Crash mitigation can be DANGEROUS if you're a spirited/aggressive driver.

deevel79

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Posted this over at the driveaccord forum but being a former civic owner and member of this site I figured I'd give you guys the heads u as well.

This past wknd I was driving south on the West Side Highway in NYC and I ended up behind a vehicle that was driving extremely slow. When the left lane opened up I slowed down a bit to give myself some space to switch lanes then briskly accelerated. There was a vehicle approximately 3-4 car lengths ahead of me and Honda's sensing must have sensed that I was accelerating too quickly and applied the braking system so hard that it felt as if the car was going to do an endo! My plan was to accelerate around the car in front of me that was going very slow and instead the car's braking system kicked in so aggressively that it could have actually caused an accident had I decided to switch lanes at that point or if someone was following closely behind. I slid forward in my seat and my chest had it not been for the seat belt would have hit the steering wheel. That's how hard it was.

This has happened to me on a few occasions already so I just turn off the crash mitigation feature as I feel it can cause an accident rather than prevent one.

Now if you're a conservative driver then I guess this won't be a problem, but if you happen to be a driver who tends to weave in and out of lanes when driving then I highly suggest you shut this feature off as it has the tendency to aggressively apply the brakes at the worst possible moment.

I understand the purpose and benefits of the system, but attempting to bring the car to a dead stop while on the freeway with flowing traffic is flat out dangerous!
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david1pro

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The "safety features" on the car work - mostly. But as you pointed out, when doing things normal drivers do, the computer is not smart enough to know if it should brake or not. It's dangerous at random times, as well - not just when doing the maneuver your described. It can be dangerous when it flips out because you've changed a lane without a turn signal (in my case, into an exit lane) and the computer suddenly thinks it needs to stop you immediately from falling off the edge of the world.

I've had about 5 false brake warnings on turns (when turning left, with opposing traffic doing the same thing - so for a while it looks like we're going straight towards each other) but each one let off soon enough it was just a jerk, and not a true stop application of the brake... the computer realized the error "just in time." I've had one occasion though where I went from 60 to 30 in less than a second on the freeway when purposefully drifting into an exit lane with no one or thing around me.

I'm good with a turn signal by habit when anyone is around me. I'll have to be good by habit all the time now.

It's not a smart system. While it's great when working - the risk will always be there, and that risk is not worth people purchasing the Sensing package.

Honda Sensing... lulls you into trust for a couple of weeks/months and then it senses it's time to scare the crap out of you with a faulty move.

If you look around the forums, there are several similar stories of when the car did an unexpected, dangerous "safety" move.
 

whaaaaa

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Posted this over at the driveaccord forum but being a former civic owner and member of this site I figured I'd give you guys the heads u as well.

This past wknd I was driving south on the West Side Highway in NYC and I ended up behind a vehicle that was driving extremely slow. When the left lane opened up I slowed down a bit to give myself some space to switch lanes then briskly accelerated. There was a vehicle approximately 3-4 car lengths ahead of me and Honda's sensing must have sensed that I was accelerating too quickly and applied the braking system so hard that it felt as if the car was going to do an endo! My plan was to accelerate around the car in front of me that was going very slow and instead the car's braking system kicked in so aggressively that it could have actually caused an accident had I decided to switch lanes at that point or if someone was following closely behind. I slid forward in my seat and my chest had it not been for the seat belt would have hit the steering wheel. That's how hard it was.
The safety features operate under the assumption that you intend to drive safely. You should not be accelerating hard in heavy traffic, regardless of whether the guy in front of you is driving a bit slow. If you're hitting the gas that hard with another car just 3 lengths ahead of you, the sensing system is absolutely correct in thinking you need to slow down. Had that other guy stopped short for any reason while you were accelerating–– to ultimately save maybe a couple seconds at most–– your little passing maneuver would have quickly become the end of your new car. Had you accelerated smoothly, rather than briskly, the sensing would not have freaked out like that.

All of that goes triple for Manhattan, where you should never be accelerating that hard for any reason at any time of day. Not only is the traffic always too heavy for that, but you're not even saving yourself any time from the effort as all the traffic lights are timed specifically to prevent you from getting anywhere that fast, so you're just wasting gas and putting yourself and everyone else at unnecessary risk. And if you slam the gas trying to sneak through a light just as it's turning, you've got a fair chance of hitting an oblivious pedestrian, and only to get stopped at the very next light anyway. This type of driving is exactly why everyone hates cab drivers, and BMW drivers. Don't sink to their level. We Civic owners are better than them.

a driver who tends to weave in and out of lanes when driving
Seriously, stop that. Save it for Westchester, NJ, or Long Island, if you must.
 
