Warning Indicator Display

[Folkie]

Driving on the open road the other day, the warning indicator on the display panel behind the steering wheel suddenly showed a plan of the car all in red, with RF sensors showing all around it.  This took up the whole display, with nothing else being indicated. The car carried on as normal and after a while this picture disappeared, and the display reverts to its usual state.  Being all in red it would indicate that it could be something serious.  I searched the manual for information of what it might mean, also tried Google Images, so I would be grateful if anyone here could enlighten me as to the meaning of it.

[andyvee]

Front Assist

 

It was warning you to brake - where you coming up close behind another car?

[Folkie]

Thanks for the prompt reply andyvee, I thought of that, except for the fact that there were no cars directly in front, and looking in the mirror there were no cars directly behind me either. Second point is that the drawing showed "sensors" all round the car where I would have expected that warning of a front collision for example would have shown the sensors just at the front.  Your "Front Assist" would appear the most likely explanation, apart from the fact that there were no other cars that close.  Is there anywhere one can download pictures of these symbols and their meanings?

[Folkie]

PS to the above:  If it helps, I searched "front assist", suggested by andyvee and looked for pictures showing the display pictures for for front collision.  These appear to be two cars with an exclamation mark between, or a picture of a car in front with an arrow pointing towards it and dotted lines showing the road.

 

Neither of these are what I had on my display showing a warning picture all in red of the car with RF sensor signs (similar to the symbol you have on the contactless credit cards) on front, back and sides .  I've tried searching, but can find nowhere showing what that symbol was intended to mean?  If it was supposed to be self explanatory it failed.

[pipsyp]

Cars with exclamation mark between them is proximity alert....shows where the odo/cruise speed display is and is a visual alert to tell you to think about backing off the vehicle in front nothing more.

The high pitched beep with the red symbol is the crash mitigation alert....basically the car thinks you were at risk of crashing so does that to raise your attention...2nd stage it dabs the brakes quite hard, 3rd stage it brakes for you....between 9 and 31mph the car will come to a complete standstill if it has to.

Like all tech like this it does v occasionally false alarm/glitch....anything metallic of relative mass can set it off...people have spoken of crisp bags floating past the radar sensor and triggering it but not my experience.

Id be surprised if it werent all outlined in the manual though....i never read mine and find it all quite intuituve.

[Skodev]

Front Assist

It was warning you to brake - where you coming up close behind another car?

it's going to be this. I had a hire SEL with front assist last week and a couple of times, it caught me out and showed the car in red with red lines all around it. On one occasion I was on a slip road and a bike flew past, undertaking me and cutting in, which immediately set it off, but the bike was a fair way in front and accelerated away, so it may not have been obvious that something was in front of you. Obviously it's impossible for anyone other than yourself to know the circumstance you refer to, but based on the display you describe, then Andyvee's explanation seems the most credible.

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[Folkie]

Thanks pipsypreturns and Skodev  I'll go along with the crash mitigation thing, perhaps a picture of the car in red with sensors around was to indicate a side proximity problem rather than something in front.  I had a passenger with me at the time who also noticed nothing obvious either.  I was somewhat surprised that I could not find any copies of the same image on google images, or in the handbook.  Certainly there was no automatic braking involved or any other cars in front of me.  I looked in the mirror when it happened and there were no cars behind either.  

[Silvergamer]

If it was the front assist then it should also have emitted a loud high pitched squeek. Mine has went off when i went through a puddle or it could have been a reflection off water on the road ahead.

[irlrobins]

If it was the front assist then it should also have emitted a loud high pitched squeek. Mine has went off when i went through a puddle or it could have been a reflection off water on the road ahead.

When you say it went off, did it just do the alert or did it brake as well?

 

I've ordered Front Assist as an extra for the additional safety value. But I'm worried now that it might trigger braking unexpectedly and without just cause and someone following behind might plow into the back of me. 

[andyvee]

Don't worry, I've done 25k in the last 14 months with no problems with FA.

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[andyvee]

Thanks pipsypreturns and Skodev I'll go along with the crash mitigation thing, perhaps a picture of the car in red with sensors around was to indicate a side proximity problem rather than something in front. I had a passenger with me at the time who also noticed nothing obvious either. I was somewhat surprised that I could not find any copies of the same image on google images, or in the handbook. Certainly there was no automatic braking involved or any other cars in front of me. I looked in the mirror when it happened and there were no cars behind either.

Figure 175 on P156.

Warning and automatic braking

 

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Edited 22 February, 2016 by andyvee

[davitc]

Figure 175 on P156.

Warning and automatic braking

 

FA.PNG

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Hired a Fabia with Front Assist, bloke in front slowed down and was just finishing filtering into other lane to turn left and it activated as I was breaking, it was a bit un-nerving as I was already going to clear him.

Edited 22 February, 2016 by davitc

[Silvergamer]

When you say it went off, did it just do the alert or did it brake as well?

 

I've ordered Front Assist as an extra for the additional safety value. But I'm worried now that it might trigger braking unexpectedly and without just cause and someone following behind might plow into the back of me.

Just made the noise. It only brakes if it thinks a collision is imminent.

