Can anyone confirm that the front assist should stop me accidently running into another vehicle?

I was edging out of a junction, i thought the car ahead had pulled away, as i looked right and set off, the car had just moved slightly and i luckily i managed to stop.  The car did nothing.  I was that close i thought i had hit him and got out but was millimeters away.

At my dealers i was told that the fron assist does not apply the brakes?

 

The braking effect can vary depending on speed, explained in the manual

I think front assist is designed for a more dynamic situation when you are moving faster. Yes it can put on the brakes. The situation you describe is more akin to a parking situation, slow speed, close quarters, and you wouldn’t want front assist to stop you getting very close to a car you were parking behind.  If you have front parking sensors I would expect them to sound, if not then I don’t think you would expect anything.

 

Edit: reading the instructions is says front assist works above 5kph. But perhaps if you have just moved off, even if you were momentarily above 5kph perhaps it takes a second or two to activate.

Edited 15 February, 20188 yr by nicknorman

I always make it a habit to never look to see if anything is coming before the car in front has cleared. It feels a bit odd at first but you don't lose any time doing it.

If you are driving forward whilst looking right you are effectively driving with your eyes shut. 

Cut and paste from the manual (page 246 in the pdf I have):

 

The Front Assist (hereinafter referred to as the system) warns you of the danger of a collision with a vehicle or another obstacle in front of the vehicle, and tries to avoid a collision or mitigate its consequences by automatically applying the brakes where necessary.

The system support is provided in the following manner.
▶ Alerts you about a dangerous proximity to the vehicle ahead.
▶ Warns you of an impending collision.
▶ Assists with a brake action triggered by the driver.
▶ If the driver fails to respond to a detected danger, an automatic braking action
is performed.
The system can work only if the following basic conditions are met.
The system is activated.
TCS is activated » page 222.
The vehicle is travelling forwards at a speed of more than approx. 5 km/h.

 

Sounds as if you weren't going fast enough for it to trigger (assuming you have enabled it). 

Slightly related note. I noticed today the the front assist (combined with the TSR?) seemed to recognise traffic lights turning red!

I was approaching a set of lights at a reasonable speed as they were turning, as soon as the red traffic light came on the FA warning alarm and big red display in the MaxiDot lit up!

It didn't brake for me though.

Can't comment on the TSR bit as I haven't had it coded yet. But it wouldn't brake for you since (AIUI) the front assist uses the front radar rather than any other input to put the brakes on.

correct, for the car to brake automatically based on traffic lights, signs and roundabout, curve/bends  - u'll need the next gen ACC, found in the new VW Arteons and some newer Audi.  The Dynamic ACC uses a combo of GPS and the cameras to detect the road ahead, and brake/slow accordingly, then remuse back up to the pre-defined speed, without the driver having to intervein.

quite cool

On 2/15/2018 at 08:48, eggos said:

Can anyone confirm that the front assist should stop me accidently running into another vehicle?

I was edging out of a junction, i thought the car ahead had pulled away, as i looked right and set off, the car had just moved slightly and i luckily i managed to stop.  The car did nothing.  I was that close i thought i had hit him and got out but was millimeters away.

At my dealers i was told that the fron assist does not apply the brakes?

 

I can confirm from experience, that the Front Assist will bring your car to a halt. My actual experience was when a car pulled in front of me when I was already on a roundabout. Full story; So another car shot onto the roundabout from my left as I was already proceeding around the roundabout. I assumed that the car was  coming on and immediately exiting, taking the same exit as me, a very cheeky maneuver, but sometimes taken by other drivers, so I continued on my route around the roundabout, as both cars could exit the roundabout onto the two lanes. Suddenly, a high pitched alarm, and sudden braking occurred, as the car had driven across my path and not as I assumed exited. I suppose I would have reacted and stopped, but my car beat me to it. Nice one superb. All I need is lane assist and I can relax. Self drive cars are not far away. 

It's a great bit of kit. I have DSG, LA and ALG (equals TJA - sorry for the alphabet soup). My 75 mile journey to work is now achieved at least 75% "autonomously" (car doing the work, me monitoring the systems). Makes all the difference in the world to fatigue levels.

 

Do you have the camera so you can code LA? If so, I'd thoroughly recommend doing it.

I wish I had the DSG and LA. So how could I tell if I have a camera. It's a 65 Place Dec 2015, SE Business?  Could it have something?

Others with more knowledge than me will be able to give a more definitive answer, but I believe if you have TSR you can code LA and vice versa. So if you have TSR then you should be ok. (I'm getting TSR coded for mine when I get round to it). Not sure how else you could check TBH.

3 minutes ago, BriskodaJeff said:

TSR

Ant what is TSR? Sorry but still new to this. 

Sorry mate - traffic sign recognition. 

That's a no for me. Had that in a hire car recently. So I do know what it does. Even if I struggle to understand how it updates. GPS? Camera? Who know.s

A hypothetical case. Suppose front assist performs an emergency brake, for whatever reason, and someone behind you runs into your backend. Is a record kept or available in case someone/the police/insurance query your drastic action?