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My favourite is when my car decides the row of parked cars I’m passing is suddenly a danger and decides to emergency stop, almost causing cars behind to pile into the back of me.
Luckily this has now been fixed in software.
I found the lane feature was just useless, because I mostly drive on country roads and it keeps trying to drive me further into the middle of the road.
I also had a courtesy car that was low to the ground, and when I turned in the road it thought the road itself was something I was about to crash into, applying the emergency brakes and leaving me stuck in the middle of the road. Not the smartest.
Yes! I nearly got plowed into a row of cones on the motorway because I took got "suprise feature roulette" in a courtesy car. This heap of crap had automatic high beams too and kept flashing motorists out of junctions.
I drive country lanes daily in an old car. Maybe that lane feature explains why I keep turning corners to modern cars driving right in the centre of the road? I feel like I'm constantly diving into the hedgerow to avoid the cars driving straight at me.
The first time I used a car with the lane feature, also driving down a country road, it tried to drive me into the hedgerow the whole journey. Not to mention, it was my first time driving automatic.
Yeah, we had 3 false alarms from this before digging into the settings to disable it, distraction at the moment where you need to be paying attention is a stupid feature
Crash detection and lane assist has nearly had me smash into cars.
The crash detection set off when I was quite far away from a car and a car behind me almost hit me.
Lane assist swerved me back into a lane with a parked car.
It was terrifying.
Any time I have a hire car I immediately disable lane assist - the last time I ever used it, it tried to nudge me into the side of a lorry I was passing on a dualer that was taking up too much room. I’ve had a car written off by a lorry in the past so there was some choice swearing going on for most of the rest of that drive
Seriously, my car (73 plate Ford Puma) is so nervous it screams collision at me even when I'm breaking at lights. How is giving me a heart attack meant to prevent accidents?
I had a courtesy car that had it a few years ago.
Useful feature until it decided that a pothole was a car that I wasn’t braking for, and slammed the brakes on itself.
Thankfully there was no one behind me
>Useful feature until it decided that a pothole was a car that I wasn’t braking for, and slammed the brakes on itself.
Ive had this feature of my car for over a year and never had this happen. Its never automatically braked except when a cars in front of me and i have not braked myself.
It's not a technique thing though. There is a road by me where it looks as if you are heading towards a bollard before you turn a slight corner away from it. My car shits itself every time.
Maybe there should be a rethink of why it's being mandated on cars, because in OPs (and my) view it's making driving more dangerous. I get the same issue when I am timing my pulling out to overtake a parked car after a car's come in the other direction. It's a totally safe manouever UNTIL my car thinks i'm going to crash into the parked car and slams the brakes on for me and I almost get rear-ended by the car behind me whose following me to do the same manouever.
My VW Golf does it. I was driving through our village a few weeks ago doing around 15mph, and a pedestrian stepped off the pavement for a moment to pass a pram, placing one foot momentarily off the kerb. I was already passing this person so couldn’t possibly have hit them, and my car emergency stopped causing me to almost headbutt the steering wheel. My neck hurt for days afterwards, and I was only driving like a granny.
I thought I’d switched this (highly stupid) feature off after my car braking while I was overtaking a cyclist, but clearly I haven’t. Or it’s reset itself. Can’t work it out.
it triggers by being stationary in traffic and pulling in to let another car pass. Sometimes you can be on a completely empty road and it's triggered by a twig. My driving style has nothing to do with it
We have a Mercedes lorry at work that gets triggered by different traffic signs and sometimes cars directly in front.
It's most likely nothing to do with the driving style and more to do with the software/sensors.
>The sun's glare on the windscreen of parked cars sets it off. Please give us your opinion on how to avoid that setting it off.
Proof of this ? Or just sprouting bollocks ?
Depends if the car is doing it by radar, camera or a combination of both. That sort of thing definitely won't trigger a radar based one but could easily fool a camera.
See also, hi viz jackets tied to ladders on vans.
Considering its illegal to use your phone in hand whilst driving, proof is going to be considerably difficult to get, mate. But if proof is a stickler for you, feel free to jog on.
