Lane Keep Assist - how do you use yours?

[SinglePointSafety]

Expecting to collect my new Kodiaq very soon, and it will have Lane Keep Assist (LKA) or whatever description Skoda uses for the tech that keeps the car within the lane markings. Will be my first experience of this tech.

 

When we were researching/visiting dealers/test-driving, our shortlist converged on the Kodiaq, Volvo XC40 and Honda CR-V, plus 1 or 2 others. The XC40 and CR-V both have a simple on-off button on the steering wheel for LKA. Looking at my downloaded Kodiaq manual (I've seen better instructions) it almost looks like you turn LKA on via the Infotainment menu, it stays on 'forever', and thus self-activates when certain conditions are met (speed, lane markings sufficiently clear etc). And there doesn't seem to be a rapid, intuitive method for toggling LKA on/off. Is that correct, or am I missing something? Even the YouTube vids aren't very informative, they show LKA in action, but don't give much of a clue regarding easy turning on/off.

if it helps, the car will have Virtual Cockpit and the Columbus infotainment system

Thanks in advance for any hints and tips....

[nicknorman]

On my 2016 Superb, the infotainment settings  are for various options for it, not turning it on and off. You turn it on and off using the rh steering wheel buttons. On mine there is a dedicated button to access driver assist functions including lane assist. In fact you have to make 3 presses of 2 adjacent buttons to turn it on or off, but that soon becomes an unthinking action. It’s is great on motorways / dual carriageways, can be a nuisance at roadworks where the lanes have been messed with, or anywhere else where the road / lane markings are dodgy. Therefore you’ll want to turn it on or off accordingly.

 

Edit : just checked the Kodiaq’s manual and it’s the same as mine. Press the “assist systems” button on the steering wheel, this brings up a list of assist systems on the display, with the default being lane assist. Press the adjacent thumbwheel button to tick or untick the option. Then press the assist systems button again to return to whatever you had displayed before.

Edited 26 February, 2020 by nicknorman

[ZacDaMan72]

Pressing the driver assist button on the steering wheel will let you turn it on/off via the instrument cluster display. The thing you can't change there is whether you have adaptive lane guidance or not (basically lane centring or lane departure assistance).

[SinglePointSafety]

Excellent, thanks, it seems to be a case of once you know how to do it, the manual makes sense (rather than the other way around...). Much appreciated

[xspartx]

I would be interested to hear how you get along with this.

 

Obviously being a luddite   I didn't go for it, (and the cost put me off) but would be interested to hear from others on it's  benefit vs annoyance factor.

 

 

[nicknorman]

2 minutes ago, xspartx said:

I would be interested to hear how you get along with this.

 

Obviously being a luddite   I didn't go for it, (and the cost put me off) but would be interested to hear from others on it's  benefit vs annoyance factor.

 

 

Benefits are mostly a comfort factor in that you know that if you temporarily lose concentration eg on a long motorway journey, it will stop you doing something stupid. Of course some people think they are incapable of making a mistake / getting distracted / getting fatigued, and for them of course the device is even more important even though they won’t realise it! A little nudge from the steering wheel soon makes you pay attention!

 

Downside as I mentioned is that it can make the steering wheel twitch a bit on motorway roadworks where temporary lane markings diverge from the original lane markings, but the force required to override is very slight.

 

It also means that you have to indicate when changing lanes whether or not there is anyone to indicate to, but this is a good thing since one should always indicate, regardless of whether or not you THINK there is anyone to indicate to!

 

In summary, it helps guard against the human fallibilities that we can all suffer from, and gives those of us who recognise our fallibility, some comfort.

[silver1011]

Lane Assist is one of those features where you turn it on after first buying the car and scare your passengers by briefly taking your hands off the steering wheel and awe at the car steering itself.

 

Very quickly after that you realise it's all a bit of a gimmick, doesn't really work very well, turn it off and then forget all about it.

[weldion]

I think it works great and love it. The salesman turned it off when the car was delivered and I turned it on a couple of days later and now I never turn it off. Works great!

[silver1011]

Having to keep your hands on the wheel kind of defeats the object.

 

The only positive is that it forces people to indicate when changing lanes.

[KenONeill]

Well, if it can stop you realising when you need a rest break from driving, that's a bad thing in itself surely?

 

And that's before the point where it demands that you signal to empty space and before doing a lane change to lane-1.

[penguin17]

1 hour ago, silver1011 said:

Very quickly after that you realise it's all a bit of a gimmick, doesn't really work very well, turn it off and then forget all about it.

+1.  Same is true of park assist.   I'd much rather my car had AWCA (Alloy Wheel Clean Assist) or CEPA (Clay Exterior Panel Assist)....basically something useful that actually does make my life easier. 

[silver1011]

Oh no, not the controversy of signalling!

 

Opinion has always been divided, and I am as guilty as anyone for not signalling to move from lane 3 to 2 or 2 to 1 sometimes, or even when driving around our quiet housing estate, but what the driver might think to be an empty space might actually not be.

