gamegenie

The option wasn't available on the Premium Plus A3 when I ordered. I was only able to add Active Lane Assist, which is useful for highway driving.

But every now and again when I'm driving home from work in the evening, I think how ease my commute could be if I didn't have to concentrate so hard during my stop and go traffic commute from work.


I see Audi lists the Distance Center ACC sensor on the Genuine Parts site for the A8 and A6 but not A3.

I'm writing to the Genuine Parts department to see if its possible for them to sell it so I can have my local Audi dealer install it.

deuxcv

i wish too. my 2015 prestige has everything but active lane and adaptive cruise. but being a cpo, the option wasn't available. i wish there was a cost effective way to add them.

plat27265

When I placed an order for my S5, the only option I left out is adaptive cruise control. Call me old fashioned but I never ever engage cruise control when there is moderate to heavy traffic on the highway. Too dangerous. Technology is nice but it is killing the art and skill of driving. I feel that too much driver assist features makes a driver lazy and encourages him or her to take his attention off the road and road conditions. There's just too many variables on the road at this day and age.

It might be a different story if all cars on the road were self-driving and autonomous. I'd be more comfortable using these driver assist features by then because cars follow certain driving styles and standards. It will follow a discipline and rule.

gdubyvr

I have ACC and Lane assist on my 2015 cab. I use both features on long distance highway driving and it is quite impressive. definitely a good safety feature to have if you can add on after the fact. It also forces you to have good driving habits - like using the turn signal when changing lanes. Good luck on your quest

DennisMitchell

ACC is great, whether stop and go, moderate traffic, or wide open. Yes, in stop and go you have to be ready to react and override. All the idiots jump around in lanes in heavy traffic with no notice. ACC doesn't do well with a car coming into your lane with little time to react.

Lane Assist is only useful when on the highway cruising. It is a waste on secondary roads. Line markings when roads transition and merge can cause the steering to react when it shouldn't. I keep Lane Assist turned off except when I am cruising then I selectively turn on.

Lane Assist will only work well when Navigation and ACC are integrated and engaged (coming soon). The car needs to know where its going, not just reacting to line markings.

superswiss

I always have to chuckle when I read posts like this one. They make it sound like the human being in control makes no errors, yet most accidents are caused by human error. Don't get me wrong. There is some truth to what you are saying. Unfortunately, there are drivers that end up relying too much on these assist features, however, I would argue that they are bad drivers in the first place. No matter how good a driver one is, we are human and there are times when we don't react quickly enough or are distracted and something like a forward collision warning and avoidance system that's part of adaptive cruise control could make the difference between stopping in time and rear ending the car in front. Adaptive Cruise Control is simply awesome. It reduces driver fatigue on long drives or in traffic, which results in a more alert driver, because they are not tired behind the wheel. Always look at it from all sides and get some personal experience with the technology before forming an opinion.

Here's a typical case of what can happen in the real world. This Tesla driver had the Autopilot engaged which avoided T-boning the knucklehead pulling in front of him. Do you think you would have managed to stop in this situation?

plat27265

Thank you for helping me realize the good side of driver assist systems. My opinion is mine alone. I put a lot of thought when I ordered my S5, a $70K vehicle including the ACC option. Personally, I do not see value in spending $1.7K for this option.

I am not saying that I am a perfect driver. I do have an excellent driving record and an extensive driving experience earned by going through accidents/incidents and learning from them. These things don't get handed to you in driving school. These are intangibles.

I am thinking more about the future generation of drivers when I wrote my opinion about this matter. If they get used to these Driver Assistance systems from the get-go, they will never know and learn real world driving skills. A good example is road courtesy. In this day and age, very few drivers have good road manners. This gesture is going down the toilet and not passed on to younger drivers. Driving skills are going down the toilet as we speak due to distractions caused by phones and other mobile gadgets.

Another good example of what I am trying to share is how the educational system allows kids to use calculators in school instead of doing manual or mental math calculations to learn the basics. Nowadays, a lot of kids don't know why 16/4 = 4. They just know that the calculator tells them so.

Do I think less of car owners for having the ACC option? No. Do I respect them and their decision to have ACC and driver assistance systems? Yes. Do I chuckle at the thought of them having ACC? No. But, if you are a bad driver, Yes. I will chuckle to my heart's content and steer clear of you.

Cheers! I rest my case.

Mrclopec

Because you already have Active Lane Assist and the driver assistance camera in the windscreen, you are actually in a very good position to retrofit this to your car if you wanted to. The prices on the parts appear a little steep if acquired through the dealer but if you source them through other discount or second hand sources it might be worth it if you really have a desire. The only downside would be calibrating the radar sensor. There are a couple tutorials online where people have done it themselves but you can always have it done at the dealer if you didn't want to bother. As far as having the entire system retrofitted at a dealer, thats probably a no go.

To give you a better understanding of what you would need:

New steering column levers.
Your existing steering column control module supports it already.
Your instrument cluster will support Adaptive cruise but it wont have the pretty red lights around the speedometer. You will still have info in your center DIS.
Radar sensor for from bumper including mounting hardware.
New Grille or mod your existing one.
Connector and wiring from radar sensor into cabin of vehicle.

dlmmail18

If it makes you feel better, I have ACC and lane assist and use neither outside of road trips.

Presense is GREAT, makes me safer, and there is no downside in my opinion.

Not sure which package it came with but if I could have presense without ACC and lane assist I'd probably take my money back and give up the features...

superswiss

PreSense is an extension of ACC. It basically uses the radar sensor of ACC to constantly monitor the situation ahead of you. No ACC = No PreSense. PreSense is actually an umbrella term and what's included depends on the specific model. What we are talking about here is called Audi Brake Guard, which is one aspect of PreSense.