Lane assist is dangerous

[MichaelTL]

I was driving along the autoroute in lane one in France approaching a jucnction slip road with a lot of cars entering. A motorcycle had been following for several km at a good sensible distance. I decided to move to lane two and as I am accustomed, I had a look over my shoulder at my blind spot before the maneouvre. Would you believe it - the biker was there riding parallel to me. Not something I would have done when I was biking with a foreign driver and a busy slip in front. Lucky for him I always check for anything not visible in my mirrors but I was thinking any detction system that 

alerts a driver to a vehicle in his blind spot must be very worthwhile. I don't have it on my Mk3 Octavia. I do however have the forward facing radar or lidar or whatever and it saved me from a bump. I was slowly approaching a quiet rural junction and glimpsed at my satnav. As I did my brakes were applied because a car came out of nowhere and crossed my path.

This 'exaggerated swoop' JR refers to is intensely irritating, and of course dangerous. They come steaming up behind you and only overtake at the last second. 

 

Back in the UK I am perplexed by drivers who either fail to signal at all at islands or only signal off. Other road users stop needlessly not knowing the intention of the other driver. I used to car share on a long commute with an older driver who almost never signalled anywhere. It was embarrasing to be in the car with him. Why not signal? It's a mystery to me. If only they could be fined for it.

[J.R.]

8 hours ago, sussamb said:

you're lucky you haven't (yet) been rear ended or caused an accident and faced charges

 

Bad luck more like, it's not for want of trying I can assure you.

1 hour ago, MichaelTL said:

They come steaming up behind you and only overtake at the last second. 

 

They are the hardest of all to brake test, very frustrating.

[J.R.]

1 hour ago, MichaelTL said:

a car came out of nowhere and crossed my path.

 

Ah the old "came out of nowhere!" that ranks with the "for no reason the engine died!" or "without warning the lights turned red!" 🤣

 

It was probably me and I had been waiting all day to exercise my PàD in front of someone looking at their satnav 😄

 

Be carefull out there people!

[Breezy_Pete]

Trolling a tad aren't you J.R. ?

[Graham Butcher]

My current hire car has that lane assist, and I have to say that it is not very effective either, the vibration through the steering wheel has a similar feel to a road surface that is less than perfect but not a pothole and can so easily be ignored. I went out today to deliberately test it out and was not impressed. Similarly, the blind spot detection was also underwhelming, consisting of an orange LED in the door mirrors which is so easy to miss, especially when the sun shines on the mirrors, totally washes out any LED glow, it requires audio signals as well, preferable a different signal for each side. My hire car is a Nissan Qashqai, I don't know if the Skoda's with this technology are better?

[MichaelTL]

25 minutes ago, Breezy_Pete said:

Trolling a tad aren't you J.R. ?

And quite a comment following his admissions.

[kodiaqsportline]

15 hours ago, J.R. said:

Be carefull out there people!

 

From someone who's just said they deliberately stamp on their brakes when the car behind gets too close? 

 

 "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool rather than to speak and remove all doubt" .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[J.R.]

8 hours ago, kodiaqsportline said:

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool rather than to speak and remove all doubt" .

 

I disagree, writing stuff like that makes people drop their defenses and show themselves for what they really are.

 

Breezy Pete had it right.

Edited 6 April, 2023 by J.R.

[Seasider]

On 05/04/2023 at 21:17, Graham Butcher said:

My current hire car has that lane assist, and I have to say that it is not very effective either, the vibration through the steering wheel has a similar feel to a road surface that is less than perfect but not a pothole and can so easily be ignored. I went out today to deliberately test it out and was not impressed. Similarly, the blind spot detection was also underwhelming, consisting of an orange LED in the door mirrors which is so easy to miss, especially when the sun shines on the mirrors, totally washes out any LED glow, it requires audio signals as well, preferable a different signal for each side. My hire car is a Nissan Qashqai, I don't know if the Skoda's with this technology are better?

I have found lane assist is better with the steering wheel vibration option turned off on my Kamiq, and the blind spot protection light is not easy to miss you'll be pleased to know.

[sussamb]

Thankfully my manual blind spot check is 100% accurate. I'd never rely on some gizmo so wouldn't be an issue!

[Graham Butcher]

54 minutes ago, Seasider said:

I have found lane assist is better with the steering wheel vibration option turned off on my Kamiq, and the blind spot protection light is not easy to miss you'll be pleased to know.

