VW Adaptive Cruise/Anti-Collision Radar - Nearly crashed!
Discussion
TwigtheWonderkid said:
My eldest son passed Feb 14, the second is learning now. Both are taught just to jump on the brake as hard as they can. In a real life emergency stop with ABS, surely you want to be activating the ABS. If you don't, you aren't braking hard enough. Happy to be corrected if I've got that wrong.
When I was learning (2005) I managed to create skid marks by stamping on the brake of the Corsa from around 25 mph. My instructor said people didn't normally brake that hard.Terminator X said:
romeogolf said:
The car can't understand if a vehicle is turning off or not, just whether or not it's moving away from you or towards you and whether or not it's actually there. So the system sounds like it was working correctly.
If someone hit you, they were following too close.
So we need to leave a big enough gap to allow for people randomly emergency stopping for no good reason? If someone hit you, they were following too close.
TX.
Do these systems detect whether a vehicle behind them is too close or travelling to fast to be able to stop in time?
I’d wager a good driver would be bearing this in mind having regularly checked the rear view mirror and may decide that hitting the car in front lightly would be better than getting hit hard in the rear with an increased chance of whiplash.
I’m sure a computer would be able to work all this out much more quickly and offer a better judged outcome but only if it is taking into account what’s behind the car. Otherwise I’d say the human is more capable in many circumstances such as the OPs and these systems are a potential menace.
I’d wager a good driver would be bearing this in mind having regularly checked the rear view mirror and may decide that hitting the car in front lightly would be better than getting hit hard in the rear with an increased chance of whiplash.
I’m sure a computer would be able to work all this out much more quickly and offer a better judged outcome but only if it is taking into account what’s behind the car. Otherwise I’d say the human is more capable in many circumstances such as the OPs and these systems are a potential menace.
M4cruiser said:
Pommygranite said:
Surely the point of ABS is to give the same type of braking intended pre-ABS where you don't lock up.
Rubbish, the point of ABS is to turn the brakes off.This allows you to steer.
It doesn't stop you any quicker.
Obviously, shortest stopping distance is just before the ABS triggers - but very few people can judge that properly and consistently. ABS is second-best.
TooMany2cvs said:
It does... The brakes are off-then-on-then-lock-then-off-then-on.
Brakes are not a binary switch (although you'd think they are considering how some people drive). ABS does what a good driver does, which is to modulate the braking pressure to keep the wheels from locking. So rather than "off-then-on-then-lock-then-off-then-on" it's "notquitemax-then-max-then-lock-then-notquitemax-then-max". (Yes, I know this is pedantic but that's where we seem to be right now)
TooMany2cvs said:
Brakes on the point of lock-up stop the car quickest. Locked brakes don't slow the car very much at all - for the same reason they don't steer it very well.
Indeed. 
Pommygranite said:
Terminator X said:
romeogolf said:
The car can't understand if a vehicle is turning off or not, just whether or not it's moving away from you or towards you and whether or not it's actually there. So the system sounds like it was working correctly.
If someone hit you, they were following too close.
So we need to leave a big enough gap to allow for people randomly emergency stopping for no good reason? If someone hit you, they were following too close.
TX.
I always try to leave a gap in case the car in front slams on the brakes. Why they might slam them on isn't really any of my business. Not hitting them is!
If I hit someone whose car braked on it's own for no reason, I would accept that as completely my fault, not look for some ludicrous get out clause. It would be a totally avoidable collision that I'd have caused thru my own negligence.
Sheepshanks said:
The message is that you need to adapt your driving to be aware that the car in front might inexplicably do a full-on emergency stop.
At least, I assume you're not being serious, right?
This is precisely my point. Nobody actually drives like that. Even those who think they do, probably don't.
Sure, at an average junction in dry conditions when I am undistracted I would expect to stop in time if somebody did an emergency stop.
But, seemingly unlike many, I am willing to admit that in the in the real world I might not manage to, for a multitude of reasons.
As I stated (and many ignored) this is how cash for crash works. If I have dash cam footage of somebody performing an emergency stop directly in front of me for no good reason, I would not expect the accident to be deemed 100% my fault.
I am correct in this expectation, as is borne out by this story: http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2014/1/17/-crash-f...
boz1 said:
If I have dash cam footage of somebody performing an emergency stop directly in front of me for no good reason, I would not expect the accident to be deemed 100% my fault.
I would. Proximate cause. The cause of an accident, without any other active, efficient or intervening cause. If I hit someone in the rear, assuming they haven't just swerved in front of me, then regardless of why they stopped, there is another active and intervening cause, and that was me driving too close! TwigtheWonderkid said:
boz1 said:
If I have dash cam footage of somebody performing an emergency stop directly in front of me for no good reason, I would not expect the accident to be deemed 100% my fault.
I would. Proximate cause. The cause of an accident, without any other active, efficient or intervening cause. If I hit someone in the rear, assuming they haven't just swerved in front of me, then regardless of why they stopped, there is another active and intervening cause, and that was me driving too close! Seen some triggered by wind blown debris and heard a few mention it on here. Foil crisp bag at the wrong height blown past the sensor and it will think you are about to kill a child. Most of these systems are fine if there is good traction on the road surface and there is a decent gap to the car behind. Some have reduced the speed that the full braking and avoidance will kick in to under 30mph so there are less false occurrences but I still wouldn't want to drive one on a wintery day with low traction around a busy town or city.
ClockworkCupcake said:
Why on earth would you have Adaptive Cruise Control turned on in a busy town or city anyway???? 
