Agree with the automakers that the tech isn’t ready.
The article doesn’t mention how many times these cars slammed the brakes in false positive situations.
The cars I’ve driven with this are too conservative with braking in a lot of common scenarios like driving curvy mountain roads, or parallel parking in the city near pedestrians or taxis. I’ve had it brake multiple times in normal driving scenarios wtirh false positives.
The car takes over and decides to full stop immediately, almost causing me to be rear ended multiple times. Eventually the dealership turned off the feature, but only after multiple complaints from customers and media attention.
I vowed to never get another car with this system because of how bad the experience is. But looks like that may be an option only with used cars, due to the bew mandates.
Agree with the automakers that the tech isn’t ready.
It may be model-specific, and some may be better than others.
I drove a Lincoln MKS for a few months and it was a wonderful machine. A little big for the cars I like to drive (a beetle owner from way back) but everything was well-done. The sensing and reaction was exactly right.
I put a bike on a trunk rack on the back of our Toyota. It thought a bike was behind the car and kept slamming on the brakes while trying to back out of the driveway.
Then there’s the lane assist that jerks the wheel while going through construction zones, because the lines on the road don’t match up with where you need to be.
I’ve also had mixed results. My 2018 Prius is flawless, not a single false brake in nearly seven years. We recently purchased a Tesla (I know, I know, long story) and we had to turn the braking sensitivity so far down that the feature is now basically useless.
He truly is an idiot. I wish he’d just step down from Tesla. The company has some great ideas, but instead of making them better, he’s making everything worse.
Edit: some of the newer cars are being reequipped with radar but it’s not being actively utilized because of idiocy.
I had a Nissan after that that implemented it a lot better, never any slam the brakes events.
It would warn you with a beep and apply light braking first.
This is based on a single Reddit post (including that BI report) by some anonymous person claiming to be an Audi driver. Audi drivers are not known for being very safety oriented*
The current tech doesn’t really factor in road conditions AFAIK. Which is a pretty big factor that dictates how brakes should be applied to stop safely.
One example is, if you’re driving along an area with a soft or no shoulder during rain or snow, stopping suddenly could easily make the car slide off the road and end up upside-down or down a cliff. There unfortunately are times where hitting someone/something is unavoidable, along with being the safest option and the decision making capability isn’t fully there yet.
Omg when I bought my new Civic the first thing I asked the dealer was how to turn off braking assistance. He immediately doubled down and tried to make me feel like a “dumb woman” and then when I told him only an idiot would rely on that shit in heavy rain or snow he changed his tune. It still pisses me off that it turns itself back on every time you start the car.
Not really, no. A warning maybe, but the car “thinking” there’s a need for a full-stop, and acting on it, especially on a motorway sounds way scarier to me.
Agree with the automakers that the tech isn’t ready.
The article doesn’t mention how many times these cars slammed the brakes in false positive situations.
The cars I’ve driven with this are too conservative with braking in a lot of common scenarios like driving curvy mountain roads, or parallel parking in the city near pedestrians or taxis. I’ve had it brake multiple times in normal driving scenarios wtirh false positives.
The car takes over and decides to full stop immediately, almost causing me to be rear ended multiple times. Eventually the dealership turned off the feature, but only after multiple complaints from customers and media attention.
I vowed to never get another car with this system because of how bad the experience is. But looks like that may be an option only with used cars, due to the bew mandates.
It may be model-specific, and some may be better than others.
I drove a Lincoln MKS for a few months and it was a wonderful machine. A little big for the cars I like to drive (a beetle owner from way back) but everything was well-done. The sensing and reaction was exactly right.
I put a bike on a trunk rack on the back of our Toyota. It thought a bike was behind the car and kept slamming on the brakes while trying to back out of the driveway.
Then there’s the lane assist that jerks the wheel while going through construction zones, because the lines on the road don’t match up with where you need to be.
I’ve also had mixed results. My 2018 Prius is flawless, not a single false brake in nearly seven years. We recently purchased a Tesla (I know, I know, long story) and we had to turn the braking sensitivity so far down that the feature is now basically useless.
Tesla uses cameras because Musk is an idiot
He truly is an idiot. I wish he’d just step down from Tesla. The company has some great ideas, but instead of making them better, he’s making everything worse.
Edit: some of the newer cars are being reequipped with radar but it’s not being actively utilized because of idiocy.
I found you can actually override it in cars I’ve driven by accelerating. It assumes the driver knows better, and stops braking.
Never had an issue in my Volvo (late P3 generation)!
What car manufacturer was it? I’ve gotten to the point of trading my newer car and find an semi old one for this same reason
Audi Pre-Sense was the worst offender. Looks like many others have similar experiences even this year:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221016080422/https://www.reddit.com/r/Audi/comments/rggdis/audi_presense_collision_just_scared_the_crap_out/
https://web.archive.org/web/20240119200441/https://www.businessinsider.com/audi-driver-says-pre-sense-safety-feature-almost-killed-them-2023-12
I had a Nissan after that that implemented it a lot better, never any slam the brakes events. It would warn you with a beep and apply light braking first.
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/INNOVATION/TECHNOLOGY/ARCHIVE/EMERGENCY_BRAKE/
This is based on a single Reddit post (including that BI report) by some anonymous person claiming to be an Audi driver. Audi drivers are not known for being very safety oriented*
Never once had an issue. Never once have met an actual person who has had it happen.
I very much doubt you have driven multiple cars with this happening. I think you’re likely making it up.
Which models have you had issues with?
Never had a hitch mount or trunk mount bike rack (or luggage rack, or electric wheelchair rack, or even an actual trailer) before?
Also they mention what vehicles they’ve used with the feature.
Seems to me it really should only turn on at low speeds in the first place. Avoiding hitting someone in a parking lot etc.
So you don’t want it to activate at highway speeds if the driver doesn’t realize that traffic has stopped?
Not yet, at least.
The current tech doesn’t really factor in road conditions AFAIK. Which is a pretty big factor that dictates how brakes should be applied to stop safely.
One example is, if you’re driving along an area with a soft or no shoulder during rain or snow, stopping suddenly could easily make the car slide off the road and end up upside-down or down a cliff. There unfortunately are times where hitting someone/something is unavoidable, along with being the safest option and the decision making capability isn’t fully there yet.
Omg when I bought my new Civic the first thing I asked the dealer was how to turn off braking assistance. He immediately doubled down and tried to make me feel like a “dumb woman” and then when I told him only an idiot would rely on that shit in heavy rain or snow he changed his tune. It still pisses me off that it turns itself back on every time you start the car.
Not really, no. A warning maybe, but the car “thinking” there’s a need for a full-stop, and acting on it, especially on a motorway sounds way scarier to me.