“Pro Trailer Backup Assist” - Would you want this feature on your truck?

[Crunch]

In one way I can see how this would be nice. You use a knob to drive the trailer as if it were the truck, i.e. from a forward perspective. On the other hand, is it really that hard to learn how to back up a trailer? That said, I can honestly say that backing a boat trailer down a boat ramp, especially when there is another vehicle and trailer next to me is probably the most difficult trailer driving that I have done and the video in the article uses a boat trailer for the demonstration. It's an interesting concept, and I wouldn't mind having the feature on a truck I owned but I'm not sure I would pay for it. And it also opens up new gambling possibilities: The "100 Yard Trailer Race" to see who can back a trailer up the fastest.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...-of-backing-up-with-a-trailer-so-much-easier/
New Truck Feature Makes the ‘Tension-Filled Ordeal’ of Backing Up With a Trailer So Much Easier

If you’ve ever tried to back up a vehicle with a trailer hitched to it, trying to guide it in the right direction, you know how difficult, counterintuitive and frustrating this process can be.

Thank you Ford for creating technology that allows drivers to more intuitively control how they back up with their hitched cargo.​

 

[rscurtis]

Turn the bottom of the steering wheel the way you want the trailer to go.

 

[RDeFayette]

In one way I can see how this would be nice. You use a knob to drive the trailer as if it were the truck, i.e. from a forward perspective. On the other hand, is it really that hard to learn how to back up a trailer? That said, I can honestly say that backing a boat trailer down a boat ramp, especially when there is another vehicle and trailer next to me is probably the most difficult trailer driving that I have done and the video in the article uses a boat trailer for the demonstration. It's an interesting concept, and I wouldn't mind having the feature on a truck I owned but I'm not sure I would pay for it. And it also opens up new gambling possibilities: The "100 Yard Trailer Race" to see who can back a trailer up the fastest.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...-of-backing-up-with-a-trailer-so-much-easier/
New Truck Feature Makes the ‘Tension-Filled Ordeal’ of Backing Up With a Trailer So Much Easier

If you’ve ever tried to back up a vehicle with a trailer hitched to it, trying to guide it in the right direction, you know how difficult, counterintuitive and frustrating this process can be.

Thank you Ford for creating technology that allows drivers to more intuitively control how they back up with their hitched cargo.​

looks good/sounds good. but in the video he was in an empty parking lot and still used both lanes of a 2 vehicle ramp and was all sideways at that when he was "done". Guess he didn't truct it too much either since he was looking out the mirror and not at the screen. Like said above, steering with the bottom of the steering wheel or used the mirrors. Most people get screwed up when they switch back and forth between the mirrors and/or turning around to look without the mirrors. when back a trailer either use the mirrors or turn around don't try/use both. That's what I found to be easiest. That and I live on a blind curve on a country highway. I get 1 quick shot at it.

 

[JR]

Features like this will only promote laziness among drivers that are already marginally competent to begin with. This is the last thing they should be putting on a truck. If you can't back it up and park it you have no buisiness pulling it out of your driveway. I live near a large state park and between it and Lake Erie I can't tell you how many idiots I see with huge boats and trailers hitched to undersized vehicles. Many of the roads here are narrow with no shoulder and deep ditches, they drive in the center of the dam road and several miles under the speed limit. Ive seen em jack knifed at the gas stations and spend 15 minutes trying to get out without taking the island with them. A friend that's on the volunteer fire dept stopped by last night for a few minutes and was saying there's been 2 accidents related to campers this weekend alone. It never fails.

Sorry for the rant, Ive been out on the roads quite a bit the last two days hauling firewood and they've been out in full force

 

[jgillott]

Features like this will only promote laziness among drivers that are already marginally competent to begin with. This is the last thing they should be putting on a truck. If you can't back it up and park it you have no buisiness pulling it out of your driveway. I live near a large state park and between it and Lake Erie I can't tell you how many idiots I see with huge boats and trailers hitched to undersized vehicles. Many of the roads here are narrow with no shoulder and deep ditches, they drive in the center of the dam road and several miles under the speed limit. Ive seen em jack knifed at the gas stations and spend 15 minutes trying to get out without taking the island with them. A friend that's on the volunteer fire dept stopped by last night for a few minutes and was saying there's been 2 accidents related to campers this weekend alone. It never fails.

