An added bonus of ACC

[dstev2000]

Really foggy conditions this morning. 

Of course, there were lots of idiots driving without fog lights. There were also a few morons with no lights AT ALL. 

 

Trundling gently along the A24 early this morning, and suddenly the image of a car pops up on my dash. 

We squint into the gloom and see nothing.......a few seconds later the back end of a silver car with no lights on doing about 40mph starts to appear right in front of us. 

Obviously the ACC's radar can see what's in front long before I can in certain situations . An added safety feature to assist the Mk.1 eyeball. 

 

For the purposes of the picture (taken badly by my passenger I hasten to add), I backed right off before slowly catching them up again. By this point they'd sped up to about 50mph. 

 

From now on when it's foggy, I'll be keeping the assist screen up on the dash. It's an added layer of safety. It did the same thing a few more times, picking up the car in front at about the same time I started to see their rear fog lights, and quite a bit before I could see the odd idiot with just their normal lights on. 

 

It works with the ACC on or off. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicknooedwards]

Did the same today on the m3

[Pete T]

 

 

It works with the ACC on or off. 

 

You're talking about the Front Assist function, not the ACC, that's why it works with the ACC off. 

[Devonshiredave]

From your photo, the lane lines seem to be orange? Only ever seen mine displayed in white. Is it switchable?

[dstev2000]

You're talking about the Front Assist function, not the ACC, that's why it works with the ACC off. 

The car icon appears whether the ACC is enabled or not. It's merely to clarify that you don't need to be driving in the fog with cruise control - which is not recommended ( I had mine on for about a minute to see if it worked the same way). 

[dstev2000]

From your photo, the lane lines seem to be orange? Only ever seen mine displayed in white. Is it switchable?

Check to see if adaptive lane assist is enabled. Mine is and the two orange lanes indicate the adaptive system is active to keep you in the lane with subtle steering inputs. 

 

When the lanes light up white, it means the system can detect the boundaries of the lane and is ready to intervene if you wander. 

[Devonshiredave]

Think I should RTFM. Is adaptive lane assist a standard feature on the L&K?

[dstev2000]

Lane assist is standard on the L&K.

The settings are in Car >Vehicle Settings. IIRC it's Off, On or Adaptive on.

The latter gives you the orange lane markings and constant steering intervention as long as it can see both sides of the lane. The amber lane assist icon turning to green also confirms this. It's not to everyone's taste but I've got used to it now.

[Pete T]

The car icon appears whether the ACC is enabled or not. It's merely to clarify that you don't need to be driving in the fog with cruise control - which is not recommended ( I had mine on for about a minute to see if it worked the same way). 

Yes exactly, hence my comment, it's nothing to do with ACC, as your post title might suggest. Just saying....

[dstev2000]

Yes exactly, hence my comment, it's nothing to do with ACC, as your post title might suggest. Just saying....

After consulting the manual, It is all to do with the ACC as originally described. the front assist is merely there to warn you if you're too close to the car in front or to mitigate a frontal impact via warning messages or haptic feedback through the brakes etc before full deployment of the brakes if the driver does not intervene. 

 

The car appearing on the dash when the front radar locks onto it is part of the ACC system. The only common factor is they both use the same radar in the grille. 

 

 

When ACC is in standby mode, it is still scanning for vehicles ahead in readiness for the driver to engage the system. I'll have to check if it works when the ACC is completely off with the cruise stalk pushed all the way back, I suspect it still does it, as it never knows when the driver is going to engage ACC, meaning constant scanning is the safest option. 

 

SWMBO's vRS has Front Assist but not ACC and does not have this capability. 

[Pete T]

After consulting the manual, It is all to do with the ACC as originally described. the front assist is merely there to warn you if you're too close to the car in front or to mitigate a frontal impact via warning messages or haptic feedback through the brakes etc before full deployment of the brakes if the driver does not intervene.

The car appearing on the dash when the front radar locks onto it is part of the ACC system. The only common factor is they both use the same radar in the grille.

When ACC is in standby mode, it is still scanning for vehicles ahead in readiness for the driver to engage the system. I'll have to check if it works when the ACC is completely off with the cruise stalk pushed all the way back, I suspect it still does it, as it never knows when the driver is going to engage ACC, meaning constant scanning is the safest option.

SWMBO's vRS has Front Assist but not ACC and does not have this capability.

OK, I accept what you're saying in general, but my point (as an ACC hater) is that the function you describe does not need the ACC to be activated (by pulling the stalk) it is constantly on.

[roughrider10]

OK, I accept what you're saying in general, but my point (as an ACC hater) is that the function you describe does not need the ACC to be activated (by pulling the stalk) it is constantly on.

I'm intrigued, why do you dislike ACC, this is my first car with ACC, I love it, especially in heavy traffic and on Motorways, with the DSG Box, its amazing.

[Gromle]

I'm intrigued, why do you dislike ACC, this is my first car with ACC, I love it, especially in heavy traffic and on Motorways, with the DSG Box, its amazing.

Totally agree. Its amazing. Driving for hours without touching any pedal is quite relaxing.

[dstev2000]

OK, I accept what you're saying in general, but my point (as an ACC hater) is that the function you describe does not need the ACC to be activated (by pulling the stalk) it is constantly on.

Yes, but without ACC - on or off - this feature does not exist. You could class it as a passive feature of ACC. The benefit of its radar scanning ability without the control over the brakes and throttle. 

[dstev2000]

Totally agree. Its amazing. Driving for hours without touching any pedal is quite relaxing.

I got stuck in some really heavy M25 traffic the other day. ACC and DSG in combination was amazing compared to the old manual gearbox. This from someone with a dodgy left knee as well! Overall, I just let the ACC do its thing.

Yes, it can be a little laid back in how it operates but then again who wants it hammering away at the throttle and brakes like an F1 driver anyway?