Volkswagen Trailer Assist has simplified the whole towing process by allowing you to easily control the direction of your trailer. Unless you tow trailers on a regular basis, chances are you might not be the best at reversing. If you ask me it all gets a bit confusing with your steering being reversed etc, not to mention you might have the pressures of other people watching or have other traffic waiting for you to park.
Volkswagen Trailer Assist
Volkswagen has introduced an ingenious technology called Volkswagen Trailer Assist as an optional extra. It takes advantage of some of the features of the car used for park assist that controls the steering and also the cameras, then layers some clever engineering on top. This allows you to control the direction of your trailer via the mirror adjustment control arm.
How To Use Volkswagen Trailer Assist
Here is a simple guide to how it works for reverse parking your trailer or caravan:
- Select reverse gear.
- Press the parking aid button.
- Use the mirror adjustment control arm to choose the direction to drive your trailer.
- Your car will now steer automatically.
- Now You just need to take care of changing gear (forward and reverse), accelerating and braking.
- Make fine adjustments via the mirror control arm as required.
- Once you have moved into your desired location, just put the car in park and you’re done.
Tested First Hand
I tested the Volkswagen Trailer Assist first hand. I have reversed a few trailers manually in the past, but I am definitely not an expert! I was quite excited to try out this new system. Our test involved reversing a trailer down a road marked out with traffic cones with a small turn in the middle. The system was very useful for reversing, but you still need to be aware of your surroundings to carry out this task successfully.
Using the mirror adjustment control for direction is a brilliant idea and the dashboard shows you where your trailer is at the moment and you select the desired direction. I managed to reverse the trailer, but I would improve with more practice. I can see this technology being a big help to UK caravan owners.
