If you are lucky enough to be in a position to buy a new Skoda with Front Assist as standard or as an option, read below.

 

I recently replied to a query on the forums about the best options to choose  and rated Front Assist below the Winter Pack, Canton, Folding mirrors etc. In fact I specced Front Assist as an afterthought. On Thursday night I approached a roundabout at about 50 Mph returning home on my commute, which never has a real queue. The BMW X5 in front of me was blocking the view as we crested a rise approaching the roundabout and 200-300 metres from the traditional braking area. I saw the BMW starting to brake, and as my foot moved towards the brake pedal, simultaneously the Front Assist activated, I braked immediately, pressing the pedal hard as I realised that traffic had completely stopped and pulled up smoothly in good time. Luckily I had left 5-6 car lengths between myself and the BMW and didn't have a tailgater behind. 

 

With 35 years driving experience, I have wondered if Front Assist actually works as well as my own (probable falsely inflated) driving standards.  Whilst it does tell you that a gap is too small in moving traffic, frankly your eyes should be telling you this. Also it has alarmed before when cars are turning in front at junctions, even though I've noted and estimated correctly that the 'danger' is no longer there.

 

Thursday night proved to me that the system is very good and it has risen to the top of my options list. It noted instantly that the speed differential between me and the BMW had changed dramatically i.e. the BMW driver wasn't simply tapping the brakes.I had not been distracted and was watching the road ahead, however I was lulled by years of braking progressively and stopping much closer to the roundabout. I am sure some of the younger readers will think that it couldn't happen to the. I like to think that as I race go-karts and ride a Honda 750, that my reactions are decent and have good road sense, however it only takes one distraction to cause an accident and I am convinced that the alarm helped me avoid a possible accident by spurring me into braking hard immediately and that vital extra split second made the difference in this case. It is also a relatively cheap option when compared with Sat Nav. The least useful option I have is Front Parking sensors......until I get a bit older....

Good to hear - I've specced ACC on mine which includes front assist. It only takes a split second as we all know :-)

@Redboy, thanks for sharing. I think this is a much needed story as Front assist often gets a bad rep on these forums with people often tempted to switch it off.

Also note that it's possible its more than just the alerting that helped prevent an accident. I think Front assist also pre-fills the brake hydraulics, giving you split seconds of extra safety as the brakes will apply that much harder when you go to press the pedal.

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Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by RB79

If you are unfortunate to be involved in an accident where you go in to the back of someone and have purposely turned off your Front Assist is your insurance company likely to wriggle out of a full payout?

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Acc is fine until you need it calibrated. If you have shunt, pothole damage, wheel alignment or whatever, then if the insurance is not paying buy a seat.. Son has Golf GTI with it and has been the subject of discussions ! with VW.

If I can remember the local VW dealer charges £500 to re calibrate the thing (inc 4 hrs labour). Also, when getting the wheels checked on the Vrs for alignment, I was asked if it had the "Radar sensor" and if so couldn't do it.

So if anyone is thinking of this, check recalibration price first.

PS. Local Skoda dealer last year was preparing a business case to buy and train staff as it was costing them silly money to send cars to VW dealer, I think the workshop kit was costing 30K.

Perhaps there is someone in the trade on the forum than can verify the charges or dispute them.

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by the rooster

Acc is fine until you need it calibrated. If you have shunt, pothole damage, wheel alignment or whatever, then if the insurance is not paying buy a seat.. Son has Golf GTI with it and has been the subject of discussions ! with VW.

If I can remember the local VW dealer charges £500 to re calibrate the thing (inc 4 hrs labour). Also, when getting the wheels checked on the Vrs for alignment, I was asked if it had the "Radar sensor" and if so couldn't do it.

So if anyone is thinking of this, check recalibration price first.

PS. Local Skoda dealer last year was preparing a business case to buy and train staff as it was costing them silly money to send cars to VW dealer, I think the workshop kit was costing 30K.

Perhaps there is someone in the trade on the forum than can verify the charges or dispute them.