 

It isn't always possible to see pedestrians on footpaths in the dark, or cyclists riding without lights, therefore it makes sense just to indicate, even if it looks as though there isn't anyone around who might or might not benefit.

[KenONeill]

35 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

it makes sense just to indicate, even if it looks as though there isn't anyone around who might or might not benefit.

Yeah, but as you describe it, you signal automatically and without looking rather than signalling when there's someone there or when you can't see if someone is there or not! For example, I always signal before turning into or out of the road I live in because the 6 foot high fences mean I can't see the road I intend to turn into until the very last moment. Against that, when turning into my works entrance whilst driving South, I can see a minimum of 10 seconds along each leg of the junction and certainly can see when there's no-one there.

[ChinChiminey85]

Mine stays on the majority of the time except for smaller country roads where it forces you too close to the bushes and risk damaging paint work. 

On these roads it’s just a quick push of the button and it’s off - other than that it remains on as it does no harm and as mentions forces me to indicate. 

Edited 27 February, 2020 by ChinChiminey85

[Blakey092]

I only use the lane assist in conjunction with acc on motorways and the occasional dual carriageway, believe it or not it takes a lot of the strain out of driving. I rarely feel fatigued after a longish journey where as before I always felt tired. Normal town driving and I leave it off because I find in that environment it can be a hinderance, especially when manouvering past parked vehicles which involves the occasional venture into the on coming lane,

[J.R.]

You live in London and only occasionally have to venture into the oncoming lane to manouver past parked vehicles 😯

[Blakey092]

28 minutes ago, J.R. said:

You live in London and only occasionally have to venture into the oncoming lane to manouver past parked vehicles 😯

Yep, it's called pick your line early and STICK to it 🤣

[xspartx]

2 hours ago, penguin17 said:

+1.  Same is true of park assist.   I'd much rather my car had AWCA (Alloy Wheel Clean Assist) or CEPA (Clay Exterior Panel Assist)....basically something useful that actually does make my life easier. 

 

 

I'd happily pay for AWCA!  

[BoxerBoy]

As a "non-winker" whenever possible, I think, sorry I know 'cos I've used it elsewhere, it drives me crazy.

 

And am glad it won't be on my next car either.  (Neither will ACC. A constant battle of will in my good lady's motor.)

 

But let's stick to Lane assist on this thread for the OP.

[SinglePointSafety]

Thanks everyone, it's been very informative to get your views not only on how to turn on/off Lane Assist, but also what you think of it. My intention is to use it only on motorways or comparable dual carriageways, on long journeys. I've seen enough YouTube vids to get an idea of the system's positives and negatives, but of course there's nothing like trying it yourself - and with all such software-dependent aids, simple updates can change the functionality and 'feel' quite dramatically, so I keep that in mind.

 

I do a fair bit of mountain biking, often involving driving on M3, M4 etc and on the return journey I'm usually feeling somewhat relaxed, so will happily use ACC to sit behind eg a lorry doing 50-55 mph, no hurry, music on, totally 'chilled'. Lane Assist will, I hope, just give me an additional bit of relaxation for the driving experience.

 

I will indeed report back my findings: scheduled to collect the car in a few weeks time.

[linni]

On 27/02/2020 at 15:16, silver1011 said:

Having to keep your hands on the wheel kind of defeats the object.

 

You can replace hands with half filled Coke bottle or stuffed sock, as you can see in Youtube. :))

 

[SinglePointSafety]

Yes linni, I've seen those vids! Excellent are they not? Read something that implied that this, er , 'irregular use' wouldn't work in the future because of a software/firmware update.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, SinglePointSafety said:

I do a fair bit of mountain biking, often involving driving on M3, M4 etc and on the return journey I'm usually feeling somewhat relaxed, so will happily use ACC to sit behind eg a lorry doing 50-55 mph, no hurry, music on, totally 'chilled'. Lane Assist will, I hope, just give me an additional bit of relaxation for the driving experience.

 

Sounds like the theory I had. ( I won't bore you with the details ). Of course my experience rubbished another one of my theories - that ACC and Lane Assist would contribute to over-relaxation.       Well that's certainly not the case with me, rather I ended up expanded my range of expletives.    If only I could switch ACC to normal cruise then I'd be a much more relaxed and happier chappy.

[SinglePointSafety]

Have ACC on my current Golf, use it pretty much all the time on motorways, totally love it, but can understand why some will not. I note the similar range of comment regarding Lane Assist - looking forward to trying it (and learning how to switch it on and off!)

[TonyTonic]

My lane assist and ACC is on all the time. LA doesn't really kick in until it clearly sees lane markings both sides so it doesn't interfere in urban scenarios at all and when it does work i just let it do it's job (which it does very well) - ACC use it all the time.

This is on my Tarraco which I presume is the same system.