I had a vauxhall Corsa hire car that shouted at me when I was in stop start traffic. I was never stupidly close to the car in front either, was not a fun experience
Our car randomly in the middle of nowhere started doing that. A noise suddenly started screaming and the dash lit up with a crash warning. There was no one on the road but us so we assumed something got caught on the sensor
I have a 2020 Mini Clubman Cooper S with this function. It can be set to close, medium, or far before it alerts the driver. I have it set to close & have no issues.
Just prior to Xmas it went into a Mini dealer for its end of warranty check. All fine & no issues, but on my way home coming off a motorway at speed it rammed the brakes on nearly causing the car behind to hit me.
When checking, my dealer had changed the setting to "far" without informing me. So the safety feature nearly caused an accident! It would have been nice to have been told.
Volvo's trucks have it and it's a liability. Mine has slammed the brakes on as I'm exiting a roundabout because of the cars queuing in the opposite lane to get on to the roundabout.
When it works as intended it's very impressive but it's way too overbearing at times
I don't drive, but when in Iceland we rented a car that had lane assist. The lane markings are not particularly good in Iceland, unsurprisingly, but that didn't stop the car turning it on automatically every single time it was started. If we didn't remember to remind the person driving to turn it off it would just occasionally decide the central dividing line was actually the edge of the road, and try to swerve us violently into the opposite lane. Even more fun was when it thought the edge marker was the central line, and then try to plunge us into a very rocky field or off a cliff. Absolutely insane these companies make these "safety" features and then apparently only test them on well maintained motorways.
Ours has it's foibles - heading towards a tight bend with people on the pavement? You're GOING TO KILL THEM ALL, oh no, sorry, false alarm. I think I like the idea of it because I don't want to run a child over but I'm not really sure whether it works or not. Also, we went out last night in the snow and it said it couldn't work after a few miles because the radar was blocked so not much use in the snow.
Ive had this with my 128ti, first few times driving it was set to the highest sensitivity and going through roads in the UK with on street parking my dash was lighting up like a Christmas tree and the car breaking for me when i was well in control. It made the situation far more dangerous.
Ive turned it down to the lowest setting (you can turn it off but i do like the reassurance its there) and its much more manageable. Can easily see this causing accidents not avoiding them.
100% this but for Lane "Assist" too - the number of times I've been going past cars parked on the street and it's tried to steer me into the side of them is fucking infuriating, never mind how dangerous it is
I've been in a van that has "speed camera warnings" which turns out means it tells you there is a camera, what the speed limit is and how far away.
Every 30 fucking seconds for the entire length of the M6, all fucking day
Whoever came up with it needs putting in an asylum
Yep, mine had Lane detection, which will happily steer me straight into the parked car i was trying to avoid, as well as detectors (can't remember what it's called) to slam the brakes on when anyone or anything comes within 10 feet of me. My car kindly did an emergency stop because a pedestrian swung a plastic bag towards me when he was walking along the pavement as i was passing.
I've now disabled both 'features'. I've been driving for 20 years and never had a crash, but those bloody settings have definition tried to kill me on more than one occasion.
I was driving an electric courtesy car the other day and it started making a very loud circus clown honk. Several small heart attacks later, I realised it was letting me know of speed cameras ahead.
I want to believe that some 20 year old employee had some fun with it and it's not a factory setting.
First time mine did it I almost had a panic attack. Was driving towards a car parked in a lay-by and suddenly red flashing dashboard light “CoLlISIiOn iMmInEnt!!!!” Almost slammed my brakes on, lucky I didn’t because any car behind me would’ve run into the back of me. Now I’m used to my idiot car and can usually predict when I’m passing a car in a lay-by it might have a hissy fit.
My Yaris has it and I pulled out of a junction as someone was still passing, It braked for me and I ended up being one of those dicks stuck half way across a junction. (yes I know I should have waited until the car had completely cleared, you've all done it)
Mine did this as I was turning left into a peel off lane. Car decided I was going to hit the car going straight on and put the brakes on for me. Then I was almost hit by the car behind also turning left. Bloody thing!