I have had my wheel alignment done twice now because of potholes, and neither the Front Assist / ACC, nor Lane Assist have been affected!

Don't let VW tell you any different!

Had full hunter alignment on my passat cc with no acc/lane assist problems. Frankly I can't see how it could possibly affect it.

The tyre dealer also has the Hunter kit and it was them that asked. Also the son has has his GTI damaged twice and VW repairer did not check the alignment as was required.

These were the VW discussions. I know very little of the equipment but I assume it is not self calibrating and if it was why does Skoda dealer need expensive kit?. 

Just found this thread on the Golf forum. Have a read and decide.

 

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7698

I have it on my 'new' Passat and have experienced it operating a few times. Last night I set the cruise to 60 and as I approached a car doing 55 up a gradient i did nothing but let it slow and set itself a good 10 or 15 metres behind. As we topped the rise he sped up to 60 and the Passat did the same keeping a good distance behind. I am new to the car so must see how it goes. It's really easy to disable from the indicator end switch should I need to.

Can someone please help me get this right in my head, I'm struggling here which granted isn't hard but I don't consider myself to be unable to follow a thread.

The OP talks about Front Assist activating during 'normal' driving, ie the driver has full control of the speed of the vehicle and no mention of using Cruise Control at time of activation. Then there is a big post regarding ACC which I always believed meant Adaptive Cruise Control or am I wrong? Why has the thread jumped from Front Assist (AEB - Autonomous Emergency Braking) to ACC? AEB is available without ACC isn't it?

Apologies if I'm getting muddled and happy to be corrected. My thoughts are because ACC must have AEB to function people automatically assume it goes the other way too, if you have AEB you also have ACC. I've seen a few threads recently where the two seem to be misinterpreted.

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When you spec ACC you get front assist included - which is what I was referring to :-)

So can I clear up that the OP mentions that all the car did was "alert" him to impending doom (and therefore he pushed the brake) and not that the car auto braked?

I have front assist (manual gear box) too and get a bit confused about the system on the Octavia and some others that are being advertised on TV right now which alert and seemingly auto brake (eg toyota)

When you spec ACC you get front assist included - which is what I was referring to :-)

I saw that you had said that because you spec'd ACC you got Front Assist, it was more the post by TheRooster that puzzled me but reading again he may have just been responding to your post not the OP.

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All VAG cars with ACC have front assist, worth a quick watch and all will be explained

http://www.skoda.com.au/models/hotspotdetail?HotspotName=AU-OCT-AdaptiveCruiseControl&Page=technology&WebID=309a52a8-ed96-46dd-a5e4-280553817507

Was not aware you can switch off the front assist, probably getting muddled as mine has gone off a few times and did not have ACC on so perhaps front assist is in a menu?

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by Defenderben

FA has saved me once where I was distracted - the car braked from 80 kph to 0.

So can I clear up that the OP mentions that all the car did was "alert" him to impending doom (and therefore he pushed the brake) and not that the car auto braked?

I have front assist (manual gear box) too and get a bit confused about the system on the Octavia and some others that are being advertised on TV right now which alert and seemingly auto brake (eg toyota)

Correct, the whole point is that it gave me the extra impetus that I needed, to stop quicker than I had realised. If I had failed to react as quickly as I did and brake as hard, my understanding is that it would have automatically braked, as should your car. Whilst I am now it works, it was less dramatic and better for my blood pressure to manage the braking part myself. The alert activation showed how quickly the system 'saw' the situation and assisted me.

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by Redboy

I did think the "beep" that front assist gives out is a bit weak to warn someone at times.

Adaptive Cruise Control AKA ACC combines cruise control and distance control

 

Area Monitoring System AKA Front Assist - provides a warning in the event of a possible collision with a vehicle on the road ahead. The area monitoring system is part of the ACC however it functions independently and remains active even when the distance control or the cruise control is switched off.

 

When Front Assist is active, acoustic and mechanical warning are give but if either fails to grab the drivers attention the braking system takes over and will stop the car.

 

The Radar sensor is behind the Skoda badge.

