Autonomous Braking.

[Grumbles]

As usual I've been on the mountain tracks of N/E Victoria and it involved a couple of U Turns in tight places. 3 Point turns.....? nah.........more than that. It got me thinking about this Autonomous Braking addition to cars technology these days. How does it work? Does it mean that U turns in the bush will be automatically stopped every time the car is put in forward motion? That every track side boulder, log, tree etc the car is pointed at will cause the AB to trigger and stop the car.

[Tote]

SWMBO's Rubicon has it and it is pretty unintrusive. The only time i've experienced it working was when idling in drive with me not paying attention it nearly ran into the back of the 130. It probably preserved my marital bliss so I reckon its a good thing.

Regards,
Tote

[Homestar]

The partners equinox has this but thankfully it can be turned off - which it is now as when we leave the estate we live in, one of the tighter streets we go through causes the car to slam its brakes on several times thinking your about to have a crash when coming up behind parked cars - it's bloody dangerous and almost caused a car behind me once to run into me (who didn't have such tech). Now it just flashes a red light on a HUD and makes the seat vibrate but doesn't brake for me now thankfully.

[scarry]

A mate of mine has it on a late model van, he hates it,has caused him to nearly **** himself a couple of times.

An example is going along slowly following another vehicle that was turning left into a driveway,he went to go around the turning vehicle and the van braked violently.

Luckily there was know one behind or there is a good chance he would have been rear ended.

[ATH]

One of my nieces has it in her top of the range BMW or Audi (I forget which) and she reckons it's bloody dangerous on the high speed autobahns in Germany as it's brakes for no apparent reason apart from what some designer has put into the computer as being too close to the car in front.
The drivers following her are doing what all good drivers should be doing and that's looking at the situation far ahead not at the bumper of the car in front and then suddenly her car is braking and those behind hit the brakes hard. It's not just her car of course but all the ones with the latest gadget supposedly to make driving safer.
AlanH.

[jonesfam]

I'm sorry, but I think a lot/most of this new in car safety Tec is just Dumbing Down Driving!
Why can't drivers be situationally aware? Learn to brake properly, drive to stay in their lane, learn to control over/under steer, turn their head, etc?
I will sound like an old fart, which I am, I was ought to drive, mainly, by an ex race driver who took us out on dirt race tracks in Mini's, we soon learnt car control.
People are learning to rely on the car saving them, bad mistake in my opinion.
The new stuff is not all bad but should people rely on it?
Jonesfam

[loanrangie]

I'm sorry, but I think a lot/most of this new in car safety Tec is just Dumbing Down Driving!
Why can't drivers be situationally aware? Learn to brake properly, drive to stay in their lane, learn to control over/under steer, turn their head, etc?
I will sound like an old fart, which I am, I was ought to drive, mainly, by an ex race driver who took us out on dirt race tracks in Mini's, we soon learnt car control.
People are learning to rely on the car saving them, bad mistake in my opinion.
The new stuff is not all bad but should people rely on it?
JonesfamTotally agree, some of it is useful for safety but a lot is taking control off the driver .

[Grumbles]

There's been some very interesting insights posted here...very cool guys.[thumbsupbig]

[QUOTE=jonesfam;3077648]I'm sorry, but I think a lot/most of this new in car safety Tec is just Dumbing Down Driving!
Why can't drivers be situationally aware?
I will sound like an old fart, which I am......./QUOTE]

That strikes a cord with me so I am in agreement with you. I saw a comment somewhere recently - not AULRO - about us more mature drivers rejecting new cars with their touch screens, computers, driver aids etc which comment also gained my favour.

I do like the Traction Control, ABS, rear diff lock and the rear camera with sensors. Being in the market for a new fourby has caused me some serious introspection about what I really want in a car. My needs are simple - the aforementioned electrickery, A/C and heater, radio and a basic CD player. I have no wish to have a pretty screen on the dash and having to press pictures to get to the options list of what I want to do. Talk about driver distraction followed by sirens and flashing lights. Give me rocker and rotary switches every time plus their use quickly becomes instinctive as muscle memory comes in to play.

[ATH]

I fully agree Grumbles, far too many "must have" gadgets in cars these days to distract drivers. A bloke I know has a top of the range Rangie and he reckons he doesn't use most of it as it's completely un-necessary for his driving. Why the heck do people need stuff which tells them they're wandering around in their lane? If they had their mind on what they're doing they wouldn't be wandering surely?
Pity they don't use their design skills and making cars which actually have indicators you can see working these days instead of the crap to amuse idiots.
AlanH.

[Saitch]

Rain sensing wipers is another. If it's raining, surely a driver would realise to turn the wipers on.

Auto headlights I agree with.

[Graeme]

I enabled autonomous braking on my L322 for 2 reasons when I retro-fitted adaptive cruise control which only activates while using cruise control, only sounding its significant warning when CC isn't active but will assist stopping if the brakes are used. The first reason was in case it can detect kangaroos at night and secondly because I'm not getting any younger and therefore I may make mistakes that I might not have made when younger. It erroneously activated once at 100 kph as I approached a vehicle that had partly pulled off the road on a RH slight curve. The braking was over-ridden by using the accelerator but not before a dramatic decrease in speed and not helped by my having the gearbox in manual mode to stop unnecessary downshifts. The driver of the vehicle tailgating me must have had quite a shock as that vehicle didn't get close to me again.

[scarry]

Rain sensing wipers is another. If it's raining, surely a driver would realise to turn the wipers on.

Auto headlights I agree with.

If anyone actually 'needs' these, they shouldn't have the privilege of having a drivers license.

