What Is 'Side Assist'?

[YTT]

I've got a 3 month old 280 L&K. In the Maxi dot assistance systems menu, I've got an entry for 'Side Assist'. If I select it, it says 'Function Unavailable'. It is also in the vehicle setup menu, where it goes further and says 'Side Assist (lane change assistance system)'. Selecting that also gives 'Function Unavailable'. What is it? It's not Front Assist, Lane Assist, Rear Traffic Alert or Blind Spot Monitor - there are separate menu items for them. It's not in the manual and a Google search brings up more-or-less nothing. What does come up implies it's blind spot monitor.  Any ideas?

[nicknorman]

As far as I can see, Side Assist is what VW calls blind spot monitoring. But I don’t know why you have both entries in the menu. I don’t (2016 Model).

[YTT]

See attached pics.

[nicknorman]

Possibly they have split into two the functions of having the warning light, and having the warning system send steering input (like lane assist) if you try to move into the path of another vehicle. I’m just guessing though!

[BriskodaJeff]

Not sure about your theory Nick as I thought that was what LA/ALG does. Reading below, I'm suspecting it is something that triggers when you put the indicator on (see second paragraph). But I'm guessing too . From the VW site:

 

 

When you want to change lanes, Side Assist tells you about other vehicles that are too close or in your blind spot.

Before changing lanes on a fast, busy road, you'll check your mirrors and glance over your shoulder to see if the road is clear. But what about your blind spot? When you indicate that you're about to change lanes, our Side Scan lane change assistant warns you about approaching traffic which could pose a danger.

If there are cars coming up from behind - closer than 50 metres - or in your blind spot, warning LED lights will flash in your wing mirrors to alert you. In this way you know exactly what is happening around you and can avoid any danger.

The system is designed to alert you only when necessary: stationary objects or oncoming vehicles do not trigger warnings. It also ignores vehicles which are more than one lane across, so you're not distracted with frequent warnings. Side scan is activated by pushing a button. It only works from speeds above 40 mph and is primarily designed for motorway driving. You can also switch off the system yourself.

So, you'll still want to be careful when changing lanes, but Side Assist gives you valuable extra help to make every long journey a little more comfortable.

It doesn't get us a lot further forward, but I'm also interested in the bit I highlighted. I certainly haven't seen a button for side scan - my L&K 190 is 7 months old. Anyone else? Do they mean the indicator "button" given paragraph 2 above?

YTT - have you tried enabling LA and ALG, to see if side assist then becomes available? Will try to get some time later on to look at what my settings are. I don't remember seeing a side assist option, mainly because if I had I'm sure I would have enabled it just to see what happened!

 

[BriskodaJeff]

Ok so had a chance to look at my car (good excuse to bunk off work for 5 minutes )

 

This is what I have - no hint of side assist I'm afraid.

 

So I can only guess it's really new. Just a thought - when you said there was nothing in the manual, did you mean the one that came with the car or a pdf like the one in the sticky on this forum? If the latter, might be worth having a look in the paper one that came with the car - they might have updated it.

 

If you do find out what it is, let us know. I'm intrigued...

[YTT]

What actually happened woz.... I was driving along a motorway, when I had cause to turn Lane Assist on (to blow my nose - best use for it!). When I pulled up the Maxi Dot assist menu, there were only 3 items in it - Lane Assist, Side Assist and Front Assist, of which Front Assist was selected. So I put Lane Assist on and it worked fine (clear nose!). However, two things struck me. Firstly, I was 'sure' there were more than 3 entries in that menu previously and secondly what the hell was Side Assist? So I clicked it and got the 'Function Unavailable'. At the next opportunity, I had a surf through the vehicle menus, found Side Assist in there etc etc (see first post). Enabling LA and ALG still doesn't get it working. I've had a quick look through the assist systems in the paper manual that came with the car, but I can't see any mention of Side Assist. And what happened to those other Maxi Dot menu items?

 

To compound all this, around the same time I noticed my blind spot monitor wasn't working. It used to. So I rang my local Skoda dealer and they didn't have the faintest clue and suggested I bring it in for them to look at. They didn't know what 'Side Assist' was either.

 

And even more compounding, I fitted a Racechip XLR throttle tuner around Xmas time and I wondered whether this might have something to do with it. I have been trying to find the time to disconnect it and try the blind spot monitor again. As you can imagine, I want to do this before taking it to the Skoda dealer, so I haven't done that yet either. So ahead of getting that done, I thought I'd drop a post here...

 

One final thing occurred to me. I have the Internet connection option, which works well. I wondered if I've been on the receiving end of an 'update'.

 

[GaSelle]

Hmm. To me it seems like some coding gone wrong. Have you used VCDS on it? If no, ask your dealer to do a factory reset. That should do the job. 

Edited 13 February, 2018 by GaSelle

[YTT]

No, haven't done anything other than fit the Racechip box.

[GaSelle]

I hate boxes. But I can’t imagine that a box can screw up the coding. Again, have your dealer carry out a reset, and you should be good to go. 

