Technology For Driving Comfort And Safety - BMW 3 SERIES Owner's Manual

Technology for driving comfort and safety

Vehicle equipment
In this chapter, all production, country, and
optional equipment that is offered in the model
range is described. For this reason, descrip-
tions will be given of some equipment that may
not be available in a vehicle, for example due to
the special options or national-market version
selected. This also applies to safety related
functions and systems.
Park Distance Control PDC
The concept
The PDC assists you with maneuvering in tight
parking spaces. Acoustic signals warn you of
the presence of an object in front of or behind
your vehicle. To measure the distance, there
are four ultrasonic sensors in either bumper.
An acoustic warning sounds when an object is
less than approx. 24 in/60 cm from the front
sensors and rear corner sensors or less than
approx. 5 ft/1.50 m from the rear center sen-
sors.
PDC is a parking aid that can indicate
objects when they are approached
slowly, as is usually the case when parking.
Avoid approaching an object at high speed; oth-
erwise, physical circumstances may lead to the
system warning being issued too
Switching on automatically
With the engine running or the ignition switched
on, the system is activated after approx. one
second when you shift into reverse or move the
automatic transmission selector lever to
position R. Wait this short period before driving.
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Technology for driving comfort and safety
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Switching off automatically
After approx. 55 yd/50 m of driving or above
approx. 20 mph/approx. 30 km/h, the system
switches off and the LED goes out.
Switching on manually
When parking in the forward direction, the sen-
sors must be switched on manually to enable
them to signal an approach to an object in front
of or behind the vehicle.
Press the button; the LED lights up.
Switching off manually
Press the button again; the LED goes out.
Signal tones
When nearing an object, its position is indicated
correspondingly by an interval tone. For exam-
ple, if an object is detected behind the vehicle,
the signal tone sounds from the rear. As the dis-
tance between vehicle and object decreases,
the intervals between the tones become
shorter. If the distance to the nearest object
falls to below roughly 1 ft/30 cm, then a contin-
uous tone sounds.
An interval tone is interrupted after approx.
3 seconds
> If you remain in front of an object that has
been detected by only one of the corner
sensors
> If you are driving parallel to a wall.
Controls
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