Mystery warning display

[9fingers]

Twice now when driving the car has emitted a single beep and the dashboard display shows an outline of a car in red with six broad red arcs radiating outwards from the car graphic. Two arcs upwards, two to the left and two to the right.

It disappears too quickly to get a photo to post here

So far, flicking through the pictures in the manual has not shown up a match.

It is quite a strident looking graphic so I assume it is meant to draw attention but what does it relate to?

Any clues welcome.

 

TIA

Bob

[shockwaves]

Sounds like the front assist warning you to me,  shows up on the maxi dot display in between the dials? 

[Wiz83]

Is it this sign?

If yes then its just Front Assist

[9fingers]

Thank you both. Yes that is the display and on the dash between the dials.

 

I've been trying to provoke it just now without success. I wonder what the criteria are to differentiate between parking assist type bleats and triggering this front assist warning. I did try going round a local roundabout rather too close to the vehicle in front but not a murmur from either system.

 

At least I know what it is now!

 

Bob

[ahenners]

I wouldn't try provoking it unnecessarily. Mine tends to flag up sometimes if I'm approaching someone in front who is turning left into a side road. You generally need to be closing in quickly on something in front for it to trigger, rather than getting too close to something traveling at a similar speed.

[9fingers]

2 hours ago, ahenners said:

I wouldn't try provoking it unnecessarily. Mine tends to flag up sometimes if I'm approaching someone in front who is turning left into a side road. You generally need to be closing in quickly on something in front for it to trigger, rather than getting too close to something traveling at a similar speed.

 

You are probably right that I should not antagonise it. Earlier today when it went off, the situation was indeed as you describe, the vehicle in front was turning off right so the closing speed of my right front and his left rear was possibly the trigger.

 

Bob

[norsko]

Yes it is the difference between your speed and the speed of the car ahead of you.

[spinifex]

Depending on circumstances also, the car may auto-brake for you as well, if it detects an imminent collision.

 

You obviously didn't feel that in your situations, so generally the warning shows/sounds, and if the situation is more severe (eg: closing speed much faster), then it will auto-brake for you as well.

 

I've triggered both scenarios on occasions, not deliberately though.  It's unfortunate the front assist system doesn't recognise indicators, but in reality, ALL of the warning systems on our cars can either be god-sends, or annoying as hell !!!

[Gabbo]

11 hours ago, spinifex said:

I've triggered both scenarios on occasions, not deliberately though.  It's unfortunate the front assist system doesn't recognise indicators, but in reality, ALL of the warning systems on our cars can either be god-sends, or annoying as hell !!!

 

In most of europe, cars turning into a side-street do not have priority over pedestrians or cyclists & often have to stop in the road so for me the system is working correctly here.

You are taking a chance that the car will move out of the way by the time you reach it, knowing that 95% of the time they will turn into the street & all will be fine.

Even if the system recognised indicators it would not be able to predict if the car will turn into the street & you would obviously complain if the system allowed you to hit the back of the car because they stopped.

 

Really in this condition the system is correct & you are drving too close to the car in front.

[Rodge]

On 31/03/2017 at 13:32, Gabbo said:

 

In most of europe, cars turning into a side-street do not have priority over pedestrians or cyclists

Including the UK. Highway Code Rule 170.

[marco48]

On 30/03/2017 at 14:43, Wiz83 said:

Is it this sign?

If yes then its just Front Assist

Thanks for the picture of the big scary thing.

It' came up twice in 1st day of driving my new 2017 Octavia 

honest to say, am thinking wtf is that !! 

Thanks 

Edited 21 March, 2019 by marco48

[spinifex]

On 31/03/2017 at 22:32, Gabbo said:

 

In most of europe, cars turning into a side-street do not have priority over pedestrians or cyclists & often have to stop in the road so for me the system is working correctly here.

You are taking a chance that the car will move out of the way by the time you reach it, knowing that 95% of the time they will turn into the street & all will be fine.

Even if the system recognised indicators it would not be able to predict if the car will turn into the street & you would obviously complain if the system allowed you to hit the back of the car because they stopped.

 

Really in this condition the system is correct & you are drving too close to the car in front.

Jesus - nearly 2 years and I've only just seen this reply !!

Thanks for the driving lesson - I had no idea how to drive my car properly until I read this

I think you misunderstood my comment regarding indicators.
I'm not talking about recognising the indicators of the vehicle in front... I'm talking about MY indicators.

If I'm indicating to turn around a corner or change lanes, it's annoying that the front-assist doesn't recognise that A: I'm actively in-control of my vehicle since I just made a deliberate safety signal, and B: I'm possibly going to be coming pretty close to the car in-front in order to perform the maneuvre I've indicated.

Yes I agree that there will always be occasions when safety-systems don't account for EVERY posible on-road scenario, but that scenario is pretty common throughout the world.

[vegit8]

My Front assist warning comes up when driving along a perfectly straight road with no other vehicles / objects in view.

Cant determine what might trigger it, but I have had it go off three times on the same stretch (out of many journeys).

