55 minutes ago, Breezy_Pete said:

@davegr

I'm with you.

@davegr don't give up on the forum, if you find any particular members attitude 'difficult' or objectional, just put an ignore flag on them.

4 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

@davegr don't give up on the forum, if you find any particular members attitude 'difficult' or objectional, just put an ignore flag on them.

Always an option I suppose!

3 hours ago, davegr said:

Because it has control of the steering and braking?

I'm not necessarily suggesting it applies to everybody, nor every safety feature, nor every time.

Yes.

I didn't say you would. I just questioned how having assist features turned on could make you a better driver.

What if the chair has a wobbly leg?

That's not what you suggested before?

Obviously, because other assist features involve braking.

Why would the car need to swerve for me? My other car doesn't have any of these features and it hasn't been a problem. I wonder about liability, if by swerving a collision is caused?

I wouldn't mind a car pulling over and calling for help if I'm genuinely incapacitated. I definitely would mind if it does it due to faulty logic, failing sensor etc.

I wasn't strictly talking about just ACC.

Why does lane assist annoy you?

All well and good until a driver becomes habitually reliant on it, then finds themselves driving a car without it.

I 100% agree that this will happen but it's a shift of perspective only.

Agreed.

In theory, so am I. Are we sure that they haven't contributed to any deaths though?

Oh come on, cars don't have feelings. The difference can only be due to things like sensitivity to inputs (different programming or software versions), different number of inputs/input types, sensor types/outputs and so on.

Though I'm not saying that it should be, I'm a bit surprised this isn't regulated by law.

It sounds like you’ve got a problem with safety systems in general, rather than ACC in particular. They aren’t perfect, but I believe the roads are safer with them.

I don’t like lane assist because my car isn’t smart enough. It’s not a Tesla, and I don’t like how it pulls me over a line when the road merges into one lane, for example. I also wouldn’t dream of using it on a country road, for example. That’s why I bought my 2020 Mk3.5. I can have all the safety things I want, but I can also turn them all off and they stay off.

The only thing I’ve disabled is TSR. It was always wrong, and as it worked in conjunction with ACC, it was an absolute menace.

I wasn’t suggesting cars have feelings - I was suggesting that different models, and different types of cars, are programmed slightly differently. It makes sense that a performanceish car like the vRS would react different to hard braking than a 1.0 Ibiza.

The reason none of this is regulated by law (beyond the implementation of it) is the same reason US headlights are limited by lumen output, and our headlights are limited by wattage. Useless!

And all this because I was posted about the economy of my particular model.

😂😂😂

45 minutes ago, CFB said:

And all this because I was posted about the economy of my particular model.

😂😂😂

You should have seen the response to a post last year on “acceptable levels of cracking in tyres” or something. One person hasn’t been back since 😂

34 minutes ago, OccyVRS said:

It sounds like you’ve got a problem with safety systems in general, rather than ACC in particular. They aren’t perfect, but I believe the roads are safer with them.

The only safety systems I have a problem with, are those which are unpredictable but also mandated. I have no problem with anything which can be switched off, that also stays off until you choose otherwise. I also have no problem with any mandated safety system which actually works 100% as intended either.

I do have an issue with safety systems which do things like hard braking when there's no need for it, randomly steering into another lane for no reason at all or creating sudden and loud audible or visual alerts, which carry the risk of distracting you from actually driving. I find it particularly annoying when it's due to the safety system misinterpreting a completely normal situation, which it should be smart enough to understand.

Take for example, the recent case of a van parked in a lay-by half way around a sweeping right hand bend. There was no reason for the car to think I was going to drive straight into the van, because it knows the position of the steering wheel and therefore, that I'm not going in a straight line towards the van. There's also no reason it can't take cues from the onboard navigation, which might even be aware of the lay-by but at the very least would know that I'm most likely following the road, as I had done for the previous 25 odd miles without fail.