The collision avoidance is active even when you have active cruse control switched off.vw said:
Will offer systems across our whole range of cars from 2016 that can bring a car to a full stop from about 18 miles (29 km) per hour when the vehicle’s sensors detect an imminent crash. At higher speeds, the automatic braking system will slow the vehicle but may not bring it to a full stop, VW senior engineer Michael Rohlfs said in a presentation to journalists.
VW will offer other automated features to help drivers stay in a lane and automatically maintain a safe distance behind another vehicle in traffic. Several VW brand models will also get new technology to automate the process of steering into a parallel parking space or backing into a perpendicular parking space.
VW will offer other automated features to help drivers stay in a lane and automatically maintain a safe distance behind another vehicle in traffic. Several VW brand models will also get new technology to automate the process of steering into a parallel parking space or backing into a perpendicular parking space.
I've got the system on my Golf and it's genuinely saved me twice.
The first time I was driving down the road and there were some workers at the roadside drilling/cutting something causing for a lot of dust to blow across the road in the wind. This temporarily blinded me as I drove through it, where it must have also blinded the driver infront. All of a sudden without realising what happened the car slammed on it's brakes causing me to stop. The dust cloud cleared and I saw the car infront for some silly reason decided to emergency stop because they couldn't see. I've no doubt I'd have slammed into the car in front if the system hadn't kicked in.
A second time, not long a go, I had a car in front of me emergency stop right in front of me, for no reason at all. I have to admit I wasn't paying 100% attention to the road ahead as there were no visible immediate dangers. Anyway, as the car randomly slammed on the brakes, I too went to emergency stop but the car had already begun to emergency brake. It was a strange feeling going to hit the pedal and it already be all the way down. I would have been frightfully close to the car in front (if not hit it) if the car hadn't stopped for me.
I also absolutely love the adaptive cruise control function and use it everyday on my commute. It'll be the biggest function I'll miss most when the time to change cars comes.
The first time I was driving down the road and there were some workers at the roadside drilling/cutting something causing for a lot of dust to blow across the road in the wind. This temporarily blinded me as I drove through it, where it must have also blinded the driver infront. All of a sudden without realising what happened the car slammed on it's brakes causing me to stop. The dust cloud cleared and I saw the car infront for some silly reason decided to emergency stop because they couldn't see. I've no doubt I'd have slammed into the car in front if the system hadn't kicked in.
A second time, not long a go, I had a car in front of me emergency stop right in front of me, for no reason at all. I have to admit I wasn't paying 100% attention to the road ahead as there were no visible immediate dangers. Anyway, as the car randomly slammed on the brakes, I too went to emergency stop but the car had already begun to emergency brake. It was a strange feeling going to hit the pedal and it already be all the way down. I would have been frightfully close to the car in front (if not hit it) if the car hadn't stopped for me.
I also absolutely love the adaptive cruise control function and use it everyday on my commute. It'll be the biggest function I'll miss most when the time to change cars comes.
Crusoe said:
vw said:
Will offer systems across our whole range of cars from 2016 that can bring a car to a full stop from about 18 miles (29 km) per hour when the vehicle’s sensors detect an imminent crash. At higher speeds, the automatic braking system will slow the vehicle but may not bring it to a full stop, VW senior engineer Michael Rohlfs said in a presentation to journalists.
VW will offer other automated features to help drivers stay in a lane and automatically maintain a safe distance behind another vehicle in traffic. Several VW brand models will also get new technology to automate the process of steering into a parallel parking space or backing into a perpendicular parking space.
VW will offer other automated features to help drivers stay in a lane and automatically maintain a safe distance behind another vehicle in traffic. Several VW brand models will also get new technology to automate the process of steering into a parallel parking space or backing into a perpendicular parking space.
Vocht said:
I also absolutely love the adaptive cruise control function and use it everyday on my commute. It'll be the biggest function I'll miss most when the time to change cars comes.
I agree. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I would count it as a deal breaker if a potential daily driver replacement didn't have it. ClockworkCupcake said:
I failed my first driving test in 1987 because I braked so forcefully that I neglected to dip the clutch and caused the car to stall. Driving Examiners are never happy. 
I did the same in 1984 but passed :-) I was crossing a junction on green traffic lights and a car nipped across in front of me . Proper emergency stop, forgot to dip the clutch car stalled. Handbrake on, Netural, restart, check mirrors pull away. Its not the stall that fails you its what you do next (apparently).i find it really annoying on a motorway if your coming up behind a truck it starts slowing you down far to far away even when its set to the smallest distance that means you spend far too much time being a mlm unfortunately also when pulling out behind a faster moving car it will quite happily apply the anchors even though its accelerating away from you
it works a lot better on single roads though
it works a lot better on single roads though
Trustmeimadoctor said:
i find it really annoying on a motorway if your coming up behind a truck it starts slowing you down far to far away even when its set to the smallest distance that means you spend far too much time being a mlm
I don't find that at all. I'm looking as far ahead as the radar is and judging closing speeds, and am generally indicating to change lanes before the system even starts to slow down. If you're being slowed down when coming up behind a truck, then I suggest you're not thinking ahead / looking ahead enough.
Good thread, spoiled only by the usual full-on-holier-than-thou suspects of the PH Inquisition, making assumptions and judgements that might deter others from coming here with useful information. Well done, those men.
I will now keep a careful eye on all Golfs in front of me, thank you OP and others who have experienced problems and related them here.
I will now keep a careful eye on all Golfs in front of me, thank you OP and others who have experienced problems and related them here.
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