SSA6

For a 2012 Prestige: My ACC experience/use to date has led me to conclude that the ACC system works well, but not entirely to my liking or trust level. Is there a VAG/COM setting (other than the Comfort/Standard/Dynamic in the MMI) that will allow the system to react SOONER and begin braking earlier? If I understand the ACC system correctly, these settings affect the distance kept between cars and the re-acceleration dynamics.
My current experience is that at whatever setting is chosen for the ACC (Comfort/Standard/Dynamic) and including the various DISTANCE 1/2/3/4 settings on the ACC stalk, my A6 is a bit slow to apply the brakes and come to a full stop when the car in front of me slows down – for example, coming to a full stop from >45 mph when the flow of traffic in from of me is approaching a red light. I understand the sytem will not recognize a car fully stopped in front of me if I'm approaching. In my scenario, all vehicles are moving. I experience that my car waits a second or two longer than I would to begin applying the brakes and when eventually begins to stop, does so more aggressively. While waiting for the ACC to kick in and stop I have a second or two to think –“is this really going to stop me in time or will I rear end the guy front of me”. I usually chicken out and apply the brakes myself, not fully trusting the ACC. Maybe I drive/brake too conservatively compared to the ACC system. Maybe it’s just this type of road scenario too. Interstate driving (where there are not red lights) and slow bumper –to-bumper traffic ACC operation is acceptable to me and I trust the ACC system a bit more (again, dependent upon the ACC MMI setting and Distance settings).
Anyone else have this experience or know if the ACC recognition of a slow to stop scenario can be dealer adjusted ?

irenesbob

I do not have ACC but am very interested in what others say about this. I too brake well in advance of the "need" to, partly to make the pads last longer by avoiding full-on applications. I do almost all the things one does while driving well in advance: scanning the road ahead, to the sides and behind, knowing when to change lanes because mine is blocked by another vehicle or puddle. Judging by how they swerve at the last minute a lot of folks do not, so for them ACC probably seems like a great thing. I saw on TV a driverless Ford product and was wondering what the 30+ cameras would do if one went through a muddy stretch in Autumn and 10 of the cam's were plastered with leaves and mud. Could it still "see" a car approching or a light turn red? A driver can always put the washers and wipers on, but I doubt these cams have wipers.

DirkM

It took me a while to get used how ACC behaves but I learned to trust it most of the time. I still (after almost 2 years) have my foot over the brake pedal when traffic requires it, just in case it doesn't stop in time.

in2dwww

I'm glad to hear that this system is non-obtrusive. It allows for the driver to intervene and it does not think in advance of the driver. If it was trully comforting to let the car do all the work, then you wouldn't be left driving.

And this is why fully autonomous cars will never come to exist. Imagine the confusion that would exist in the legal system when you claim and prove that you weren't driving - the car was! Who are they going to ticket?

directorguy7

Glad somebody else is having this happen. Will be interesting to see if other people have this issue. The car waits long enough and brakes hard enough where I really could see this being a glitch or something if other people report here that their car stops fine or behaves similar.

To me its almost seems like the car doesn't have the ability to coast to let the car slow, it's like it HAS to use the brakes to slow down. Either way its a pretty cool system and I could see this being normal since it's designed to be used on highways and slow moving trafic jamm'ey traffic.

in2dwww

After watching this video, is it possible that it waits longer and brakes harder because ACC is in dynamic mode? If it was in Comfort mode, would it actaully brake earlier?

I had an A7 loaner and I loved the ACC. I played with it a lot. I found that people were exploing the gap in front of me whenever ACC was not in dynamic mode. However, the system, in my opinion, is well worth the money because of braking guard and because the ACC picked up a semi truck in the fog before I was even able to see it...

keithl

I too have started playing with this as the ACC behavior is terrifying the gf as a passenger. I too feel it brakes late and hard, like a very aggressive driver would. If the car in front is stopped it does start to slow down quickly, but is slow to realize the car is stopping and "mind the gap" (as our British friends would say). It stops hard maintaining a wide gap then tends to crawl a few feet, I assume to determine if the car in front i truly sopped, and staying stopped, once it closes the gap due to the front car not moving it then stops with an acceptable space left.

irenesbob

Nice video - the ACC seems like an aid in traffic and I am open to it, just wary of depending so much on electronics. I never expected my radio to fail and produce loud "bam" sounds and I would hope there are redundant systems to prevent ACC from screwing up. It is likely generational as much as anything else, but the jump from a bunch of little motors and electronics as aids and assists to full-on taking over of the actual driving seems like a very big deal to me.

irenesbob

From the song “Seven Little Girls”:

"Keep your mind on your driving'
Keep your hands on the wheel
Keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead
We're havin' fun sittin' in the back seat
Kissin' and a 'huggin with Fred"

I wonder how the lyrics could/should be updated to reflect the new hi-tech features like ACC - lol

Helmar

In my experience sometimes it stops late and hard, and sometimes it stops gently and smoothly.

My previous Lexus was just like this.

It seems to be when the car "notices" that there's a car in front of you.

Sometimes it doesn't "notice" until later and then it has to stop quite short. When it notices early, the stop is always smooth and gentle.