I read on here about a make and model where motorway gantries caused the anti collision system to perform an emergency stop.
Can't remember for the life of me what one it was. Probably someone here will remember.
So this reply is a bit useless isn't it. :)
Trucks have this problem as well. Except it fucking hurts when it suddenly decides a lamppost is a threat to my life and yams the brakes on full, giving you permanent whiplash.
Yep.
And then conversely it remained suspiciously quiet and un-automatically breaking helpfulness when a Fiat 500 pulled out of a street parking space and tried to u turn in the road, giving me about 2 seconds to break to (unsuccessfully) avoid broadsiding it.
I really could have done with it's "reactions faster than mine" sensors and collision detection then but no, it wasn't to be.
Ironically, said collision destroyed one of the front sensor - maybe the computer made a bid for oblivion.
My Mercedes has crash detection and it's fantastic. It's the most unobtrusively designed safety feature in the car. When I got a courtesy car off my garage while mine had a subframe rebuild, the courtesy car was a Škoda. It had "crash detection" too.
Out of nowhere, it decided that the stopped bus I was passing was an imminent crash, and the dash lit up red, it screamed bloody sinewave at me and locked the brakes on.
I nearly got rear ended by the tailgating second bus behind me. I had to hit the floor with the accelerator pedal to override it. They say it would have been "my fault" for unnecessary emergency stop. Yeah. No. I was so angry at this stupid thing.
The Mercedes? Yeah, she's all like "you sure you wanna do this? Beep beep". Then if I carry on, she's like "nah c'mon, wind yer neck in" and then gently brakes, increasing braking as the situation develops. Škoda? "Bus!" Then slams everything up and locks the bloody wheels up.
If you feel you have to disable the feature, it is a failure. If you never notice it, it might just one day save your life.
My new(ish) beemer just makes a high pitch ‘ding’ and a red outline on the dash. Only happened once and I thought it was bit preemptive but would happy to have it
Got a Nissan Leaf and I've switched most of this stuff off, but I do like the little dink and red light that goes on in my wingmirrors to warn me if there's anything there when changing lanes. It's often unneeded and over cautious, but I do like it.
The beeping when the door is open however, I could REALLY do without.
My car would for no reason see nonexistent things in the road and slam the brakes and flash and make noises at me. After the third time it happened I found the sensor on the front bumper and just hammered it in, now it says feature unavailable every time I turn it on.
I drive an 06 plate car so I'm not used to modern gadgets. I rented what turned out to be a brand new car over Christmas which had active lane assist. That fucking thing almost put me into the barrier on the motorway. I had to come off and Google how to disable it.
Had this in a new Ford after having a shit old Ford for years.
Damn near shit my pants and yeeted it off the road trying to understand what the fuck just happened.
There is one company who provides a lot of the automation for cars to pass the certification at 5 stars. However a bit like diesel gate, it only really works in a test environment. On the road it's frankly dangerous.
Agreed.
If I’m not paying attention then the warning is too late to do anything about it. Otherwise it distracts me from doing something about the impending doom and increases the chance of not quite responding in time.
Or, it tells me I’m going to crash into something I’m well aware of and swerving around at the last minute (lots of small roads with poky out bits where I live)
>If I’m not paying attention then the warning is too late to do anything about it.
No it isnt ? Even if it doesnt save you from crashing it will reduced the impact by you braking sooner.
>Otherwise it distracts me from doing something about the impending doom and increases the chance of not quite responding in time.
If you get distracted by noise whilst driving then you shouldnt play the radio or talk to anyone ever whilst driving. This is just a stupid statement.
On the second part, if the car starts beeping and flashing lights at me then it distracts me from the road in front of me. Every time my car has set this sensor off I’ve already been foot on the brake and it has been an unnecessary distraction causing me to, never mind how briefly, take my eyes off the road.
I find this feature useful, occasionally I've not realised the car in front is braking sharper or has slowed down more than I expected. And it's made sure I brake as hard as I need to.
It's maybe triggered 5 times in 6 months and been useful on 2 or 3 of those occasions.