[nicknorman]

Just on the subject of blind spot monitoring, when I was explaining how it worked to my partner (on the motorway) it initially didn’t seem to be working. Eventually I realised that when you were passing cars with a big speed difference (or they were passing you with a big speed difference) the orange lights in the mirrors don’t come on. They only come on when the relative speed is  low. Presumably they felt there was no point in flashing an orange light at you when the vehicle was only in the blind spot for a second  - the dangerous ones are the ones that are in the blind spot for longer periods, ie with a small or zero speed differential.

[BriskodaJeff]

Mine works like this too Nick. Incidentally, having read the VW info I posted above, I tried a little experiment on the drive to work this morning. As a car was moving through the RH blind spot (yellow light on in BSM) I indicated right to pull out behind him. The steady yellow light started to flash, which ties in with the VW info. I don't think I have seen or noticed that before (I usually don't indicate that early in case it spooks the overtaking driver). 

 

Sorry you are no further forward YTT. Sounds like a dealer job. I'd be interested to know the outcome. 

[nicknorman]

2 hours ago, BriskodaJeff said:

Mine works like this too Nick. Incidentally, having read the VW info I posted above, I tried a little experiment on the drive to work this morning. As a car was moving through the RH blind spot (yellow light on in BSM) I indicated right to pull out behind him. The steady yellow light started to flash, which ties in with the VW info. I don't think I have seen or noticed that before (I usually don't indicate that early in case it spooks the overtaking driver). 

 

Sorry you are no further forward YTT. Sounds like a dealer job. I'd be interested to know the outcome. 

I’m not quite clear whether it always nudges the steering if you try to change lane under those circumstances, or whether you need to also have lane assist engaged for that. I’ve never dared try it!

[BriskodaJeff]

Me neither mate. My experiments aren't as risky as that!

[vfrvrs]

Audi call it Side Assist

[BenSh]

@YTT What happened? Was this sorted? Similar issues are poping up now on other thread.

[YTT]

When the Skoda dealer finally looked at it, as I understand it they basically reset the system. When it came up again, everything worked fine. No repairs or anything - just a re-boot. Now 'Side Assist' doesn't appear anywhere in the Maxi Dot or vehicle setup menus and the blind spot monitor works again. Go figure. Any they want software controlled driverless cars....!

 

Oh, and I never refitted the Racechip XLR (it's up for sale on this site), so I couldn't say whether it had anything to do with the problem.

[westie38]

Just to resurrect this thread a bit, I am having exactly the same ongoing situation with my Karoq. Not sure why, but my BLIS system recently packed up. The usual procedure when starting the engine was that the BLIS LED's in the wing mirrors would both illuminate for a few seconds, then fade away as if doing a systems check. When the system went u/s the LED's would flash on very briefly, but now do not even do that. I also have the 'Side Assist' in the Maxi Dot, but is not selectable there or in the Settings pages.

The car is going into my dealers this coming Thursday to be hooked up to the diagnostics, so hopefully a re-boot will sort things out. It will be interesting to see if the 'Side Assist' option also disappears, as with YTT's Superb.

[knfruitbat]

Driving on the M6 today car suddenly said front assist sensor is not working and acc stopped working. Normally only happens in snow. Cruise control wouldn't work at all.

No Front Assist, Lane Assist or Side Assist. Pulled into the next services and cleaned all the sensors although they seemed fine.

Front Assist and Lane Assist working again after switching it off and on again. Side Assist still can't be ticked in Maxi-dot or central screen. Seem to have another option for blind spot monitoring which is ticked but the orange warning lights on the mirrors have stopped working.

Superb L&K Estate with factory fitted towbar 

[GladysFriday]

On 19/11/2019 at 21:08, westie38 said:

Just to resurrect this thread a bit, I am having exactly the same ongoing situation with my Karoq. Not sure why, but my BLIS system recently packed up. The usual procedure when starting the engine was that the BLIS LED's in the wing mirrors would both illuminate for a few seconds, then fade away as if doing a systems check. When the system went u/s the LED's would flash on very briefly, but now do not even do that. I also have the 'Side Assist' in the Maxi Dot, but is not selectable there or in the Settings pages.

The car is going into my dealers this coming Thursday to be hooked up to the diagnostics, so hopefully a re-boot will sort things out. It will be interesting to see if the 'Side Assist' option also disappears, as with YTT's Superb.

Hi Westie - I’ve just discovered the exact same issue with my blind spot system. Did the dealer sort it and how?

[westie38]

Yes, fortunately it was still under warranty, so I took it back to the dealer and got one of their tech guys to have a look at it. The BLIS indicators flashed very briefly as described above, and I believe they simply re-flashed the software and it all was well. Touch wood, it has never gone wrong since, which is just as well, as without it being in warranty I would reckon they would tell you there was all sorts of catastrophes, not to mention costing nearly £100 just to hook it up to the diagnostics.

The whole process was done in the time it took to have a coffee there.  

[ApertureS]

29 minutes ago, GladysFriday said:

Hi Westie - I’ve just discovered the exact same issue with my blind spot system. Did the dealer sort it and how?

If youre not under warranty id be taking it to a decent specialist. The system is relatively straight forward with only 2 components and 2 led's, not much to go wrong hardware wise.

[GladysFriday]

Thanks Westie. I do have a Skoda extended warranty so I’ll see what my local dealer can do.