The other issue is that as already discussed, the average driver might overestimate the abilities of these assistance systems. I'm talking about the people who do things like taking a nap with the seat reclined because "autopilot" is taking care of the driving, or those that drive straight into a river because the satnav tells them to turn. Such people are also likely to assume that the driver assistance systems are going to take care of everything and end up in trouble.

34 minutes ago, OccyVRS said:

The reason none of this is regulated by law (beyond the implementation of it) is the same reason US headlights are limited by lumen output, and our headlights are limited by wattage. Useless!

I don't see what headlight output has to do with mandated flashing of hazard lights under hard braking. I'm pretty sure the modern car can also know where it is and adjust itself according to local regulations. It's certainly a much easier ask than what these safety systems are trying to achieve!

8 hours ago, davegr said:

The only safety systems I have a problem with, are those which are unpredictable but also mandated. I have no problem with anything which can be switched off, that also stays off until you choose otherwise. I also have no problem with any mandated safety system which actually works 100% as intended either.

I do have an issue with safety systems which do things like hard braking when there's no need for it, randomly steering into another lane for no reason at all or creating sudden and loud audible or visual alerts, which carry the risk of distracting you from actually driving. I find it particularly annoying when it's due to the safety system misinterpreting a completely normal situation, which it should be smart enough to understand.

Take for example, the recent case of a van parked in a lay-by half way around a sweeping right hand bend. There was no reason for the car to think I was going to drive straight into the van, because it knows the position of the steering wheel and therefore, that I'm not going in a straight line towards the van. There's also no reason it can't take cues from the onboard navigation, which might even be aware of the lay-by but at the very least would know that I'm most likely following the road, as I had done for the previous 25 odd miles without fail.

The other issue is that as already discussed, the average driver might overestimate the abilities of these assistance systems. I'm talking about the people who do things like taking a nap with the seat reclined because "autopilot" is taking care of the driving, or those that drive straight into a river because the satnav tells them to turn. Such people are also likely to assume that the driver assistance systems are going to take care of everything and end up in trouble.

I don't see what headlight output has to do with mandated flashing of hazard lights under hard braking. I'm pretty sure the modern car can also know where it is and adjust itself according to local regulations. It's certainly a much easier ask than what these safety systems are trying to achieve!

My point about the headlights is that UK legalisation and regulation sucks. Wattage is relevant for halogen headlights, but not for LEDs. Most other countries seem to have worked this out, while we haven’t.

In two years, the only wrong steps my vRS has taken are to pull me into the middle of the road once. It was on the M27, and the lanes were hilariously narrow for road works. The lanes then turned into contraflow, and the car got confused by the white markings, and the poorly painted over markings. Aside from that, I’ve had no false activations and no noises. I did have an incident in the first week of ownership, where the car decided to adjust the ACC speed to match the 20mph services, rather than the middle lane of the motorway I was on - hence my deactivation of TSR.

The safety features have their flaws, but I think the horrific standard of driving far outweighs this. Frankly, the only new car I’ve had an issue with was a courtesy Mk8 Golf. That braked for me, hard, several times without reason - one of them resulting in the car behind almost going into the back of me. Other than that, I’ve done tens of thousands of miles throughout the UK, Europe and the US, incident free.

12 minutes ago, OccyVRS said:

My point about the headlights is that UK legalisation and regulation sucks. Wattage is relevant for halogen headlights, but not for LEDs. Most other countries seem to have worked this out, while we haven’t.

In two years, the only wrong steps my vRS has taken are to pull me into the middle of the road once. It was on the M27, and the lanes were hilariously narrow for road works. The lanes then turned into contraflow, and the car got confused by the white markings, and the poorly painted over markings. Aside from that, I’ve had no false activations and no noises. I did have an incident in the first week of ownership, where the car decided to adjust the ACC speed to match the 20mph services, rather than the middle lane of the motorway I was on - hence my deactivation of TSR.