Very odd.

I suppose I should be thankful it doesn't jam the anchors on at 50+

[SurreyJohn]

3 hours ago, vegit8 said:

My Front assist warning comes up when driving along a perfectly straight road with no other vehicles / objects in view.

Cant determine what might trigger it, but I have had it go off three times on the same stretch (out of many journeys).

Very odd.

I suppose I should be thankful it doesn't jam the anchors on at 50+

 

If it happens in same location then it must be seeing something fixed at side of road, is there a hump or camber causing car to tilt or pitch, resulting in some great lump of something (like a big metal sign) momentarily in forward path of radar 

[benterrier]

In close proximity will it trigger the brakes? 

[brettikivi]

haven't seen that happen yet. Will possibly try in the winter with an inflatable thing on the ice.

 

 - Bret

[penguin17]

On 30/03/2017 at 14:43, Wiz83 said:

Is it this sign?

If yes then its just Front Assist

Nah, it's the 'Child ahead has had their readybreak' info message.  Nothing to worry about. 

[TDIum]

I thought that was the "excessively loud music" warning 

[JayLibove]

On 07/07/2019 at 13:50, vegit8 said:

My Front assist warning comes up when driving along a perfectly straight road with no other vehicles / objects in view.

Cant determine what might trigger it, but I have had it go off three times on the same stretch (out of many journeys).

Very odd.

I suppose I should be thankful it doesn't jam the anchors on at 50+

 

I've been driving a 2019 Octavia combi for a few weeks (rental; I'm looking for an Octavia Scout to buy) and several times this warning has come up. As far as I can tell, this car does not have front assist. When I'm parking I get no warnings about being about to touch the nose against anything. (It has back-up sensors and a back-up camera). The times when this warning has arisen, there has NEVER been anything that should remotely have alerted a near collision. As with vegit8's experience, "perfectly straight road with no other vehicles / objects in view". Unlike with vegit8's experience, each time I've encountered it I've been in a different place. (I don't recall whether I've traversed the same road again after; now that I have an idea what it might be, next time it happens if I'm in a place where I can reasonably go back and drive that stretch of road again, I'll try it to see if I can figure out what's setting it off).

Any new information about these phantom warnings since the last post a year or so ago?

thanks,

Jay

[TheWanderer]

It sounds like a camera failure is imminent. 

 

I had it a few times, then it started slamming the brakes on as if it were going to collide with something that wasn't even there or near. 

 

Then it started saying traffic sign recognition failure, front assist failure, adaptive cruise not available, high beam assist failure and kept going on and on and on.... Took it to the dealer who had it for a week and it was only when they replaced the camera and updated several significant bits of software on the car did it cease.

 

They accused me of tampering with the camera and assist systems, which I haven't done. But since they updated everything, I've had only one spurious warning like this, which could have been a bird or something that I didn't see, no spurious emergency braking and no other issues with the car, apart from one spurious oil warning, had it checked and found nothing wrong.

 

Still hate it though, don't trust it one iota. 

Edited 9 September, 2020 by TheWanderer

[JayLibove]

So, I bought a 2019 Octavia combi "Scout", and it too has triggered the "collision imminent" warning three or four times now. I'm fairly sure that the thing is afraid of its own shadow (well, actually, that shadows on the road are what cause these false alerts). Someone commented that sometimes emergency braking might be applied - I'm pretty sure it won't do that above 30km/hr, and on the car that I bought, a bit different from the one I'd been renting, the sound that accompanies the red warning symbol on the dashboard is not as piercing, so it doesn't set my teeth on edge...

Still, it clearly shouldn't do this.  I'll ask the dealer.

 

[TDIum]

These cars have the radar module fitted for safety, but not "front assist" features, mine is the same. You do get some false alarms. But also it does work as intended. 

The Wanderer has had a saga with his demonically-possessed electrics. 

[JayLibove]

Thanks TDlum. Not sure I understand what you meant that these cars have the radar module "fitted for safety, but not front assist features".

Do you mean that the "you're about to collide" is driven (only) by radar, and the "you're parking and about to bump into a pedestrian/ the wall in front of you, etc" is driven (only) by cameras?

(My car has front assist, rear assist/ camera, lane assist, adaptive cruise control, blind spot assist, everything except "This is how you park").

cheers,

 

2 hours ago, TDIum said:

These cars have the radar module fitted for safety, but not "front assist" features, mine is the same. You do get some false alarms. But also it does work as intended. 

The Wanderer has had a saga with his demonically-possessed electrics. 

 

[TDIum]

I mean, mine does not have front assist or adaptive cruise control but it does have the collision warning thing, that I am sure uses the radar sensor/module. 

I may have misunderstood what features you had on your car. 

[JayLibove]

Hi TDIum, thanks for clarifying - no problems, of course. I just wanted to make sure I understood, so that I'm best armed when talking with Skoda service about it. Am awaiting a response from the dealer's service dept (not holding my breath...). Will post back when I have anything more. Thanks, cheers!