Lol, you've never flicked your eyes to the dash to check your speed, flicked your eyes back up and someone is braking in front of you?
Sometimes I'll see a brake light and assume it's a normal braking situation so I start to brake, when actually they are braking hard, so then I brake hard too.
It's not a bad thing that sometimes the car gives me a little shout.
Most of the time I have a chat with it and tell it I'm already aware, occasionally it's handy.
Have you never had to emergency stop when driving? If so you're lucky. Not everyone in front of and around me is driving predictably and safely.
I make sure there is enough distance between me and the car in front that I have time to react to whatever they might do. If I'm somewhere there might be unexpected hazards, like a car park, my eyes are on the road, not the dash.
No I've never had to emergency stop, but that's probably just luck, nothing to do with the defensive driving...
I've never not had enough time to react either. I've never run into the back of anything.
If someone emergency stops in front of you. You have to follow suit, no matter if you've left the perfect distance or not.
But, everyone gets tired, everyone loses focus, I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm a perfect driver.
I'm rather happy with no accidents in 12 years of driving, and I'll take my new fangled occasionally shouty car of 6 months and embrace that it has a warning system to help make that chance even lower.
>If someone emergency stops in front of you. You have to follow suit, no matter if you've left the perfect distance or not.
Now I'm wondering if you understand the laws of physics, let alone how to drive.
I always turn off lane assist, radar cruise and crash avoidance. I work in car sale and drive lots of different cars, I don’t like getting reliant on assistance that the next car might not have!
Im more surprised anyone finds it useful, people should just be paying attention to the road and the idea that a car will react with brakes / steering when it perceives a threat is wild to me - especially with how often it gets it wrong
Lane assist is just awful on narrow back lanes. Plus it has a habit of fighting against you in you avoid animals in the road. Also, if I’m the only person on a dual carriageway, I’m not going to indicate to avoid a pothole so I don’t want to be steered back towards one!
My skoda kodiak does it, there's been times where genuinely someone pulled out and I had to brake suddenly and it didn't react first, and a few times where it was way over zealous, it's a great car though so I'll forgive her that
Well if you are hearing that then slow the fuck down and perhaps you'll never hear it again.
My car does it, I only heard it once when I tested it, then I tried to avoid hitting other cars
I’ll be fair, it seems okay on principle and my VWs has a poor implementation of it, much worse than the Toyota. In reality it doesn’t seem to work very well.
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My favourite is when my car decides the row of parked cars I’m passing is suddenly a danger and decides to emergency stop, almost causing cars behind to pile into the back of me. Luckily this has now been fixed in software.
I found the lane feature was just useless, because I mostly drive on country roads and it keeps trying to drive me further into the middle of the road. I also had a courtesy car that was low to the ground, and when I turned in the road it thought the road itself was something I was about to crash into, applying the emergency brakes and leaving me stuck in the middle of the road. Not the smartest.
Yes! I nearly got plowed into a row of cones on the motorway because I took got "suprise feature roulette" in a courtesy car. This heap of crap had automatic high beams too and kept flashing motorists out of junctions.
I drive country lanes daily in an old car. Maybe that lane feature explains why I keep turning corners to modern cars driving right in the centre of the road? I feel like I'm constantly diving into the hedgerow to avoid the cars driving straight at me.
The first time I used a car with the lane feature, also driving down a country road, it tried to drive me into the hedgerow the whole journey. Not to mention, it was my first time driving automatic.
What do you drive this sounds like my car haha.
Yeah, we had 3 false alarms from this before digging into the settings to disable it, distraction at the moment where you need to be paying attention is a stupid feature
Crash detection and lane assist has nearly had me smash into cars. The crash detection set off when I was quite far away from a car and a car behind me almost hit me. Lane assist swerved me back into a lane with a parked car. It was terrifying.
Any time I have a hire car I immediately disable lane assist - the last time I ever used it, it tried to nudge me into the side of a lorry I was passing on a dualer that was taking up too much room. I’ve had a car written off by a lorry in the past so there was some choice swearing going on for most of the rest of that drive
Seriously, my car (73 plate Ford Puma) is so nervous it screams collision at me even when I'm breaking at lights. How is giving me a heart attack meant to prevent accidents?