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by DonjSZ5

Nice video DefenderBen it does show the system well. I believe that you can turn off Front Assist in a menu and it is 'key specific' and does not activate again at the start of the next journey, only when it is turned back on.

Redboy, do you have ACC and FA? At the time of the FA warning did you have ACC on? I only ask as this started as a thread about FA giving a warning and very likely saving you from a brown trouser moment and moved on to ACC.

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Duplicate post, sorry

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by jonro2009

Adaptive Cruise Control AKA ACC combines cruise control and distance control

Area Monitoring System AKA Front Assist - provides a warning in the event of a possible collision with a vehicle on the road ahead. The area monitoring system is part of the ACC however it functions independently and remains active even when the distance control or the cruise control is switched off.

When Front Assist is active, acoustic and mechanical warning are give but if either fails to grab the drivers attention the braking system takes over and will stop the car.

The Radar sensor is behind the Skoda badge.

Thank you, can you have Front Assist without having ACC?

I was under the impression the radar was positioned lower down in the bumper grill?

I'm still learning so this is all helpful [emoji106]

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Correct, the whole point is that it gave me the extra impetus that I needed, to stop quicker than I had realised. If I had failed to react as quickly as I did and brake as hard, my understanding is that it would have automatically braked, as should your car. Whilst I am now it works, it was less dramatic and better for my blood pressure to manage the braking part myself. The alert activation showed how quickly the system 'saw' the situation and assisted me.

My front assist has gone off many times as there is a particularly good junction near mine where cars have to slow from 70kph down to 25kph to make the right hand turn. I always drop back further than safe when approaching this junction in case the car in front decides to turn. It's economical as well as the speed limit drops to 50kph 300 up the road so I save my brakes some as well.

The issue I get is that even though I am a good distance back from the car in front (which is indicating right), when they slow to make the turn the Front Assist often either bings a warning at me, or scares the beejesus out me and the wife by hammering the brakes for a second! It releases the brakes when the turning car has made the turn and out of its field of view. The annoying thing is that I am still a good 30m from the junction and would not have hit the car even if I/it had not braked. Bettersafe than sorry tho.

In my last Octavia I didn't have Front Assist so normally it would be my wife getting uncomfortable approching this junction due to the differences in closing speed. I would time and adjust my speed to distance ratio so I wouldn't have to touch the brakes if a car was turning. I would safely pass behind it seconds after it made its turn. I always shadowed the brake pedal as there would often be drivers who virtually came to a stop before making their turn. You could take this turn at 60kph but some insist on making it at 15kph instead!

I reckon Front Assist is worth it even if it scares the s#$t out of you once in a while by being overly safe. It will look out for you (65-75% of the time) for that one time your brain might not pick up so quickly some non progressive braking, especially if the initial braking was light. It is by no means full proof tho but is better than a smashed up front end I think.

Like wise Lane Assist,some hate it, most of the time don't mind it but it has helped prevent a possible scrape or two by intervening once or twice split seconds before I would have if I had momentarily dropped my guard /concentration etc.

Together the two systems work well. I have never let the car brake me all the way down to zero and nor am I sure it would do. I have had many occasions when I have not braked on purpose to see if it reacts to cars stopping in front and it hasn't. I have not had the balls to wait any longer so have hit the brakes myself harder than normal just to stop.

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by blahde2

The Radar sensor is behind the Skoda badge.

No, aint the radar the box in the bottom of the grille? The one that fills with snow and prevents ACC to function.

The radar is not behind any badges it is the little plastic box in the lower grill it cannot be obstructed

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=skoda+ACC+radar&rlz=1Y3KTZR_enGB518GB518&oq=skoda+ACC+radar&aqs=chrome..69i57.16002j0j4&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=hPUmfQ6AeMTVzM%3A

I did think the "beep" that front assist gives out is a bit weak to warn someone at times.

Not sure if you have witnessed it going off...I is very noticeable when your dash lights up with a red warning symbol filling the maxidot screen!!!

Very noticeable to me and scary when it goes off falsley as mine has with reflective surfaces of cyclists and a police car.