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deevel79

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The safety features operate under the assumption that you intend to drive safely. You should not be accelerating hard in heavy traffic, regardless of whether the guy in front of you is driving a bit slow. If you're hitting the gas that hard with another car just 3 lengths ahead of you, the sensing system is absolutely correct in thinking you need to slow down. Had that other guy stopped short for any reason while you were accelerating–– to ultimately save maybe a couple seconds at most–– your little passing maneuver would have quickly become the end of your new car. Had you accelerated smoothly, rather than briskly, the sensing would not have freaked out like that.

All of that goes triple for Manhattan, where you should never be accelerating that hard for any reason at any time of day. Not only is the traffic always too heavy for that, but you're not even saving yourself any time from the effort as all the traffic lights are timed specifically to prevent you from getting anywhere that fast, so you're just wasting gas and putting yourself and everyone else at unnecessary risk. And if you slam the gas trying to sneak through a light just as it's turning, you've got a fair chance of hitting an oblivious pedestrian, and only to get stopped at the very next light anyway. This type of driving is exactly why everyone hates cab drivers, and BMW drivers. Don't sink to their level. We Civic owners are better than them.



Seriously, stop that. Save it for Westchester, NJ, or Long Island, if you must.

- Traffic was not heavy. It was actually pretty clear.

- The system thinking I need to slow down or giving me a warning is fine. Bringing my car to an almost screeching halt on a highway when traffic is flowing is flat out dangerous!

- Again, traffic was very light and accelerating from 35mph to 50-60mph is not what I would consider "hard acceleration" given the light traffic conditions.


I was in absolutely no danger of hitting the car that was about 3-4 car lengths ahead of me nor was there any reason for him to suddenly slow down as I could clearly see the traffic up ahead was totally clear.
 


whaaaaa

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- Traffic was not heavy. It was actually pretty clear.

- The system thinking I need to slow down or giving me a warning is fine. Bringing my car to an almost screeching halt on a highway when traffic is flowing is flat out dangerous!

- Again, traffic was very light and accelerating from 35mph to 50-60mph is not what I would consider "hard acceleration" given the light traffic conditions.


I was in absolutely no danger of hitting the car that was about 3-4 car lengths ahead of me nor was there any reason for him to suddenly slow down as I could clearly see the traffic up ahead was totally clear.
Perhaps I misunderstood. The way you described the maneuver as 'brisk' acceleration sounded like you were intending to slam the gas up to the next car in the left lane and then jump back to the right cutting the slow guy off before the gap closed.

To that last part though, you can always account for your own actions, but you can never predict the stupidity of others. Just because the road ahead looked clear doesn't mean he's not distracted or drunk or just going to stop short for no reason. Happens all the time in this town.
 
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deevel79

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Perhaps I misunderstood. The way you described the maneuver as 'brisk' acceleration sounded like you were intending to slam the gas up to the next car in the left lane and then jump back to the right cutting the slow guy off before the gap closed.

To that last part though, you can always account for your own actions, but you can never predict the stupidity of others. Just because the road ahead looked clear doesn't mean he's not distracted or drunk or just going to stop short for no reason. Happens all the time in this town.
I'll clarify.

I merged onto the highway and made my way to the middle lane where I got stuck behind a driver going 35mph. I noticed a driver coming in the left lane and decided to let him pass prior to me making the lane change. Once he passed I made the lane change and accelerated up to speed. I didn't floor it or over accelerate. Nor did I accelerate or close the gap on him faster than he was accelerating (so it thought). Apparently Honda's sensing feature felt I was and with no notice brought my car from about 55-60mph to about 30mph in a matter of 2 seconds. To be honest I was quite startled! The deceleration was hard enough to send me forward into the steering wheel and send my cell phone flying out of the cup holder on to the passenger floor.
 

david1pro

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I think people are getting offended unnecessarily here. I didn't read the OP to say he was driving dangerously. Let's say you're in three lanes of traffic on the highway. Fast lane is going... fast - 80s, let's say... but you're in the middle lane. The slow lane may be going slow, let's say 55, and has plenty of traffic, and the guy in front of you in the middle lane, with clear road in front of him is also going in the mid 50s. You wouldn't go around him by going to the right, but you should go around him to the left - into the fast lane. Traffic is moving faster over there, so as you go around, you will be speeding up quickly to merge into the fast lane traffic and not cut anyone off. You see this happen several times a day (or at least I do). I appreciate it when people pull in front of me at an increasing speed that shows they are being conscious not to cut me off.

In the case above, Honda's Sensing would likely throw an error, assuming you are going to slam into the guy in front of you (who will stay in the middle lane, even though you are veering right) as you start to speed up as you merge right. You're not going to, and if the car was watching your turn signal and looked at the free space you were heading towards to the front and left, it wouldn't worry either... but it just looks straight ahead - to where you are not actually going anymore, and throws a miscalculated braking... which IS dangerous.
 