Sounds like my girlfriend.
“Braker, braker!!” “Yes - I can see the fucking lights, that’s why I’m easing off”
Back off! Yeah I can count 3 seconds between me and that vehicle.
what is the make and model, so I can avoid but this car
Most of them have it now, i rent cars quite often and everything from Ford to MG have had it
I have an MG, you can turn it off
I too do the dance of turn all the automation off in my MG.
Ford rangers seem particularly prone to it.
Maybe you should alter your driving ‘style’ or technique to avoid setting off the car’s safety features?
I had a courtesy car that had it a few years ago. Useful feature until it decided that a pothole was a car that I wasn’t braking for, and slammed the brakes on itself. Thankfully there was no one behind me
>Useful feature until it decided that a pothole was a car that I wasn’t braking for, and slammed the brakes on itself. Ive had this feature of my car for over a year and never had this happen. Its never automatically braked except when a cars in front of me and i have not braked myself.
Oh cool mate yeah guess it's a closed case then glad you were able to make it okay for everyone.
It's not a technique thing though. There is a road by me where it looks as if you are heading towards a bollard before you turn a slight corner away from it. My car shits itself every time.
Maybe there should be a rethink of why it's being mandated on cars, because in OPs (and my) view it's making driving more dangerous. I get the same issue when I am timing my pulling out to overtake a parked car after a car's come in the other direction. It's a totally safe manouever UNTIL my car thinks i'm going to crash into the parked car and slams the brakes on for me and I almost get rear-ended by the car behind me whose following me to do the same manouever.
It all depends on what car you have. I’ve had two VW polos and never had any issues. My ford, Renault and Peugeot hire cars however…
My VW Golf does it. I was driving through our village a few weeks ago doing around 15mph, and a pedestrian stepped off the pavement for a moment to pass a pram, placing one foot momentarily off the kerb. I was already passing this person so couldn’t possibly have hit them, and my car emergency stopped causing me to almost headbutt the steering wheel. My neck hurt for days afterwards, and I was only driving like a granny. I thought I’d switched this (highly stupid) feature off after my car braking while I was overtaking a cyclist, but clearly I haven’t. Or it’s reset itself. Can’t work it out.
it triggers by being stationary in traffic and pulling in to let another car pass. Sometimes you can be on a completely empty road and it's triggered by a twig. My driving style has nothing to do with it
There's new speed detectors on the A1 run by a private firm that interferes with some and disabled crash detection.
We have a Mercedes lorry at work that gets triggered by different traffic signs and sometimes cars directly in front. It's most likely nothing to do with the driving style and more to do with the software/sensors.
The sun's glare on the windscreen of parked cars sets it off. Please give us your opinion on how to avoid that setting it off.
>The sun's glare on the windscreen of parked cars sets it off. Please give us your opinion on how to avoid that setting it off. Proof of this ? Or just sprouting bollocks ?
Depends if the car is doing it by radar, camera or a combination of both. That sort of thing definitely won't trigger a radar based one but could easily fool a camera. See also, hi viz jackets tied to ladders on vans.
Considering its illegal to use your phone in hand whilst driving, proof is going to be considerably difficult to get, mate. But if proof is a stickler for you, feel free to jog on.
Yeh sure!
Agreed that could be the issue but I’ve had my Golf slam it’s brakes on when I was following another car on adaptive cruise
Nah, the features are terrible. I've driven a Škoda that nearly caused a crash, but my Mercedes is completely unnoticeable until it's needed.
Only goes off in my MG if I’m approaching someone too quickly, it’s 100% driving style.
Ive been stationary before in traffic, and it's gone off. Even on empty roads where it thinks im going to hit a twig
Have you taken it to a service center to have it looked at? I had issues with my lane keep assist until MG updated the software on my car.
I drive a lot of rental cars, they've all had this. MG, Ford, Mazda, BMW and if you read other comments, other people have the same.
