billmac

MY12 A6 w/pre sense plus.

Yesterday, I had a really scary situation with pre sense braking guard activating at the wrong time and almost being rear ended because of it.

My wife and I were driving in heavy pouring rain while we arrived at an intersection and a red traffic light. One car was in front and a few others lined up behind mine while we waited. About a foot of water was flowing rapidly from right to left on the intersection.

When the light turned green, the car in front of me started moving at a slow pace because of the flooded road and made a left turn. I started moving very slow and waited until that vehicle cleared the road. When we were midway through the intersection, we were moving at about 10 mph and had my foot on the accelerator when the A6 came to sudden, hard stop. The pre sense red vehicle warning graphic came on the instrument panel screen while I scrambled to start moving again in order to avoid the car behind me, which was able to stop right before hitting us.

Once we started moving again, the driver behind me quickly pulled to my side and he looked quite upset while yelling and gesturing at us. I imagine the other cars behind him shared his reaction.

Perhaps the flowing water and rain played a trick on the sensors, but the pre sense system almost caused a minor accident. Needless to say, my wife blamed me all night long. But that is another story.

I just wanted to share my story, albeit a bit long, so others in similar rain and flooded road situations would be aware that something like this might happen again.

keithl

Honestly I have not been impressed with pre sense plus. I have had the big screen warning come on twice for no reason, although it did not brake. Then other times the distance warning blinks when I am slowing down and the gap with the car in front is growing or I am coming up fast tailgating the car in front of me and get no warning. I have had the blind spot warning shut off twice, again for no reason. The Germans may be great mechanical engineers, but they suck at electronics. My impressions so far is it is a great drivers car, but the nanny gadgets need work.

atlanta A6

Wow this must have been terrible and glad to hear no one was hurt and the car escaped unscathed. I would be bringing the car in to the dealer for a check although the cause could have been as you suspect. I guess you could deactivate the feature but that defeats the idea of having this safety item.
My car has activated the auto braking and warning twice already and both were needed to some degree as a car in front slowed quickly and the auto braking kicked in a second before I had a chance to react.

jr'sAudiA6

[QUOTE=keithl; I have had the blind spot warning shut off twice, again for no reason. [/QUOTE]

There is TSB that address the random shut off of the blind spot warning feature. The problem is the yellow light assembly in the mirror housing intermittently shorts causing it to shut off. I do not remember the TSB number off the top of my head but the dealer should be able find it hopefully.

keithl

I have a 14 A6, I would have hoped that TSB would have been installed already at factory. Car is going in today anyway for about a dozen small annoyances. I will mention it. While I love my car, I have never owned a car where my first visit had such a long list of minor things wrong with a car. Actually the last half dozen cars have not had as many issues combined as my A6 does. Again all minor things like initial quality/build fit and finish stuff mostly, but I will say the Japanese know how to assemble a car.

MileHighJC

I have had some times where the pre sense sensor has gone off (big red dash light, and once I got the loud DING), but never the brakes. They all merited my attention (no false alarms).

I would have found your situation more than unnerving, and you are lucky not to have a bashed rear bumper. Having said that, at least in Colorado, had the guy behind you hit you, he would have received the citation. You might have had a busted car, and much worse, injuries. I would expect that Audi would be quite interested in getting it resolved quickly.

keithl - surprised and disappointed to hear of so many defects. I guess I've been fortunate, mine has been the most defect free car I have ever purchased. I had 3 minor defects at my 5000 mile service, and I have a list of 4 for my 15000 mile service (next week). Hope things smooth out...

I think of myself being pretty picky (but at the price of these cars that seems appropriate). I easily had more than double the issues with my wife's Toyota Venza, although that clearly is in a different class. It's also technically a US car (KY assembly). Im not picking on it however, it has been a great car for what we needed.

in2dwww

I think the warning goes off when you've been following a car too closely for too long - not immediately. The immediate warning goes off when you are approaching at a high rate of speed.

keithl

First, I am picky. Also these are all minor things, just annoying that so many minor things on a $65K car. Silly things, like cup holder door does not open without being forced, buzzing back deck under moderate bass, the cooling vent in the glove box is missing its adjustment it is just an unfinished hole in the back, and so on. It is these little details that I think the Japanese excel at.

keithl

I need to watch that again and see. I still think pre sense plus could be implemented better. The initial warning is that little red icon flashing on the speedo which is very ironic, because if you need to be watching the road you have to look down to see it. My recommendation would have been to have a audible alarm or something higher up that flashes brighter to get your attention. Similar with the serious waning that flashes int he center MID display, you have to see it to realize, should be a variable audible alarm that varies in pitch with how bad the issue is. Of course giving the user the option to disable the audible in the MMI would be good as well.

directorguy7

I think you have to look at it from two different types of events. If I am following to close OR I am coming up to fast, I think the red warning light flashes, which in this case you have time to realize (look) its flashing and do something about it (if you dont then the warnings elevate to a DING and Center MMI display.)

The other case is if the car ahead stops quickly and A6 thinks you are not breaking enough or at all, it probably will not flash the red light as you are probably already past that point anyway, so it DINGS and center MMI displays warning.

Personally I have not had it really false alarm on me. It will occasionally flash the red if I am following to close when trying to squeeze in on highway etc. Every once in a while a car will quickly stop and turn off the road, and cause the elevated DING warning. I know I am not going to hit the car, but I can understand the system having to play it a little safe. I would rather it alarm on the safe side of the "false alarm line" then on the other end and not alarm soon enough.