Hi. I’ve seen the front assist mentioned on other cars in this forum for it going off for no reason. But can’t see any mention about a Fabia.

 

i got mine in march and since then it’s gone off 5 times (once slamming the brakes on when someone was behind me). Each time there has been nothing in front of me. One time I was going round a roundabout. Another driving on a straight road. Another stood at traffic lights, another with only one car in the next lane to the right of me. I am bothered when it slammed the brakes on as someone could end up going into me.

 

i rang the garage to try and book it in and was told it was a common fault and they’d fix it in a day? They said they couldn’t book it in for another month though.

 

Has anyone else had this front assist  problem?

 

I don’t know if there’s any connection but my infotainment system keeps crashing too. Won’t let me access the heating/cooling controls, unless I turn the engine off and back on again?

Edited 8 July, 20241 yr by Headphones
.

An acquaintance of mine bought a new Fabia last September and, within days of having taken delivery, the car carried out a violent autonomous emergency stop for no apparent reason. I know that the dealership that sold him the car had it back for a day, drove it for 20 miles or so, but could not find any faults. He was threatening to reject the car, but I don't know what the aftermath was.

 

As you've said, it's a quite common issue (not just with Skoda cars) and - after your Fabia is 'fixed' - please could you let the forum know what the garage did.

Arh, the benefits of driver aids and safety measures. 😁  No wonder those little delivery robots are going up. down, round and across all terrains of the pavements and roads trying to learn more for the vehicles (and military) of the future.

 

My wife's 2015 Mk3 has only played up twice, once it said it couldn't activate but was fine on next journey after turning the car and its computer programs "off 'n' on agen", I suggested that it might just have been a leaf on the front of the rad grille.  Then went my wife was following slow traffic through town panic braking by the car for no reason but my wife saw a plastic bag blowing in the breeze.  Other times it just acting like the most cautious and nervous driver and not reading the traffic in front of it.  Of course they've improved these systems by 2024. 😆  Thank gawd her car doesn't have lane "assist" or electronic handbrake with "Hold Assist", automatic lights and automatic wipers that really are eccentric.

 

 

Heard the one about the Tesla stopping because of a bridge shadow cast on the road, I'm sure it's not true as Elon wouldn't let such things pass by testing.

 

Edited 8 July, 20241 yr by nta16
spelling

I've had that happen on my Scala, fortunately not as severe as to slam the brakes on but enough to put up 'your going to die' message. It went away (and has not reappeared) after I thoroughly cleaned the front of the square sensor thing in the middle of the grille and poked my fingers behind it enough to remove bits of spiders web and stuff. 

John

4 hours ago, DerekU said:

An acquaintance of mine bought a new Fabia last September and, within days of having taken delivery, the car carried out a violent autonomous emergency stop for no apparent reason. I know that the dealership that sold him the car had it back for a day, drove it for 20 miles or so, but could not find any faults. He was threatening to reject the car, but I don't know what the aftermath was.

 

As you've said, it's a quite common issue (not just with Skoda cars) and - after your Fabia is 'fixed' - please could you let the forum know what the garage did.

It would have been interesting to know the outcome. When I’ve spoken to the dealership today, I’ve been told the first appointment is August 13th. I spoke to the only other dealership within a reasonable travelling distance and their earliest was 28th August. So now I’m wondering if they are inundated with this problem or just understaffed.

Edited 8 July, 20241 yr by Headphones
.

It would have been interesting to know the outcome. When I’ve spoken to the dealership today, I’ve been told the first appointment is August 13th. I spoke to the only other dealership within a reasonable travelling distance and their earliest was 28th August. So now I’m wondering if they are inundated with this problem or just understaffed.

Get your report into the DVSA on the behaviour of the car & the actions being taken or not by the Suppliers or their agents..

If Dealership staff are saying a known issue the they know it is a safety issue for you are other road users.

 

Skoda UK & Skoda Dealers put out new cars, have new cars PDI,d and out on the road and can not deal with cars they know are out on the roads and faulty.

They need to remember the corporate responsibility. 

 

PS

Be sure you have let Skoda / VW UK know though. In writing.

They should be providing you with a loan car and getting your one off the road until fixed, as they should with every other with the issues.

 

I hope you have the name of the person at the dealership that you spoke to. 

Edited 8 July, 20241 yr by Ootohere

38 minutes ago, Headphones said:

So now I’m wondering if they are inundated with this problem or just understaffed.

I think there are waits on Dealership workshops generally.  I wonder how long before cars are practically a write-off when out of warranty because sensors and computer programs can't be sorted.  I think the phrase "cheap as chips" is from the quality of the chips that some/many car manufacturers use, probably worth more as antiques.

OT but the Covid Cars are hitting the Auctions and back into the car trade.

 

Models build during the chip shortage and that had features deleted because of this.

Personally these would appeal to me.  Less crap to go wrong possibly. 

 

?

What Speed Limiter System has been fitted to the latest Mk4 Fabia from July 2024, just the simple Warning, not an Active One, more resistance on the accelerator or a cut in power over the posted speed limits?