" The driver of the vehicle tailgating me must have had quite a shock as that vehicle didn't get close to me again."

And there is the issue, if it was a large truck or semi trailer, you may have been rear ended, and in an unnecessary accident.

That adaptive cruise control do the brake lights come on? I have noticed many vehicles travelling in rural areas with the brake lights coming on intermittently, which is a PITA for a following vehicle.

This new Cruiser we have,doesnt have adaptive CC,but will townshift automatically going down a hill,to pull the speed back, if needed, something the D4 didn't,it continually over ran down hills.

[ozscott]

It works well in the Triton. Unobtrusive and clever. Doesn't work above 80kph so if a roo jumps out when you are doing 100 with a b double up your jaxie you don't have a bad day out. Cheers

[Graeme]

The L322's adaptive cruise doesn't operate the brakes or brake lights but forward alert and stop/go braking which requires adaptive cruise to be operating do apply the brakes and operate the brake lights. Forward alert can be enabled/disabled via the instrument cluster. No braking occurs when forward alert is disabled although the alarm will still sound. Stop/go requires forward alert to be enabled.

Mine's radar unit is slightly out of alignment to the left and possibly slightly too high but I've not bothered to R&R the bumper to adjust the aim. However since the braking incident I apply light throttle to over-ride ACC to prevent braking if I think the system might activate, whereupon only the alarm sounds as it often does in traffic (CC not active) as I approach a slowing vehicle without fully releasing the accelerator.

Radar only works on metals. These days imaging plus radar is used to detect animals including people not wearing or carrying anything metallic.

[Homestar]

Rain sensing wipers is another. If it's raining, surely a driver would realise to turn the wipers on.

Auto headlights I agree with.

The washers and wipers don’t even work on the 101 - I have to be aware enough to check the BOM radar before striking out to dodge the showers... [emoji56]

[JDNSW]

Auto headlights? In my personal view, the 90/11/Defender had a better idea - if you have the headlights on when turning off the ignition, you bark your knuckles on the light switch!

[jonesfam]

Tesla facing search warrants as US authorities probe fatal crash in Texas involving driverless car - ABC News (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-20/tesla-search-warrants-fatal-crash-driverless-car-texas/100080804)

Better off driving yourself me thinks!
If the car is NOT fully auto driving why was no one in the drivers seat?
Jonesfam

[4bee]

I'm sorry, but I think a lot/most of this new in car safety Tec is just Dumbing Down Driving!
Why can't drivers be situationally aware? Learn to brake properly, drive to stay in their lane, learn to control over/under steer, turn their head, etc?
I will sound like an old fart, which I am, I was ought to drive, mainly, by an ex race driver who took us out on dirt race tracks in Mini's, we soon learnt car control.
People are learning to rely on the car saving them, bad mistake in my opinion.
The new stuff is not all bad but should people rely on it?
Jonesfam


Why can't drivers be situationally aware? Learn to brake properly, drive to stay in their lane, learn to control over/under steer, turn their head, etc?

Paul, you left out THINK. [bighmmm]

[ozscott]

Auto headlights? In my personal view, the 90/11/Defender had a better idea - if you have the headlights on when turning off the ignition, you bark your knuckles on the light switch!The auto headlights in my Mazda and Triton work very well. The Triton has auto dipping and high beam and that is very very clever. I still like driving the D2 with none of this, but the mod safety items are well worth having. Cheers

[Homestar]

The auto headlights in my Mazda and Triton work very well. The Triton has auto dipping and high beam and that is very very clever. I still like driving the D2 with none of this, but the mod safety items are well worth having. Cheers

The Auto dipping in the Equinox is an abomination and shouldn't be legal so it's turned off or else every second car flashes you as it has major issues around town particularly with streetlights and I think it thinks other cars are streetlights so it doesn't do anything.

The auto on/off on the Hilux and most new cars is great IMO - I always just leave my low beams on and they go off when you get out of the car.

[scarry]

The auto headlights in my Mazda and Triton work very well. The Triton has auto dipping and high beam and that is very very clever. I still like driving the D2 with none of this, but the mod safety items are well worth having. Cheers

Auto dipping was pretty hopeless in the D4,I always had it turned off.

As an example,in a rural area,truck coming towards us,up a hill.
The driver is well blinded by our high beam before the headlights of the truck appear,over the hill.It would only switch to low beam once the headlights of the other vehicle appeared.Not great at all.

Maybe it was better in later models,I don’t know,but it works excellently in the Cruiser.It will change to low much earlier.

[3toes]

Remember that auto lights do not recognise fog. You have to manually override the auto function

[Graeme]

The L322's adaptive cruise doesn't operate the brakes...Correction - it does, not that I've noticed it in normal driving but with ACC set at 100 kph heading downhill and holding the decrease speed button will trigger significant braking by the time the set speed is down to about 80 kph. Autonomous braking and stop/go have been enabled in the CCF as well as adaptive cruise.

[scarry]

Correction - it does, not that I've noticed it in normal driving but with ACC set at 100 kph heading downhill and holding the decrease speed button will trigger significant braking by the time the set speed is down to about 80 kph. Autonomous braking and stop/go have been enabled in the CCF as well as adaptive cruise.

Does it change down a cog or two as well,that is use engine braking to help slow down as some of the Jap vehicles do?

The D4 just ran away down hills, going down a cog or two while on CC would have helped significantly.

[Graeme]

It didn't appear to down-shift on the test but I can't be sure that it didn't.

[DiscoMick]

Our Mazda definitely downshifts.