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I would just disable it all together. Too bad Adaptive Cruise Control is packaged with Honda Sensing.
 

whaaaaa

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I'll clarify.

I merged onto the highway and made my way to the middle lane where I got stuck behind a driver going 35mph. I noticed a driver coming in the left lane and decided to let him pass prior to me making the lane change. Once he passed I made the lane change and accelerated up to speed. I didn't floor it or over accelerate. Nor did I accelerate or close the gap on him faster than he was accelerating (so it thought). Apparently Honda's sensing feature felt I was and with no notice brought my car from about 55-60mph to about 30mph in a matter of 2 seconds. To be honest I was quite startled! The deceleration was hard enough to send me forward into the steering wheel and send my cell phone flying out of the cup holder on to the passenger floor.
That does sound terrifying. In the way you describe it here, it does seem like the sensing overreacted. I'm guessing that maybe these types of features just aren't well suited for Manhattan conditions, which are not the norm nationwide to say the least. Apologies for misinterpreting that you were being overly aggressive.
 


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deevel79

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That does sound terrifying. In the way you describe it here, it does seem like the sensing overreacted. I'm guessing that maybe these types of features just aren't well suited for Manhattan conditions, which are not the norm nationwide to say the least. Apologies for misinterpreting that you were being overly aggressive.
I mentioned how this feature can be dangerous for those who do drive aggressively because it can apply the brakes at a time when you're making tight lane changes resulting in an accident. Not that I promote aggressive driving but it does exist.
 

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Posted this over at the driveaccord forum but being a former civic owner and member of this site I figured I'd give you guys the heads u as well.

This past wknd I was driving south on the West Side Highway in NYC and I ended up behind a vehicle that was driving extremely slow. When the left lane opened up I slowed down a bit to give myself some space to switch lanes then briskly accelerated. There was a vehicle approximately 3-4 car lengths ahead of me and Honda's sensing must have sensed that I was accelerating too quickly and applied the braking system so hard that it felt as if the car was going to do an endo! My plan was to accelerate around the car in front of me that was going very slow and instead the car's braking system kicked in so aggressively that it could have actually caused an accident had I decided to switch lanes at that point or if someone was following closely behind. I slid forward in my seat and my chest had it not been for the seat belt would have hit the steering wheel. That's how hard it was.

This has happened to me on a few occasions already so I just turn off the crash mitigation feature as I feel it can cause an accident rather than prevent one.

Now if you're a conservative driver then I guess this won't be a problem, but if you happen to be a driver who tends to weave in and out of lanes when driving then I highly suggest you shut this feature off as it has the tendency to aggressively apply the brakes at the worst possible moment.

I understand the purpose and benefits of the system, but attempting to bring the car to a dead stop while on the freeway with flowing traffic is flat out dangerous!
You can also change the distance at which Collision Mitigation works. I set mine to the shortest distance and haven't had any false alarms since.

Honda Civic 10th gen Crash mitigation can be DANGEROUS if you're a spirited/aggressive driver. Screen Shot 2016-03-07 at 12.01.38 PM
 

mno86

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I haven't gotten to this part of the manual yet, so bear with me:

Does Collision Mitigation stop the car if it senses an imminent crash (legitimate or otherwise?). Will it stop you if you're pulling into a space and your bumper is going to hit the concrete wall if you're inching forward?

What's the difference between when the tach info screen says "BRAKE" versus the Collision Mitigation system?
 

david1pro

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BRAKE is the CMS... it throws up the visual warning first. If you totally ignore it, it'll press the brakes. Your speed and distance will determine how fast one vs. the other occurs. If you're flying and a car suddenly appears before you not moving (running a red light, then panic stops in the intersection, let's say), you'll likely have the brakes come on immediately without a chance to stop on your own with just the visual warning.

It'll warn you if you're not going too fast, too... but I would say if you want to "inch forward" into a wall, you'll be permitted to.
 

mno86

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BRAKE is the CMS... it throws up the visual warning first. If you totally ignore it, it'll press the brakes. Your speed and distance will determine how fast one vs. the other occurs. If you're flying and a car suddenly appears before you not moving (running a red light, then panic stops in the intersection, let's say), you'll likely have the brakes come on immediately without a chance to stop on your own with just the visual warning.

It'll warn you if you're not going too fast, too... but I would say if you want to "inch forward" into a wall, you'll be permitted to.
Thanks - that makes perfect sense. I haven't had the experience of it applying the brakes heavily yet, but I have seen the BRAKE light flash on a few times. I'm sure it's kinda jarring when it brakes for you.
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