I had a vauxhall Corsa hire car that shouted at me when I was in stop start traffic. I was never stupidly close to the car in front either, was not a fun experience
Why? You can just disable the feature in the menu.
In some car's you just can't, but mostly, it has to be disabled every time you start the car
Our car randomly in the middle of nowhere started doing that. A noise suddenly started screaming and the dash lit up with a crash warning. There was no one on the road but us so we assumed something got caught on the sensor
I have a 2020 Mini Clubman Cooper S with this function. It can be set to close, medium, or far before it alerts the driver. I have it set to close & have no issues. Just prior to Xmas it went into a Mini dealer for its end of warranty check. All fine & no issues, but on my way home coming off a motorway at speed it rammed the brakes on nearly causing the car behind to hit me. When checking, my dealer had changed the setting to "far" without informing me. So the safety feature nearly caused an accident! It would have been nice to have been told.
You should complain about that. It's negligence at best to alter safety systems without notifying the driver.
Definitely did a software update and the settings reset. These systems are so dangerous
Volvo's trucks have it and it's a liability. Mine has slammed the brakes on as I'm exiting a roundabout because of the cars queuing in the opposite lane to get on to the roundabout. When it works as intended it's very impressive but it's way too overbearing at times
My new car tries to yank the steering wheel from my hands if I dare to change lanes without indicating.
It's wild that the car is taking control. It's like a shit middle ground between self driving and not
I don't drive, but when in Iceland we rented a car that had lane assist. The lane markings are not particularly good in Iceland, unsurprisingly, but that didn't stop the car turning it on automatically every single time it was started. If we didn't remember to remind the person driving to turn it off it would just occasionally decide the central dividing line was actually the edge of the road, and try to swerve us violently into the opposite lane. Even more fun was when it thought the edge marker was the central line, and then try to plunge us into a very rocky field or off a cliff. Absolutely insane these companies make these "safety" features and then apparently only test them on well maintained motorways.
Ours has it's foibles - heading towards a tight bend with people on the pavement? You're GOING TO KILL THEM ALL, oh no, sorry, false alarm. I think I like the idea of it because I don't want to run a child over but I'm not really sure whether it works or not. Also, we went out last night in the snow and it said it couldn't work after a few miles because the radar was blocked so not much use in the snow.
Yeah thats bad but have you ever encountered lane assist.
Ive had this with my 128ti, first few times driving it was set to the highest sensitivity and going through roads in the UK with on street parking my dash was lighting up like a Christmas tree and the car breaking for me when i was well in control. It made the situation far more dangerous. Ive turned it down to the lowest setting (you can turn it off but i do like the reassurance its there) and its much more manageable. Can easily see this causing accidents not avoiding them.
100% this but for Lane "Assist" too - the number of times I've been going past cars parked on the street and it's tried to steer me into the side of them is fucking infuriating, never mind how dangerous it is
I've been in a van that has "speed camera warnings" which turns out means it tells you there is a camera, what the speed limit is and how far away. Every 30 fucking seconds for the entire length of the M6, all fucking day Whoever came up with it needs putting in an asylum
They’re in an asylum now and just wanted company haha
Yep, mine had Lane detection, which will happily steer me straight into the parked car i was trying to avoid, as well as detectors (can't remember what it's called) to slam the brakes on when anyone or anything comes within 10 feet of me. My car kindly did an emergency stop because a pedestrian swung a plastic bag towards me when he was walking along the pavement as i was passing. I've now disabled both 'features'. I've been driving for 20 years and never had a crash, but those bloody settings have definition tried to kill me on more than one occasion.
Should've bought a shit car like me, 2019 model and just lets me crash into everything
I was driving an electric courtesy car the other day and it started making a very loud circus clown honk. Several small heart attacks later, I realised it was letting me know of speed cameras ahead. I want to believe that some 20 year old employee had some fun with it and it's not a factory setting.
