Front assist... A future must?

[boff180]

I say that because it saved my bacon last night.

I've had a stage 2 warning a couple of times, usually caused by someone turning without warning aggressively.

However last night I had my first stage 3 incident and front assist saved me from having a shunt.

I had a car suddenly pull an emergency stop in the middle of the road for no reason (I assume the driver was lost and panicked), it was dark and caught me completely unawares. I was at around 35mph and front assist was on the brakes before I was, the brakes were also far more powerful than usual.

I'm certain that without front assist I would have been in the back of that car. I was also very lucky no one was behind me as with the violence of the incident it is likely any car behind me wouldn't of stopped in time.

It's taken about 10 years for ESP to become a statutory standard in new cars, I hope it doesn't take that long for this technology.

Andy

[j0hn]

The only times I have experienced that sort of tech have been in Volvos that I was delivering. For the most part I've found it to be distracting and only triggered when I was driving far too close to the car behind.

Whilst it's undoubtedly going to make a difference to the number of accidents, is it going to make the drivers of those cars more reliant on that tech and less so on their own ability?

[john999boy]

Any extra help will always go a long way in my book.

[Dr Zoidberg]

The only times I have experienced that sort of tech have been in Volvos that I was delivering. For the most part I've found it to be distracting and only triggered when I was driving far too close to the car behind.

Whilst it's undoubtedly going to make a difference to the number of accidents, is it going to make the drivers of those cars more reliant on that tech and less so on their own ability?

You'll find people saying that about every single bit of safety technology, but how many of them do without and choose to drive something from the 60s so it makes them a better driver.

[KenONeill]

You'll find people saying that about every single bit of safety technology, but how many of them do without and choose to drive something from the 60s so it makes them a better driver.

Try looking in the Octy fora, at the number of people who say that they normally switch traction control off. 

 

Or more generally, at the number who rely on ESP and don't know that they're doing it.

[kalpat]

You don't think it was a Cash for Crash stunt was it ?    However whatever it was I'm glad my car has it fitted just in case.

[The Plumber]

Found that about the brakes on a test drive; had to do an emergency stop myself due to the antics of the vehicle in front and the thing almost stood on it's nose; caught the dealer out who was with me

 

Pleased to here the system works.

 

TP

[spooks1982]

I say that because it saved my bacon last night.

I've had a stage 2 warning a couple of times, usually caused by someone turning without warning aggressively.

However last night I had my first stage 3 incident and front assist saved me from having a shunt.

I had a car suddenly pull an emergency stop in the middle of the road for no reason (I assume the driver was lost and panicked), it was dark and caught me completely unawares. I was at around 35mph and front assist was on the brakes before I was, the brakes were also far more powerful than usual.

I'm certain that without front assist I would have been in the back of that car. I was also very lucky no one was behind me as with the violence of the incident it is likely any car behind me wouldn't of stopped in time.

It's taken about 10 years for ESP to become a statutory standard in new cars, I hope it doesn't take that long for this technology.

Andy

Don't let 'The Wanderer' here you say positive things about front assist... according to him, if you need front assist then you shouldn't have a driving license. His 'mk1 eyes' are more than are required apparently. 

 

I agree with you though, very useful feature by the sounds of it. I was very disappointed when I learned that I couldn't order it with my TSI VRS. Really glad it helped you out, money well spent on the options list i'd say!

[TudorM]

This is a tech that I hope gets developed even more and becomes standard as ESP has. It's already being tested by EuroNCAP (you can check videos on YT).

 

If it prevents one accident from happening, you're already getting your money back for the optional. Any more accidents prevented from then on and you're in the "profit". Excellent!

 

PS: Not to mention preventing physical injures to the driver and/or passengers. Then it's priceless!

Edited 31 October, 2013 by TudorM

[boff180]

You don't think it was a Cash for Crash stunt was it ?    However whatever it was I'm glad my car has it fitted just in case.

Don't think so, without trying to sound stereotypical, the driver was quite old.

 

Really happy I chose Elegance spec now, certainly worth the money.

 

No driver is perfect and it's nice to know that when it goes wrong the car will (for a change) try to help me in that situation. I'm under no illusion that it is any kind of miracle shield though.

 

Andy

[Cameraboy]

I agree with the comments here (to some degree) that it should never be relied on in replacement for watching the road. But to be honest that can be said for every piece of technology.

I welcome this and know that it'll be there to help should the worst happen and the guy in front brake very hard very quickly. An electronic system can react quicker than I can and if it saves an accident even once then it's worth it.

[hammerong]

I personally always leave enough gap to allow for the car in front to stop dead. But I guess for lazy drivers or drivers that don't know their stopping distances it's a good idea.

How long before cars drive themselves?

My daily driver has no servo assist on the brakes, no abs, no power steering, esp or computer systems just me and my driving ability.

