assist is a reasonable feature but not on narrow lane roads or most roads that do not have painted lines or the painted lines are almost gone. So I keep that turned off. Different parts of the country have different quality of painted lines. Michigan, well, not so good.

Then there i the trailer backup system, only $1,000 for the option. You get a knob and trailer light check feature. For all of my life, I've backed a trailer simply by placing my hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and turning the wheel in the direction I want the trailer to go, simply simple. And the trailer light check, well, hazard flashers and park lights do the same without the bother of searching through menus to do it.

I wouldn't want to give up other features like;
Blind sport monitoring, works perfectly
Cross-traffic warning, invaluable when backing out when sandwiched by SUVs you can't see through
Crash alert, only once, but it saved me, it reacted quicker than I did.
I like the 360-degree cameras. I wish the factory offered a way to add a recorder to the camera system.

 

[TheWaterman83]

I wouldn't want to give up other features like;
Blind sport monitoring, works perfectly
Cross-traffic warning, invaluable when backing out when sandwiched by SUVs you can't see through
Crash alert, only once, but it saved me, it reacted quicker than I did.
I like the 360-degree cameras. I wish the factory offered a way to add a recorder to the camera system.

Agree completely. One other feature I would like to see phased in is front camera. Other than that, I would be completely content.

 

[mikeru82]

They did, on everything except the HD Rams…

Damn, you're right. They got rid of MDS by eliminating the entire engine. Kudos to Ram and Stellantis on that brilliant decision. Guess I'm still in denial over it and haven't accepted that fact yet. I should probably seek counseling.

 

[tommycc]

The problem is they will get rid of a feature but still charge you more.

 

[akaTheDude]

Crash alert, only once, but it saved me, it reacted quicker than I did.

I just purchased a 2024 limited and was wondering how well this worked.

Couple of questions:
I know it will give you an audiable alert, but did it brake for you automatically? (not talking about CC, just in town driving scenario etc)
If so, was your foot still on the accelerator? Just curious if the situation was dire, if the system would engage regardless of your interaction.