OK, you've poked my curiosity now, if you have off steering wheel vibration off, how is the system alerting you that you're in danger of straying from your lane?

[Seasider]

On 08/04/2023 at 16:17, Graham Butcher said:

OK, you've poked my curiosity now, if you have off steering wheel vibration off, how is the system alerting you that you're in danger of straying from your lane?

There is an icon at the bottom of the dashboard display of two lines with a car between them. One or other of the lines goes orange if you stray too far.

[Graham Butcher]

10 minutes ago, Seasider said:

There is an icon at the bottom of the dashboard display of two lines with a car between them. One or other of the lines goes orange if you stray too far.

Hmm, but that is not going to be much use unless you are actually looking at the dashboard at the time is it?

[Seasider]

1 hour ago, Graham Butcher said:

Hmm, but that is not going to be much use unless you are actually looking at the dashboard at the time is it?

I find it easy enough to keep an eye on it in my dashboard layout and, in any case, the orange light draws your attention to it; it still, also, adjusts the car's direction.

[KenONeill]

18 minutes ago, Seasider said:

it still, also, adjusts the car's direction.

That's the bit that is really dangerous; the bit where the car decides it knows better than you what direction it should be going in.

[Graham Butcher]

18 minutes ago, Seasider said:

I find it easy enough to keep an eye on it in my dashboard layout and, in any case, the orange light draws your attention to it; it still, also, adjusts the car's direction.

In that case, it certainly seems to be better than that fitted in my hire car, I can't wait till I get my Superb back from the body shop.

[Graham Butcher]

1 minute ago, KenONeill said:

That's the bit that is really dangerous; the bit where the car decides it knows better than you what direction it should be going in.

Not if you weren't paying proper attention and was straying unintentionally into another lane and risking an accident. The assist in this case is going to be attempting to return you back into the lane that you're about to leave by accident.

[Fergo1]

My lane assist works intermittently. Sometimes when I switch on it comes up with a warning "Lane Assist Unavailable" other times it is already switch off. 

Incidentally the lane assist when it does work is rubbish even picking up road sealant thinking its white lines.

Edited 15 June, 2023 by Fergo1

[Graham Butcher]

Are you sure that it isn't speed sensitive? On my Superb it is only active I think at speeds above 40mph.

[Fergo1]

13 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

Are you sure that it isn't speed sensitive? On my Superb it is only active I think at speeds above 40mph.

No, as on switch on you either get a warning light, or the green lane assist symbol. Has done this from new. 

[Graham Butcher]

My Superb has the symbol lit up in yellow at switch on by default but upon reaching 40mph it goes green and is active. Mine also reacts at times to strips of sealant when the light is at certain angles, the camera sees the light reflecting off this and mistakes it for a white line but it can be overridden by holding the wheel firmer, or of course switching the lane assist off altogether.

[Fergo1]

3 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

My Superb has the symbol lit up in yellow at switch on by default but upon reaching 40mph it goes green and is active. Mine also reacts at times to strips of sealant when the light is at certain angles, the camera sees the light reflecting off this and mistakes it for a white line but it can be overridden by holding the wheel firmer, or of course switching the lane assist off altogether.

Mine must have a fault as warning light does not go out even after a certain speed. Might need re calibration or something. 

[Graham Butcher]

3 minutes ago, Fergo1 said:

Mine must have a fault as warning light does not go out even after a certain speed. Might need re calibration or something. 

No, I meant that there might be a switch somewhere that turns the feature off, the speed part of my reply was to say that mine lights up in yellow when it is not active and as soon as I hit the speed limit it switches to green to show its active.

[Fergo1]

20 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

No, I meant that there might be a switch somewhere that turns the feature off, the speed part of my reply was to say that mine lights up in yellow when it is not active and as soon as I hit the speed limit it switches to green to show its active.

Thanks Graham. I know what you meant. 

I know how to switch it off when it IS actually working (2 presses on the steering wheel buttons) but sometimes it doesn't work at all and you get a warning message. Totally random.

[Graham Butcher]

11 minutes ago, Fergo1 said:

Thanks Graham. I know what you meant. 

I know how to switch it off when it IS actually working (2 presses on the steering wheel buttons) but sometimes it doesn't work at all and you get a warning message. Totally random.

Sounds like you may have a bad connection in the circuit then.