Mandatory anti-tailgate technology after EU ruling
Discussion
Derek Smith said:
I have it on my VW cruise control. The gap it leaves is such that I keep having cars pull into the gap I leave, meaning my car slows, frightening the life out of the driver behind. In fact, it's got to the stage where I now disengage CC when I realised someone's going to confuse the damn thing. I mean, I end up going backwards in top gear.
We had adaptive cruise on my wifes Golf GTI. I only tried using adaptive cruise twice before vowing never again , it was horrendous, as you said, left massive gaps to the car in front. Then when that car accelerated the Golf reacted so slowly that everyone else pulls out in front of you and the Golf slows down yet again. Even in well flowing traffic the Golf would decide that there was something in front of the car it would slow down for no apparent reason.
This was on a relatively empty stretch of the A1, not some crowded horror show like the M25.
I've got AEB on my 2015 C-class. It works amazingly well. It will first alert you with an audible warning, and if you don't do anything, it will apply brakes etc.
Whilst the warning comes on maybe a couple of times a week when I'm on roads where I'm having to weave in and out of gaps on a narrow road due to parked cars on both sides. it's only ever braked once in 4 years of driving every day and that was when the car in front decided to slam on their brakes at 40mph and do a u-turn.
Before I as the human driver had responded (and I was about to), the car's sensors reacted even quicker than my human brain, not just applying rather strong braking force, but doing stuff like tensioning the driver's seat belt etc in case of a collision.
It appears from the thread that some vehicles have overly sensitive sensors, and some don't. I think it's a useful piece of tech if deployed in a manner that is fit for purpose.
Whilst the warning comes on maybe a couple of times a week when I'm on roads where I'm having to weave in and out of gaps on a narrow road due to parked cars on both sides. it's only ever braked once in 4 years of driving every day and that was when the car in front decided to slam on their brakes at 40mph and do a u-turn.
Before I as the human driver had responded (and I was about to), the car's sensors reacted even quicker than my human brain, not just applying rather strong braking force, but doing stuff like tensioning the driver's seat belt etc in case of a collision.
It appears from the thread that some vehicles have overly sensitive sensors, and some don't. I think it's a useful piece of tech if deployed in a manner that is fit for purpose.
ChocolateFrog said:
So what are the likes of Dacia doing? Or does it only apply to newly designed vehicles and not just new vehicles at point of sale.
The system in my ID3 is utterly useless. It slammed the brakes on the first time I tried to take the car off the drive and picks up parked cars in the road, which is moderately alarming.
It will be interesting to see what Dacia do with future cars, Plenty of people are attracted to them because they don't ram their cars full of active tech, its one of the reasons I bought one. I don't want all these electric gimmicks, that are often flawed. It's nice having a car with dials and buttons (no massive screen to scroll through) that doesn't beep at you every few minutes for what seems to be no reason. The boss of Dacia has gone on record to say he doesn't want to fill their cars with active safety gadgets as their customers don't want them. They may score lower than many cars in NCAP, but this is down to lack of active safety devices, not because they don't perform well in a crash.The system in my ID3 is utterly useless. It slammed the brakes on the first time I tried to take the car off the drive and picks up parked cars in the road, which is moderately alarming.
playamonte said:
Now if they could just design something useful like a system that prevents cars entering a motorway from immediately heading to the outside lane regardless of conditions or traffic around them.
I'd advocate for a system that produced reminders to keep left. If it knows what's in front of the car, what's alongside and what's behind to give you active cruise control, lane keep assist and the little warning lights to tell you something's in your blind spot then surely it wouldn't take much adaptation to tell you that there's nothing in the lane to your left/right (depends where you're driving, could be configured via GPS?) so you should move over. Perhaps even just a light on the dashboard and a single chime. Something obvious to the oblivious driver but not something so annoying you want to crash the car if the system is mistaken. Back on topic, my Mazda 6 has Smart City Brake Assist. It doesn't detect cars coming out through gaps in car parks but it does detect car park rising barriers no problem and makes you nearly headbutt the steering wheel. It's never triggered productively for me, but perhaps I drive in such a way that it mitigates the need for it.