[Folkie]

Thanks again andyvee, yes Figure 175 on P156. is the closest, apart to my recollection of there being no lines showing the road, also I thought it indicated more of the RF symbols that surrounded the whole car in all directions.  The entire illustration being in red.  In response to the other queries:  There was a "beep" There was no braking.  I'm fine with all the above explanations, and thanks to everyone for there help.  Possibly it would be more helpful if the direction of the suspected "collision" was shown, which was not the case.  

[skyjawa]

I had this yesterday. Beeped, flashed that diagram in red but didn't brake. I wasn't near anything!

Edited 28 February, 2016 by skyjawa

[Folkie]

For the record: The Fig 175 shown by andyvee shows a rear view of the car with sensors front, + front left & front right, and is the same picture that I have in my manual.  As I recall it, the picture I had when it occurred, showed a plan view of the car, with sensors front, rear, + front & rear sides.  I think there were six sensors shown in all, but the differences in the drawings may depend on the number fitted.  No indication was given to the direction of the hazzard.

[andyvee]

The direction of the hazard is always in front, hence the name Front Assist.

Don't confuse parking sensors with the front mounted radar.

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[daljames]

when ive had lane assist on and some cars or trucks next to me have wondered into my lane next to me, the proximity alarms go off on the colour maxidot in the display. Happens even if im doing highway speeds.

[Folkie]

The direction of the hazard is always in front, hence the name Front Assist.

Don't confuse parking sensors with the front mounted radar.

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I'm only saying, that's how I recall it, I was probably going at around 60mph and certainly not parking.  The image was different to Fig 175, and different to the parking image, that on my car only shows the rear of the car. After it had occurred, I went through the manual, and also tried "Google Images" but I was unable to find the same image. Apart from the picture being different, all else indicates that it was warning me to brake.  There was no need to brake at the time as there was nothing in front, nor was there any automatic braking. It's probably going to happen again, so I'll see what happens next time.  I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had the same alarm with a picture different to that shown in the manual?

[andyvee]

I think it is just a slightly different graphic on a Colour maxidot than it is on a monochrome.

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[irlrobins]

Well I think paying for the Front Assist option paid for itself yesterday morning. 

 

My wife (38 weeks pregnant btw) was driving on a large roundabout (3 lanes, as part of motorway sliproads) and had green lights in her favour all the way through. A cyclist came the WRONG way around the roundabout and tried to cross the three lanes of traffic who had the green light. My wife only saw him at the last second due to a white van on her side obscuring her view. Thankfully the FA kicked in and braked the car. She just tipped the bike and topple the wally over. If it hadn't been for the FA she'd have given him a right clatter. 

 

The wally then went on to have a go at her and tried to claim she was in the wrong!! Thankfully a number of good samaritans came to her aid and provided their details in case he tries to claim for anything. Apart from being a bit shook she and bump are fine.

 

I'd take a few false positive alerts if FA saves your ass in this sort of situation. 

[skd12]

I've had one false positive and a couple of heads-up alerts. The alerts were fortunately not necessary as I'd already anticipated the hazard but it's nice to know it's there.

 

That said, the false positive could have been a problem.

I was doing 20 mph in town with a van on my right hand side and it was starting to snow. Without warning my car decided to do a full emergency stop. Luckily there was nothing behind me because even at 20mph I'd probably have been shunted.

[AirborneVRS]

I've got front assist on my car (but not the colour maxidot) and the image that Andyvee has shown has appeared on my screen when my car thought I was going to have a collision along with a high pitched noise. It activated on a 30mph road as the car in front slowed down and turned into another road, I was going to clear the car but front assist didn't think so and warned and applied brakes.

With regard to sensors. I have 10 parking sensors because my car has park assist and these do go off during normal driving if something gets too close. Living in London, this occurs often with motorcycles, walls, posts and other cars getting close to you. This is displayed on the infotainment screen as a small vertical car on the left hand side.

When parking the infotainment screen goes to its standard Park Pilot mode and displays a large car with sensors.

[skyjawa]

I've had one false positive and a couple of heads-up alerts. The alerts were fortunately not necessary as I'd already anticipated the hazard but it's nice to know it's there.

 

That said, the false positive could have been a problem.

I was doing 20 mph in town with a van on my right hand side and it was starting to snow. Without warning my car decided to do a full emergency stop. Luckily there was nothing behind me because even at 20mph I'd probably have been shunted.

 

Yeah, shouldn't use the front radar in snow because the flakes can reflect the signal back and lead to false readings.

[silver1011]

Well I think paying for the Front Assist option paid for itself yesterday morning. 

 

My wife (38 weeks pregnant btw) was driving on a large roundabout (3 lanes, as part of motorway sliproads) and had green lights in her favour all the way through. A cyclist came the WRONG way around the roundabout and tried to cross the three lanes of traffic who had the green light. My wife only saw him at the last second due to a white van on her side obscuring her view. Thankfully the FA kicked in and braked the car. She just tipped the bike and topple the wally over. If it hadn't been for the FA she'd have given him a right clatter. 

 

The wally then went on to have a go at her and tried to claim she was in the wrong!! Thankfully a number of good samaritans came to her aid and provided their details in case he tries to claim for anything. Apart from being a bit shook she and bump are fine.

 

I'd take a few false positive alerts if FA saves your ass in this sort of situation. 

 

Hmmm, I can't help thinking not having FA would have resulted in the better outcome here.

 

Watching the idiot rolling around on the floor heavily winded would be instant karma.