Front assist... A future must?

[Dr Zoidberg]

Yes it does detect pedestrians. It's been tested on a citigo by some of the members here.

[andyvee]

But would it stop a citigo-go in time?

[Dr Zoidberg]

The CitiGoGo had already gone past before the pedestrian stepped out.

[andyvee]

Or the pedestrian was sucked off of the pavement as it went past

[boff180]

Or the pedestrian was sucked off of the pavement as it went past

That's one happy pedestrian then!

[andyvee]

[boff180]

Couldn't help the opportunity for a cheap pun, sorry! ;-)

Edited 31 October, 2013 by boff180

[Richie647]

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

 

Hi mate, I had an audible warning the other night (hammering it down with rain and not another car in sight) and my colour display went red with a picture of the back of a car with some arrows - is this stage 2? I don't really want to be seeing stage 3!

 

Regards

 

Richie

[Huskoda]

As a defendant of the Mk1 eyeball, I still would like the front assist. I can only hope they iron out the bugs (stopping for bags floating across the road) and make it standard on more and more cars. This is genuinely something that can save lives and reduce insurance costs.

 

It doesn't replace the eyeball, its there for when everything else has failed. If you're driving as well as you think you are, it will never kick in, will it?

[glaskoda]

I was looking at the VW forums as they use the same technology and noticed this thread....   http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=350

 

Would also think this video is similar to the Skoda Front Assist.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vthgb2BFrpY

[boff180]

Hi mate, I had an audible warning the other night (hammering it down with rain and not another car in sight) and my colour display went red with a picture of the back of a car with some arrows - is this stage 2? I don't really want to be seeing stage 3!

 

Regards

 

Richie

The manual lists the following incremental warnings (I've called them stages, their real name is in the brackets).

• Slow Speed Stage (City Emergency Braking) - occurs between 3mph and 18.6mph, the display shows a stage 2 warning and the car performs an automatic emergency stop. The brakes cannot be operated manually using the pedal.
• Stage 1 (Proximity Warning) - Warning icon in bottom left corner of the Maxi-Dot
• Stage 2 (Advance Warning) - Audible warning with red warning display on Maxi-Dot, car prepares for harsh braking.

• Stage 3 (Acute Alert) - The computer stabs at the brakes to warn you.

• Stage 4 (Automatic Braking) - The car begins braking itself to lower impact energy. The brakes cannot be operated manually during this until the clutch, accelerator or steering wheel are operated.

In addition to these:

Interim Stage (Brake Support) - If you aren't braking hard enough the car automatically increases braking force.

 

Andy

[pipsyp]

My concern is still the poor buggers behind you that cant or dont stop as quickly as you do....they then plough into you then you perhaps into the car in front.

theres been times that ive had to emergency brake but also taking into consideration the person behind, stopping sharply but not so sharply the person behind hits me. Its situations like this im not so keen on relying on this kind of technology....not saying its a bad thing to have just not sure its for me

[Anddenton]

My concern is still the poor buggers behind you that cant or dont stop as quickly as you do....they then plough into you then you perhaps into the car in front.

theres been times that ive had to emergency brake but also taking into consideration the person behind, stopping sharply but not so sharply the person behind hits me. Its situations like this im not so keen on relying on this kind of technology....not saying its a bad thing to have just not sure its for me

How does the tech behave in reality - if the car in front stops and front assist kicks in but the vehicle in front hasn't completely stopped but rolls forward slowly. Does FA adjust the brake force to accommodate the slightly increasing space available to stop in or does it still do the emergency stop?

[TudorM]

It completely stops the car. You can check the EuroNCAP testing on YT.

[Dr Zoidberg]

My concern is still the poor buggers behind you that cant or dont stop as quickly as you do....they then plough into you then you perhaps into the car in front.

theres been times that ive had to emergency brake but also taking into consideration the person behind, stopping sharply but not so sharply the person behind hits me. Its situations like this im not so keen on relying on this kind of technology....not saying its a bad thing to have just not sure its for me

But the whole point is that front assist only kicks in at the last second in order to prevent you from hitting someone.

Yes, it may mean that you stop faster than the car behind can do, but the alternative is you drive into someone and then still get hit by the car behind.

[NevilleStreet]

Silly question, and I have checked the brochure, etc., but how do I know if my car has Front Assist? It has the auto headlight high beam, but does not have adaptive cruise control (just normal cruise control as far as I can tell).

[Dempsek]

I didn't think Front Assist stopped you from hitting the car in front, if the driver takes no action it will reduced the impact.

 

From the manual

 

The area monitoring system (From here on only referred to as Front Assist) warns

you of the danger of a collision with an obstacle in front of the vehicle and tries to

avoid a collision or mitigate its consequences by automatically applying the

brakes as appropriate.

[Dempsek]

Silly question, and I have checked the brochure, etc., but how do I know if my car has Front Assist? It has the auto headlight high beam, but does not have adaptive cruise control (just normal cruise control as far as I can tell).

 

Front Assist is standard spec on Elegance spec cars ordered after it was added and then removed a month ago.

 

My 1.4TSI Elegance will have it when it's delivered in a couple of weeks time.

Edited 2 November, 2013 by Dempsek

[The Plumber]

Silly question, and I have checked the brochure, etc., but how do I know if my car has Front Assist? It has the auto headlight high beam, but does not have adaptive cruise control (just normal cruise control as far as I can tell).

 

 To look at it then there's a radar pod sat in the middle of the front lower grill.

 

 

TP

[Dr Zoidberg]

I didn't think Front Assist stopped you from hitting the car in front, if the driver takes no action it will reduced the impact.

 

From the manual

 

The area monitoring system (From here on only referred to as Front Assist) warns

you of the danger of a collision with an obstacle in front of the vehicle and tries to

avoid a collision or mitigate its consequences by automatically applying the

brakes as appropriate.

That just means that it isn't guaranteed to stop you. In a lot of cases it will do, but if someone pulled out in front of you it would do its best to slow you down before the crunch.

[Dempsek]

That just means that it isn't guaranteed to stop you. In a lot of cases it will do, but if someone pulled out in front of you it would do its best to slow you down before the crunch.

 

That's a very important point for people to understand, that FA might not stop an accident of you do FA about it and to go around thinking I am OK.

[PekoSI]

Am I the only one that just can't get around this one obvious downside of FA? First I must admit that unlike park assist this FA is an interesting gadget. The only reason why I didn't opt for it was the radar in front that brakes the bumer lines. It looks as the bumper is broken or smth. That was the deal breaker for me. 

 

I went for the looks on this one :p  Knock on wood this decision won't haunt me someday  :|

[NevilleStreet]

I took delivery in late June, so I guess before it was in then out! No obvious radar thingy when i have washed it, will check in the light tomorrow.

[The Plumber]

I took delivery in late June, so I guess before it was in then out! No obvious radar thingy when i have washed it, will check in the light tomorrow.

 

Found one on the Approved used site with the similar adaptive cruise fitted;

 

http://www.skoda.net.r66.co.uk/carview.aspx?id=604108874#

 

 

TP

[StevesTruck]

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?

 

Ever been to Carrington compound? You had to drive up to the barrier at a reasonable speed for it to see you and open, if you crept up, it couldn't see you.

 

I went up to the barrier at the normal rate in an XC70, the car saw the bar and autobraked. Then my mate locked up on the gravel and went in the back of me. Luckily no damage