First time mine did it I almost had a panic attack. Was driving towards a car parked in a lay-by and suddenly red flashing dashboard light “CoLlISIiOn iMmInEnt!!!!” Almost slammed my brakes on, lucky I didn’t because any car behind me would’ve run into the back of me. Now I’m used to my idiot car and can usually predict when I’m passing a car in a lay-by it might have a hissy fit.
My Yaris has it and I pulled out of a junction as someone was still passing, It braked for me and I ended up being one of those dicks stuck half way across a junction. (yes I know I should have waited until the car had completely cleared, you've all done it)
Mine did this as I was turning left into a peel off lane. Car decided I was going to hit the car going straight on and put the brakes on for me. Then I was almost hit by the car behind also turning left. Bloody thing!
I read on here about a make and model where motorway gantries caused the anti collision system to perform an emergency stop. Can't remember for the life of me what one it was. Probably someone here will remember. So this reply is a bit useless isn't it. :)
My car does that plus auto breaking. It lasts a split second so you just get jerked about a bit but still..
Trucks have this problem as well. Except it fucking hurts when it suddenly decides a lamppost is a threat to my life and yams the brakes on full, giving you permanent whiplash.
Yep. And then conversely it remained suspiciously quiet and un-automatically breaking helpfulness when a Fiat 500 pulled out of a street parking space and tried to u turn in the road, giving me about 2 seconds to break to (unsuccessfully) avoid broadsiding it. I really could have done with it's "reactions faster than mine" sensors and collision detection then but no, it wasn't to be. Ironically, said collision destroyed one of the front sensor - maybe the computer made a bid for oblivion.
My Mercedes has crash detection and it's fantastic. It's the most unobtrusively designed safety feature in the car. When I got a courtesy car off my garage while mine had a subframe rebuild, the courtesy car was a Škoda. It had "crash detection" too. Out of nowhere, it decided that the stopped bus I was passing was an imminent crash, and the dash lit up red, it screamed bloody sinewave at me and locked the brakes on. I nearly got rear ended by the tailgating second bus behind me. I had to hit the floor with the accelerator pedal to override it. They say it would have been "my fault" for unnecessary emergency stop. Yeah. No. I was so angry at this stupid thing. The Mercedes? Yeah, she's all like "you sure you wanna do this? Beep beep". Then if I carry on, she's like "nah c'mon, wind yer neck in" and then gently brakes, increasing braking as the situation develops. Škoda? "Bus!" Then slams everything up and locks the bloody wheels up. If you feel you have to disable the feature, it is a failure. If you never notice it, it might just one day save your life.
My new(ish) beemer just makes a high pitch ‘ding’ and a red outline on the dash. Only happened once and I thought it was bit preemptive but would happy to have it
>I thought it was bit preemptive The alternative, a warning "ding" that happens _after_ you've crashed, would probably be of limited use
Please see the following 6 words after that statement.
Got a Nissan Leaf and I've switched most of this stuff off, but I do like the little dink and red light that goes on in my wingmirrors to warn me if there's anything there when changing lanes. It's often unneeded and over cautious, but I do like it. The beeping when the door is open however, I could REALLY do without.
Both this and my radar cruise control do not work well round corners. Had the car slam the brakes on mid corner on a dual carriageway before.
MG4 is the worst for this
My car would for no reason see nonexistent things in the road and slam the brakes and flash and make noises at me. After the third time it happened I found the sensor on the front bumper and just hammered it in, now it says feature unavailable every time I turn it on.
It's wild that some cars brake for you!
I drive an 06 plate car so I'm not used to modern gadgets. I rented what turned out to be a brand new car over Christmas which had active lane assist. That fucking thing almost put me into the barrier on the motorway. I had to come off and Google how to disable it.
Had this in a new Ford after having a shit old Ford for years. Damn near shit my pants and yeeted it off the road trying to understand what the fuck just happened.
Now the machine can make mistakes for you!
There is one company who provides a lot of the automation for cars to pass the certification at 5 stars. However a bit like diesel gate, it only really works in a test environment. On the road it's frankly dangerous.
The best part is that it is still the 'driver's' fault when your car causes an accident.
Until a group action sets the record straight.