I dont know but from what I've read many manufacturers initially are going down the less intrusive route i.e. the warning and certainly in the UK it can be turned off each time you start the car.

 

Good job given the unreliability of speed limit detection and inadequate signage.

23 hours ago, Headphones said:

Hi. I’ve seen the front assist mentioned on other cars in this forum for it going off for no reason. But can’t see any mention about a Fabia.

 

i got mine in march and since then it’s gone off 5 times (once slamming the brakes on when someone was behind me). Each time there has been nothing in front of me. One time I was going round a roundabout. Another driving on a straight road. Another stood at traffic lights, another with only one car in the next lane to the right of me. I am bothered when it slammed the brakes on as someone could end up going into me.

 

i rang the garage to try and book it in and was told it was a common fault and they’d fix it in a day? They said they couldn’t book it in for another month though.

 

Has anyone else had this front assist  problem?

 

I don’t know if there’s any connection but my infotainment system keeps crashing too. Won’t let me access the heating/cooling controls, unless I turn the engine off and back on again?

I've had the alarm activated about 12 times in the last year but its never slammed the brakes on and each time there has a vehicle in front and for some reason, it seems the thing I have not noticed or reacted to it, which not the case as I have always been braking at the time.

7 hours ago, VAGCF said:

Good job given the unreliability of speed limit detection and inadequate signage.

Driving my neighbour's Ren-No! Cashcow on a NSL bit of road we go on every week and it's 30 mph signage is flashing on and off as it thinks I'm speeding, coming back in the other direction it must see the NSL sign as there's not flashing dash symbol - either that or it's a 30 mph road going in one direction and NSL in the other lane from the other direction, after all the computer knows best and it doesn't lie, that's why some used to follow the Tw*tNav and drive into a river.  😆

After 15 000 km, had the warning activate twice (no automatic braking): once rightly so, once without a reason. Fabia Mk IV.

No real help to the OP those that fortunately have no faults.

That is how they are supposed to be.  Fit for purpose. 

21 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

No real help to the OP those that fortunately have no faults.

That is how they are supposed to be.  Fit for purpose. 

Sadly, the more tech we build into cars, the more there is to go wrong. I'm dreading the day that the new speed limiters actually take direct control our cars. Imagine a car that is working correctly and drops the speed to say 30mph is followed by one with a defect and does not drop speed from the 70mph, slamming into the back of the other one.

58 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

No real help to the OP those that fortunately have no faults.

True but activity on the thread might highlight it to others  with the issue, perhaps it's a batch fault or programming issue to certain cars of a certain age or perhaps Headphone's car "is the only", "no one else has this problem, just you". 😉  

The warning has come up a fair number of times now (Mk 4) but there hasn't been any activation of the brakes.  No idea why it has been happening but on a couple of occasions we were taking a sharp turn to the left with cars parked along the road.  So long as the system doesn't slam the brakes on for no good reason we'll try to ignore this glitch.

Edited 10 July, 20241 yr by bazz2004

Being good drivers, you are already taking charge of the braking

so the system merely acknowledges that it was ready to apply the brakes

 

I'd like to think you're right about that so thanks.

 

In the first post (Headphones) there was this

"I don’t know if there’s any connection but my infotainment system keeps crashing too. Won’t let me access the heating/cooling controls, unless I turn the engine off and back on again?"

 

We had great difficulty getting to grips with various settings and it turned out that lots of changes required the engine to be running.  This was a horrendous waste of fuel as you don't have the option to turn on/off the ignition.  A lot of scope remains for improving the infotainment system.  It's hard to understand why Skoda haven't tried things out with potential customers to get their feedback before rolling stuff out.

Driving today I had a bleeping noise and the usual car image in the dash this time saying front assist unavailable. It flashed off again and was left with a yellow triangle and exclamation mark. I took the photo as soon as I was able to pull over. However 15 minutes later the display said everything was ok and have a good journey!

Can you switch it off from a menu?  No point having it on if it's intermittent and could activate unnecessarily anytime.

Have you tried cleaning the sensor front ? That’s what Škoda advise in my Scala manual

54 minutes ago, nta16 said:

Can you switch it off from a menu?  No point having it on if it's intermittent and could activate unnecessarily anytime.

Hi. It will only allow lane assist to be turned off. The only option with the front assist is the amount of warning time it gives you before it brakes. I have set it to the longest time, but can’t be switched off entirely.

17 minutes ago, John2022 said:

Have you tried cleaning the sensor front ? That’s what Škoda advise in my Scala manual

Yes. The first time it happened a colleague said it might be that the sensor needed cleaning. It was clean though, but I still cleaned anyway. Still keeps happening. 
 

Someone that I know googled the problem and said it can be triggered by puddles and the car “seeing” its own reflection so braking?

4 minutes ago, Headphones said:

 

Someone that I know googled the problem and said it can be triggered by puddles and the car “seeing” its own reflection so braking?

I suppose that's better than it "attacking" the "other car"?