Sorry for the rant, Ive been out on the roads quite a bit the last two days hauling firewood and they've been out in full force

I also wonder how long all those systems will last living in areas like ours. Can you imagine what a few years in this salt will do to those high quality electronic pieces they will probably use.

 

[JR]

^^^Absolutely^^^

And it will be the most inopportune time when it goes, like when your backing off a busy highway or a narrow back country road with little margin for error.

 

[RDeFayette]

^^^Absolutely^^^

And it will be the most inopportune time when it goes, like when your backing off a busy highway or a narrow back country road with little margin for error.

Just like Maryland did last week...they dropped the parallel parking portion of the driving test. They said, "officials determined the maneuvers required to parallel park were already being evaluated in other portions of the test, according to MVA spokesman Buel Young.
"It was just a procedural change for us," he said Wednesday. "... We are constantly assessing our tests, and in one of our assessments, we looked at the maneuvers that were being performed and determined that the skills that we were looking for were the same skills being repeated on several maneuvers.""
"Drivers" don't even have to parallel park a car anymore....forget about backing up with a trailer attached. Do happen to live near Sandusky?

 

[JR]

I'm on the OH/PA border about 120 miles from Sandusky.

 

[RDeFayette]

I'm on the OH/PA border about 120 miles from Sandusky.

Just curious, my hometown is Sandusky, grew up 2 miles from the Bay/lake. As a kid we used to hang out/work at the marinas. Used to have fun watching the novices (try to) back down the boat ramps. As an 11 year old I could do it better than them. Gotta remember this was in the late '60's. A lot different than today. 11-12 year old today backing down a ramp? never gonna see it.

 

[JR]

We went to Sandusky in April this year to get some early Walleye fishing in, everything was still frozen off of Ashtabula and Conneaut. It was a nasty winter along the lake this year for sure.

And who can forget about Cedar Point!!!

 

[RDeFayette]

We went to Sandusky in April this year to get some early Walleye fishing in, everything was still frozen off of Ashtabula and Conneaut. It was a nasty winter along the lake this year for sure.

And who can forget about Cedar Point!!!

when I lived in town you could here the CP train from my house. My best friend growing up still lives 1/4 mile from the point on the CP Road. Lake on in front of the house, lagoon behind the house. Next time you're up that way you have to make a stop at Toft's Dairy. Best/biggest cones you'll EVER get.

 

[Mingoglia]

Turn the bottom of the steering wheel the way you want the trailer to go.

It's funny, over the years it's just a skill I've developed and don't think about. When I do try to tell myself stuff like this I get confused. Just like "steering into a skid". Both of these things I've developed the muscle memory to do but if I "think" about them, rather than just doing them, I'm like a student driver all over again.

 

[Crunch]

Using the bottom of the steering wheel to steer is a logical method. When backing up a trailer I guess I would call myself a "holistic palmer". Most of the time I am looking over my shoulder out the back windshield and I tend to put the palm of my hand flat against the rim of the steering wheel and guide it that way, closing my fingers and gripping the wheel when needed and even letting my hand slide along the face of the steering wheel to gain play, using the center supports of the steering wheel as reference marks to maintain my orientation. When I'm lined up in the space I need to navigate I tend to switch to the side mirrors and guide off a fixed reference point. Backing up to connect a trailer is one of those times I'm glad I don't have a shell on the bed. It's easy to use the center of the tailgate to line up the hitch with the trailer, and the only time I need to get out and check is to see if I'm back far enough. One of the modern methods I've seen people use is cellphones. Like I said, boat ramps tend to be the more difficult trailer backups I do, especially when the trailer is empty and submerged in the water. I can't see the wheels and trailer angle then.

 

[crispyboy]

To me this is nothing more than a gimmick! It is also a step closer to all of us being forced to use automated vehicles. Backing a trailer is relatively easy. It's when you hook up to a hay wagon and try to back it up is what separates the men from the boys. I started driving the farm truck at age 9 and age 12 on a tractor.

 

[mwilson]

Or backing up a silage wagon hitched to a corn chopper hitched to a tractor.....a lot of wiggle points.....