If I had a car with all the safety gizmos I'd just drive a hell of a lot faster. Right now I'm limited to my skill.

[Dr Zoidberg]

I personally always leave enough gap to allow for the car in front to stop dead. But I guess for lazy drivers or drivers that don't know their stopping distances it's a good idea.

And what about if someone pulls out from a junction or driveway in front of you, or a pedestrian runs out, or someone moves into your lane and brakes hard?

[hammerong]

Hazard perception. I slow for junctions and move out in my lane slightly. I watch for pedestrians. Im constantly checking other lanes so I know where I can go if something goes tits up.

[Anddenton]

What are all these people going to do when the Google car becomes the norm? You climb into the passenger seat and tell it where you want to go and it wakes you up when you get there! Now that's the technology for me, my very own taxi.

[Orville]

OP should have maintained a safe breaking distance and been paying better attention. Lucky there wasn't someone paying similar attention driving behind him without FA, or god forbid an HGV.

 

Just my opinion.

 

edit: FA does have it's place, but  that should not make people complacent. The most common bumps on UK roads occur on roundabouts where two approaching parties are looking right, the first party breaks but the second thinks there is space for both so doesn't. PA could be very handy here.

Edited 31 October, 2013 by Orville

[999pooch]

What are all these people going to do when the Google car becomes the norm? You climb into the passenger seat and tell it where you want to go and it wakes you up when you get there! Now that's the technology for me, my very own taxi.

Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually enjoy driving, I can forsee a time in the future where it will be illegal to manually drive a car. Not for me ta.

[JerryT]

I am not going to knock the front assist/ ACC as I recognise its potential, but here is what recently happened to me.

I was minding my own business driving down the A46 approaching Newark. The ACC was set at 73 mph which equated to a GPSS indicated 70 mph (honest, I was going to the mother-in-laws so why rush) when one of those foil crisp packets blew across the road in front of me. The ACC must have got a reflection off of this and the car momentarily went into full defence and slammed on the brakes (double red chevron in the maxi dot) and then resumed as normal as if nothing had happened.

Personally I was very thankful that the roads were quiet Sunday afternoon and there was not some idiot up my chuff, as the consequence could have been quite dire. Also, imagine writing on the insurance form, the car slammed the brakes on as it saw a crisp packet. I can also state that the same does not occur when leaves blow across your path though.

Don't get me wrong, I like technology and with ACC, front assist, DSG, Sat Nav, lane assist, blind spot recognition and traffic sign recognition, these cars will soon be driving themselves. Then I will be really scared.

[dastrix]

was this front assist with ACC or with out, is there much difference as my Octy is coming with out acc. 

[Dempsek]

What are all these people going to do when the Google car becomes the norm? You climb into the passenger seat and tell it where you want to go and it wakes you up when you get there! Now that's the technology for me, my very own taxi.

My wife has this car already, she climbs in tells me where to go and then goes to sleep.

 

was this front assist with ACC or with out, is there much difference as my Octy is coming with out acc. 

Front assist is standard on Elegance models, but to have ACC you have to have Front Assist.

[Sireyn]

Interestingly, the front assist acted on my elegance today. I was travelling behind a car when it turned left. I didn't brake as it was turning in because I knew the car wouldn't hit it and had plenty of clearance time to go past however the front assist kicked in and I got a sharp shunt on the brakes automatically with the red warning sign in the maxi dot.

I was then behind another vehicle later on which braked hard in front of me. My bonnet got within a metre if the car in front but front assist didn't react in any way. I was going at about 25-30 mph at this point.

Can anybody clarify?

[Anddenton]

My wife has this car already, she climbs in tells me where to go and then goes to sleep.

 

 

At least she has the decency to go to sleep and not nag you about your driving all the way

[Dempsek]

At least she has the decency to go to sleep and not nag you about your driving all the way

No worse she snores and grunts.

[andyvee]

Shame it has been removed in the new brochure ............

[zacherynuk]

.... or a pedestrian runs out, or someone moves into your lane and brakes hard?

 

Would it detect a pedestrian ? (Wanna test it ?)

Would it detect a plastic bag floating across the motor way when you are doing ~76.5 ? (Wanna test it?)

 

I like the idea, but I would like some hard facts on what it does and how it works.  There have been very recent articles published about CAN hacking and squifing and the more the car becomes fly by wire and automated, the more prone to bugs and errors.

 

Case in point: Toyota: (again!) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/business/jury-finds-toyota-not-liable-in-death-of-california-driver.html?_r=0

 

I have no quibbles embracing tech, but I want to see standards, transparency (open source where feasible) and NOTHING RUSHED.  It used to be said that the easiest way to kill somebody and get off was to run them over.  Now we are approaching an era where we can run them over and blame the car.