[Excalibrates]

I've had the car a couple of weeks and on two occasions now the Front Assist warning light has shown briefly in the driver's display.
Yesterday, and more disconcertingly, it applied the front brakes HARD such that the ABS kicked in. It released them after a second but it was quite a shock.

I don't think it's possible to tell from the warning whether the alert was triggered by Front Assist (too close to the car in front) or City Emergency Braking (thinks a pedestrian is going to get hit)

In all 3 situations there was absolutely zero risk - either no cars around at all or very far away in front, and absolutely no pedestrians in the vicinity. On all 3 occasions I was driving on a road I commonly use which has a relatively high bank of earth adjacent to the road on the offside, with trees/foliage on it.

The emergency stop the car did was quite unsettling and could of course cause problems if the car behind was too close. If they hit me, true it'd be their fault, but I really wouldn't want to be dealing with that insurance claim.

On this basis I'm pretty close to turning the feature off completely. I use this road frequently enough that if there's something about it that confuses the system I'd rather disable it entirely. The manual does state that in "adverse conditions" it can trigger "inopportunely"! The trouble with semi intelligent systems is that they are also half stupid...

Has anyone else had the Front Assist warn or kick in in appropriately?

 

[Tell]

The once it did slam on for me there was an emergency stop in front of me so it marginally got there before me. Another or perhaps two occasions of the warning. It doesn't like my new town style of driving, normal driving it's fine. Keeping up with traffic through roundabout systems it may pick you up on.

Others will tell you, you can reduce the sensitivity of the warning, it will still brake but won't slap your wrist so often with warnings or turn it off completely. I do spot situations where it will go off now after the experience or tell the partner to drop back else they will get a warning. People cutting in front is another risk.

Northern night club curb hoping I would imagine it's murder when they mill onto the streets, jump on and off the pavement in front of you. I've left mine as is.

 

[Dunn VAG Happy]

After I experienced the whiplash effect (see other thread) i turned the sensitivity right down. This has removed nuisance beeps and when some idot walked across infront of me in a car park the other day we weren't all catapulted through the front window, no did it beep! It did however beep when it didn't anticipated me switching left on the run up to a roundabout

 

[Tell]

I read the passage again in the manual Vag after reading your text. I think your right won't say who's wrong who corrected me before. So then I moved onto the basis that you didn't lesson the effect of the braking if you toned it down. They had said it's only the alarm not the frequency of the action it will still slam on the brakes.

Repeat reading I'll go back to my previous thoughts on the subject. If you ignore the warning it will brake according to the text, so reduced warning should lesson the possibility of braking since it hasnt detected you have disobeyed the warning.

Page 207 on.

The hub of it is here

Distance warning

If the system detects that safety is endan-
gered by the proximity of the vehicle in front,
it may warn the driver by means of a message
on the instrument panel when driving at a
speed of between approximately 60 km/h
(37 mph) and 250 km/h (156 mph)
››› Fig. 184.
The warning moment varies depending on
the traffic situation and driver behaviour.

Advance warning

If the system detects a possible collision with
the vehicle in front, it may warn the driver by
means of an audible warning and an indica-
tion on the instrument panel when driving at
a speed of between approximately 30 km/h
(18 mph) and 250 km/h (156 mph)
››› Fig. 184.

The warning moment varies depending on
the traffic situation and driver behaviour. At
the same time, the vehicle will prepare for a
possible emergency braking ››› .

Critical warning

If the driver fails to react to the advance
warning, the system may actively intervene in
the brakes when driving at a speed of be-
tween approximately 30 km/h (18 mph) and
250 km/h (156 mph), generating a brief jolt
to warn of the imminent collision.

Automatic braking

If the driver also fails to react to the advance
warning, the system may brake the vehicle
automatically, by progressively increasing
braking effect driving at a speed of between
approximately 4 km/h (2.5 mph) and
250 km/h (156 mph). By reducing speed in
case of a possible collision, the system may
contribute to reducing the consequences of
an accident.

Front assist

If the Front Assist notices that the driver is
not braking sufficiently in case of a collision
hazard, the system can increase braking ef-
fect and thus avert the collision when driving
at a speed of between approximately 4 km/h
(2.5 mph) and 250 km/h (156 mph). Front
assist only acts while the brake pedal is
pressed down hard.

So reduced advanced warning should reduce the emergency braking as you say.

I've never had a distance warning only.

 

[Excalibrates]

Well on the occasion it decided to apply the brakes for me there was no warning at all. Just - BANG - brakes on hard, ABS triggered. After less than a second it changed it's mind and stopped applying the brakes and let me carry on.

I was just driving straight at a low speed (less than 30mph) along a straight road with no traffic within any sort of hazardous distance. The only possible reason it triggered might have been caused by a high earth bank and brick wall along the offside quite close to the side of the road - but that was a continuous feature along the road itself.

I've turned down the sensitivity now to see if it reduces the warning frequency but if it does another hard stop out of nowhere I'll be expecting the dealer to undertake investigations.

The manual does say that braking could be triggered "inopportunely" but based on my experience so far I think it might cause more accidents than it prevents...

 

[Trentend]

Similar thing happened to me when I picked up my new VW golf a few years ago. Drove down an empty street, plastic bag blew across the road and the damned thing did an emergency stop! I quickly learnt to disable the front assist everytime I get in the car. Just two quick clicks on the indicator stalk. Bit of a phaff but you get used to it.

 

[Peter2017]

Our car came to an abrupt stop this morning, took delivery only last week. Not sure why the car braked but the wheels locked and there was nothing in front of us and luckily nothing behind!

Not sure why this happened but can it be turned off?

 

[Tell]

You can turn the sensitivity down first which should reduce the false positives so as to speak failing that just turn it off. Page 214 of the November manual. Some people are putting the advanced warning onto delayed which should slow up the process of its actions so it doesn't kick in. Failing that you can turn it off in the section before on page 214. Random braking without and obstacle should be checked out. I don't know where Excalibrates has had reduced issues since the post above but I know others have turned theirs down where there were issues.

 

[Peter2017]

I've turned the front assist down to early warning, it was on medium. I have also called my Seat dealer but am still waiting for a call! I did get the warning this morning whilst weaving through parked cars but no braking so hoping it has helped. Thanks