The safety features have their flaws, but I think the horrific standard of driving far outweighs this. Frankly, the only new car I’ve had an issue with was a courtesy Mk8 Golf. That braked for me, hard, several times without reason - one of them resulting in the car behind almost going into the back of me. Other than that, I’ve done tens of thousands of miles throughout the UK, Europe and the US, incident free.

It’s not about the thousands of incident free miles, it’s about the time(s) it almost caused an accident!

On 03/05/2026 at 12:30, davegr said:

That’s not what I expect at all and maybe you should re-read your own reply because it cuts both ways.

@davegr you're the only one attacking people - I decided to ignore your reply to my posts as it had nothing to do with the discussion.

All the others have discussed based on the topic, in direct relation to the feature being discussed. As @Evolution13 put it, you just go after each phrase you disagree with and complain people have an attitude if they have a different opinion.

We are here to discuss cars and share experiences, if yours are different, that is OK, but understand that what you dislike or see in a certain way other people might like and see in a totally different way. It is not about being right or wrong, it is abut learning how to use stuff, if you want, or disable/not use it, if you don't.

Oh, and let's all remember this topic was about range...

1 hour ago, koditzadispater said:

@davegr you're the only one attacking people - I decided to ignore your reply to my posts as it had nothing to do with the discussion.

All the others have discussed based on the topic, in direct relation to the feature being discussed. As @Evolution13 put it, you just go after each phrase you disagree with and complain people have an attitude if they have a different opinion.

I'm the only one attacking people? I described a dangerous action by travel assist and you decided to make it about my standard of driving, supposedly being distracted and so on.

1 hour ago, koditzadispater said:

We are here to discuss cars and share experiences, if yours are different, that is OK, but understand that what you dislike or see in a certain way other people might like and see in a totally different way. It is not about being right or wrong, it is abut learning how to use stuff, if you want, or disable/not use it, if you don't.

I absolutely agree and have no idea why you've taken issue with me. A good discussion can involve disagreement without making judgements about the other person.

1 hour ago, koditzadispater said:

Oh, and let's all remember this topic was about range...

It was initially about range but conversation evolves. Other people changed the direction of conversation before I came along.

Anyway, it's obvious I shall not be spending any/much more time on this forum. The posts I had read elsewhere, involving words like "hostile" and "aggressive" and similar were obviously correct.

@davegr it was never my intention to be hostile or aggresive, or anything similar for that matter. However, if I appeared to be so, I do apologise, I know written communication can sometimes lack depth.

2 hours ago, koditzadispater said:

@davegr it was never my intention to be hostile or aggresive, or anything similar for that matter. However, if I appeared to be so, I do apologise, I know written communication can sometimes lack depth.

@koditzadispater Apology accepted! I also did not intend to come across as attacking anybody.

I have an interest in and enjoy driving. I learned quite late in life compared to most, realised the driving test is a very low standard, so passed the IAM test (UK advanced driving qualification), have done skid pan sessions, track day experiences, have driven in Greece & Spain as well as the UK, have a clean licence with no points nor insurance claims (at least, so far).

My first car was a Peugeot 206 1.9D, terribly slow and I got rid of it when the brakes failed me, which was quite scary for a new driver. For the last 10 years I've had a Mazda 3 2.0 2016 which I bought new and for the last 5 years, I've also had a Mazda MX-5 ND RF 2.0 which I bought used with low mileage. The Mazda 3's only assistance system was low speed emergency braking, which only ever triggered once, in a completely unnecessary scenario. On the other hand, it was perfectly happy for me to drive into a fence at low speed (deliberate careful test).

I part exchanged the Mazda 3 earlier this year, for a MK3 Skoda Octavia TDI vRS. That car had a lot of problems and went back to the dealer. I liked it enough to buy a brand new Octavia vRS though, which brings me to the current situation, where the number of driver assistance systems has skyrocketed compared to 10 years ago but which, from my point of view, haven't got any better!

On 03/05/2026 at 22:09, OccyVRS said:

My point about the headlights is that UK legalisation and regulation sucks. Wattage is relevant for halogen headlights, but not for LEDs. Most other countries seem to have worked this out, while we haven’t.