Latest Volvo system [I've a 2018 XC90] seems to work well for me - next to no false positives, saved me once when I was chatting and didn't notice car in front stopping to turn right [by bad]. The auto cruise control and steering make long Mway stints much less tiring.
Latest VW collision detection system [iD3 I rented] was a nightmare, at least one false positive every journey and became irritating, however It's adaptive cruise was pretty good, would adjust speed based on signage and could see other lanes traffic so it would not undertake on a motorway [Volvo does undertake]. 2017 Golf GTI I loved the adaptive cruise control, and you can easily reduce the gap it leaves between the car in front, as you can with the Volvo system.
Not all systems are equal if would seem, but I turn OFF lane assist on everyone one of them as they all suck!
The Volvo and Renault Zoe remembers your pref. the others generally need manually turning off every journey.
You can save children too - unless you drive a Ford - impressive how high you can make someone fly at just 25mph!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgUiZgX5rE
Latest VW collision detection system [iD3 I rented] was a nightmare, at least one false positive every journey and became irritating, however It's adaptive cruise was pretty good, would adjust speed based on signage and could see other lanes traffic so it would not undertake on a motorway [Volvo does undertake]. 2017 Golf GTI I loved the adaptive cruise control, and you can easily reduce the gap it leaves between the car in front, as you can with the Volvo system.
Not all systems are equal if would seem, but I turn OFF lane assist on everyone one of them as they all suck!
The Volvo and Renault Zoe remembers your pref. the others generally need manually turning off every journey.
You can save children too - unless you drive a Ford - impressive how high you can make someone fly at just 25mph!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgUiZgX5rE
Edited by pistonheader no-312 on Monday 27th June 12:45
I had the AEB and auto cruise control on my old MK7 Golf GTI.
In general I think it's a good idea and can remove some of the risk for those who do not pay attention when driving, however it can be a bit dumb in some situations. Two come to mind one was Radom metallic rubbish, crisp packets, insulated carrier bags etc which blow across the road and the system decides they must be another car so does a full emergency stop. The other is a sharpish left turn on a NSL country road with a sign and island in the middle of the corner, on approach the system beeps to tell you you are going to have a crash and applies the brakes hard, the only way to stop it is to apply the accelerator so you arrive at a corner on the gas when you should be off the pedals or have your foot resting on the brake.
I gave up in the end and sold the car. Like everything electronic its down to programming and calibration, the Mercedes B & C class we have now both have the AEB system and they are pretty good, the B class beeps every now and again and I have only heard the C class once or twice in the last 18 months.
In general I think it's a good idea and can remove some of the risk for those who do not pay attention when driving, however it can be a bit dumb in some situations. Two come to mind one was Radom metallic rubbish, crisp packets, insulated carrier bags etc which blow across the road and the system decides they must be another car so does a full emergency stop. The other is a sharpish left turn on a NSL country road with a sign and island in the middle of the corner, on approach the system beeps to tell you you are going to have a crash and applies the brakes hard, the only way to stop it is to apply the accelerator so you arrive at a corner on the gas when you should be off the pedals or have your foot resting on the brake.
I gave up in the end and sold the car. Like everything electronic its down to programming and calibration, the Mercedes B & C class we have now both have the AEB system and they are pretty good, the B class beeps every now and again and I have only heard the C class once or twice in the last 18 months.
pistonheader no-312 said:
You can save children too - unless you drive a Ford - impressive how high you can make someone fly at just 25mph!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgUiZgX5rE
Interesting subject - soporific video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgUiZgX5rE
To signal or not?
If you signal a change of direction/ lane change then it lets others know your intention. If no other traffic then not necessary.
That is better than the numpties that just change direction/ lane without signals or even late signals in some cases. You are letting others know your intentions so they can drive accordingly.
Simple courtesy in many cases.
Roundabouts........so many examples of lane choice and signalling anomalies!
If you signal a change of direction/ lane change then it lets others know your intention. If no other traffic then not necessary.
That is better than the numpties that just change direction/ lane without signals or even late signals in some cases. You are letting others know your intentions so they can drive accordingly.
Simple courtesy in many cases.
Roundabouts........so many examples of lane choice and signalling anomalies!
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