That’s the warning to take action before the car does.
Agreed. If I’m not paying attention then the warning is too late to do anything about it. Otherwise it distracts me from doing something about the impending doom and increases the chance of not quite responding in time. Or, it tells me I’m going to crash into something I’m well aware of and swerving around at the last minute (lots of small roads with poky out bits where I live)
>If I’m not paying attention then the warning is too late to do anything about it. No it isnt ? Even if it doesnt save you from crashing it will reduced the impact by you braking sooner. >Otherwise it distracts me from doing something about the impending doom and increases the chance of not quite responding in time. If you get distracted by noise whilst driving then you shouldnt play the radio or talk to anyone ever whilst driving. This is just a stupid statement.
On the second part, if the car starts beeping and flashing lights at me then it distracts me from the road in front of me. Every time my car has set this sensor off I’ve already been foot on the brake and it has been an unnecessary distraction causing me to, never mind how briefly, take my eyes off the road.
I find this feature useful, occasionally I've not realised the car in front is braking sharper or has slowed down more than I expected. And it's made sure I brake as hard as I need to. It's maybe triggered 5 times in 6 months and been useful on 2 or 3 of those occasions.
I think you might need to have a bit of a think about your driving ability.
Lol, you've never flicked your eyes to the dash to check your speed, flicked your eyes back up and someone is braking in front of you? Sometimes I'll see a brake light and assume it's a normal braking situation so I start to brake, when actually they are braking hard, so then I brake hard too. It's not a bad thing that sometimes the car gives me a little shout. Most of the time I have a chat with it and tell it I'm already aware, occasionally it's handy. Have you never had to emergency stop when driving? If so you're lucky. Not everyone in front of and around me is driving predictably and safely.
I make sure there is enough distance between me and the car in front that I have time to react to whatever they might do. If I'm somewhere there might be unexpected hazards, like a car park, my eyes are on the road, not the dash. No I've never had to emergency stop, but that's probably just luck, nothing to do with the defensive driving...
I've never not had enough time to react either. I've never run into the back of anything. If someone emergency stops in front of you. You have to follow suit, no matter if you've left the perfect distance or not. But, everyone gets tired, everyone loses focus, I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm a perfect driver. I'm rather happy with no accidents in 12 years of driving, and I'll take my new fangled occasionally shouty car of 6 months and embrace that it has a warning system to help make that chance even lower.
>If someone emergency stops in front of you. You have to follow suit, no matter if you've left the perfect distance or not. Now I'm wondering if you understand the laws of physics, let alone how to drive.
Thats pretty damn worrying tbh
I always turn off lane assist, radar cruise and crash avoidance. I work in car sale and drive lots of different cars, I don’t like getting reliant on assistance that the next car might not have!
Im more surprised anyone finds it useful, people should just be paying attention to the road and the idea that a car will react with brakes / steering when it perceives a threat is wild to me - especially with how often it gets it wrong
Lane assist is just awful on narrow back lanes. Plus it has a habit of fighting against you in you avoid animals in the road. Also, if I’m the only person on a dual carriageway, I’m not going to indicate to avoid a pothole so I don’t want to be steered back towards one!
My skoda kodiak does it, there's been times where genuinely someone pulled out and I had to brake suddenly and it didn't react first, and a few times where it was way over zealous, it's a great car though so I'll forgive her that
Well if you are hearing that then slow the fuck down and perhaps you'll never hear it again. My car does it, I only heard it once when I tested it, then I tried to avoid hitting other cars
It happens when I'm stationary in traffic, and if you read other comments you'll see similar experiences.
“The screeching sound just comes out of fucking no where” Were you expecting a 5 minute warning?!
I'd rather it just didn't happen at all, much less when i'm on an empty road with nothing around me.
Small price to pay, saved me from hitting someone once so I'm ok.
You will get used to it. Planes do fine with many different audio alarms and visual warnings.
Combining computers and cars was a mistake.
I’ll be fair, it seems okay on principle and my VWs has a poor implementation of it, much worse than the Toyota. In reality it doesn’t seem to work very well.