In two years, the only wrong steps my vRS has taken are to pull me into the middle of the road once. It was on the M27, and the lanes were hilariously narrow for road works. The lanes then turned into contraflow, and the car got confused by the white markings, and the poorly painted over markings. Aside from that, I’ve had no false activations and no noises. I did have an incident in the first week of ownership, where the car decided to adjust the ACC speed to match the 20mph services, rather than the middle lane of the motorway I was on - hence my deactivation of TSR.

The safety features have their flaws, but I think the horrific standard of driving far outweighs this. Frankly, the only new car I’ve had an issue with was a courtesy Mk8 Golf. That braked for me, hard, several times without reason - one of them resulting in the car behind almost going into the back of me. Other than that, I’ve done tens of thousands of miles throughout the UK, Europe and the US, incident free.

I’ve had a similar experience and have been looking how to deactivate TSR.

Could you point me in the right direction please?

Going back to the original subject of range, I got 41.5mpg driving from Salisbury to Richmond and back yesterday. If I had only measured mpg on the motorway section, I'm sure it would have been much better but I wasn't trying for the best mpg, so that's fine.

For a short part of the drive there, I decided to give ACC a try. I was on the M3, traffic had built up and there was a 50mph temporary limit. It was my first time using ACC and it was only for about 5-10 minutes, yet I encountered more misbehaviour.

Between gantries, the car suddenly declared "60 detected" and started to accelerate above 50mph. Nobody else began to accelerate, so either we all missed one gantry showing 60mph in the middle of many more all showing 50mph, or my Octavia was mistaken somehow. The only thing I can think of is that it caught sight of a 60 sign on a slip road, though these are fairly rare and I consider that quite a dumb mistake in logic if so.

I might review the dash cam footage, though it will be quite tedious to find the exact part.

On 09/05/2026 at 22:53, davegr said:

Going back to the original subject of range, I got 41.5mpg driving from Salisbury to Richmond and back yesterday. If I had only measured mpg on the motorway section, I'm sure it would have been much better but I wasn't trying for the best mpg, so that's fine.

For a short part of the drive there, I decided to give ACC a try. I was on the M3, traffic had built up and there was a 50mph temporary limit. It was my first time using ACC and it was only for about 5-10 minutes, yet I encountered more misbehaviour.

Between gantries, the car suddenly declared "60 detected" and started to accelerate above 50mph. Nobody else began to accelerate, so either we all missed one gantry showing 60mph in the middle of many more all showing 50mph, or my Octavia was mistaken somehow. The only thing I can think of is that it caught sight of a 60 sign on a slip road, though these are fairly rare and I consider that quite a dumb mistake in logic if so.

I might review the dash cam footage, though it will be quite tedious to find the exact part.

Dumb, maybe, but it happended to me in my 2020 Octavia. That's why TSR is now deactivated.

On 06/05/2026 at 09:27, CFB said:

I’ve had a similar experience and have been looking how to deactivate TSR.

Could you point me in the right direction please?

I'm honestly not 100% sure - a very friendly and knowledgeable VAG Indie garage owner did it for me, either with VCDS or ODIS. Have you had a Google?

Perhaps @Cairus may be able to point you in the right direction?

Good morning.

The pACC system, or rather the automatic speed control, should be able to be deactivated in the driver assistance systems menu. This topic is in the Kodiaq 2 section, where SFD 2 is a bigger issue. The camera can probably be coded to deactivate traffic sign recognition, but you likely can't or won't want to modify control unit 5F or 13.

SFD 2 tokens currently cost around €400 if purchased separately.

So, test whether simply deactivating the camera function is sufficient and doesn't trigger any visual error messages for the driver.

Which Car exact?

Edited 13 May13 May by Cairus

I did find an option to deactivate the TSR in the assist systems screen so did that. It worked for the first drive but reset to enabled on the next. It seems it is another that needs to be disabled on every drive. 🙄

Is normal, EU Regulation