Volvo auto brake fails during demo
 

Oops!

New S60 gets off to a good start...

Wow, that's a perfect illustration of build "quality" and the need to rely on concentration and driving skills, rather than gadgets.

I saw this on another forum, I said there, and say again, at least the windscreen wipers worked :-)

The start was very good. Pity about the stop.

I've said this many, many times before, and I will go on saying it!!

There is no need to improve upon things that don't need improving.

All these things like heated steering wheels (my absolute top mindnumbingly, spastic useless addition), auto brakes, indicator lights in mirrors and all the rest of it, are so totally unneccessary.

Best cars made were from 1990 to 1998. Period.

Now they are just messing about with them in the so called name of progress.

Three words - HA HA HA!

Auto brake is just another gizmo to go wrong, for people who can't drive - a lot like ESP, EBD, ABS, traction control and so on and so forth. People who need auto brake shouldn't even be on the road.

Really if you can't spot a stationary lorry whilst doing 30mph why would you expect your car to spot it?! I find it difficult to trust my cruise control and tend to drive down the M1 with my foot hovering over my brake pedal anyway... and a couple of times I thought the radar hadn't spotted the car stopping in front so hit the pedal myself.

But I have to disagree somewhat with toxophilus - I do think my DSTC is useful. And ABS is just a technical solution to a manual braking technique, which most drivers no longer learn. EBD I'm sure has its moments.

However auto-wipers seem a bit lazy - I have them but don't bother with them as I can tell when there's lots of water on the windscreen. But I bet someone said the same about self-cancelling indicators!!! My old Citroen CX didn't have them, just a rocker switch, and I coped with it, so why do I need them now?! LOL

The reason this happened was the battery went flat the night before the test , they charged it in the morning and started the car and there was a crash dummy in it .. the people doing the test failed to see the message in the instrument panel that said the Auto-Brake system was disabled .. predumably some fault codes due to the flat battery needed clearing ..
They have done this test 400 times at the factory , so it was human error , and if a human was driving they would have seen the message .

.... or, just possibly, that's the best story they could come up with after the event?

Actually, thinking about it more, I'm not sure the explanation - even if true - justifies the accident. Would the warning light make any difference?

My logic is this: if a particular driver actually needs the system (and would otherwise have hit the truck) he or she is incapable of:

• Driving at a safe speed
• Noticing a stationary truck ahead
• Lifting foot onto brake pedal & pressing

Therefore, it's surely unrealiastic to assume that the same driver could or would:

• Drive at a safe speed
• Notice a warning light
• Notice a stationary truck ahead
• Lift foot onto brake pedal & press

So, my thinking is, you either don't need the system - or you would hit the truck anyway.
(Unless of course, you did notice the warning light and the sight of it made you stay at home. In which case, should you have a licence?)

John

I don't think the presence of the warning light is the issue and the stationary truck is only one possible scenario - yes you should always stay alert, but how many times have we been distracted and suddenly realised that the car in front has pulled up suddenly! Year ago I rear-ended an Austin Princess (got to be very careful how you phrase that!) at low speed because another car was trying to push ahead driving on a chevroned part of the road and I was trying to avoid him, and in doing so failed to notice the Princess had stopped - OK the accident was technically my fault but had I had the Volvo braking system then I wouldn't have hit the car - just too much going on in that moment.

As I see it, this system is an aid to driving - we all make mistakes every so often - it applies braking in such a situation without the reaction time needed by the driver - and if it reduces accident claims & keeps premiums down it can't be such a bad thing.

Agreed if people rely on this and therefore drive carelessly then they shouldn't be on the road - for years us Volvo drivers have been accused/stereotyped of driving badly because we know we're in our safety cells, but personally although I am fully aware of that fact, I'd rather not drive in a way that may lose me my licence, car or life...

Judging by its performance on Volvo's formal press launch and demonstration, would you feel able to rely on it?

Not something you could test out really, without risking a hefty repair bill!

John

yes of course you can , they have spent £ millions developing this over the last 5 years and had 400 sucessful operations in tests since it left the factory .. remember it is a continued develpment from the active cruise control , from 4 years ago its been steadily developedfrom the city safety in the XC60 ..the reason has been explained why it didnt work , there was a fault message in the instrument panel saying it was disabled and unfortunatly dummies cant read ! and it seems the operative setting up the test didnt look either !

I'm very impressed with the way the crumple zone absorbs the energy in the crash, even if a technician mucked up the demo.

My sister in law drove into a stationary skip at 30mph so I could see the auto braking system being a very good thing to have on a car.

Depends whether or not you believe their story! Perhaps it simply did not work?

John

The battery went flat the night before the test so the system needed a reset to work.

My thoughts are what made the battery go flat on a new car? Has this been explained?

Could be something as simple as leaving the sidelights (parking lights) on?

That is their story. Do you believe it?

Could it, perhaps, be nothing to do with the battery, just a failed system? Maybe this was just the best story they could come up with afterwards to hide their embarrassment?

I can't be sure one way or the other. Perhaps what they say is true, but I'm not aware of any evidence to substantiate it.

John

didnt see no airbags go off either lol

if i had that auto brake system in my car id turn it off, for the simple fact that if i wasnt concentrating enough to press the brake when something stops infront of me then if my car braked by itself it wud make me jump and id probly swerve into oncoming traffic or something anyway

The air bags wouldnt deploy in a low speed impact ...

my brother in law also drove into a stationary skip! crikey, these skips are becoming a major risk on the road.