City safety trigger at 70mph on motorway...

[Bicax]

Originally Posted by Quacker

That's not sarcasm, it is common sense. If you are not comfortable with some aspect of technology it is within your power to not spend your hard earned money of actually buying something you do not want. As time goes on it will become more difficult, but for the most part you can certainly choose not to buy much of this stuff you don't trust, because there are alternatives available new, and in the case of ABS and airbags, used.

I have no idea why you object to having this choice as much as you seemed to be uncomfortable with the technology.

Some systems you can override, like stability, traction and downhill descent control, not to mention the big one, Volvo's Pilot Assist and adaptive cruise control. Other active safety systems are there to work autonomously in a fraction of a second when needed and are quite unsuitable to be overridden. These include the AEB [autonomous emergency braking] and airbags plus seatbelt pretentioners and EBA [emergency brake assist]. I've had ABS on cars since 1990 and recognise that it can lengthen the stopping distance significantly in some cases, but with the advantage of retaining some steering ability. I've had all cars with EBS since year 2000 and can count on one hand the times it has activated, but it has done when needed. Only once in 60,000 miles in the Audi Q7 and then only because I wanted to see if it worked.

Come on Quacker, I have three kids, I know how to differentiate sarcasm from common sense

Anyways... I should be able to voice my concerns about a specific item in a car without you telling me what I should do with my "hard earned money" (I'm not sure if that was your intention, but this sounds a bit patronising) especially if what is being discussed is something that will soon be the norm on every new car.

Again, I'm not against driver aid systems. I just got concerned because of what users have been reporting on this thread, but as I mentioned most of my concerns have been put to rest by someone who actually took the time to properly explain how the system works.

What I disagree with is comparing this to the way ABS works, an airbag malfunctioning or a wheel falling off. If a wheel falls off, or if an airbag blows up shrapnel, there's nothing the driver can do about it. But if the safety system somehow malfunctions or misjudges a situation (like it happened with my active cruise control) and accelerates, brakes or steers the car incorrectly, the driver should still be able to correct it to avoid an accident.

Maybe I'm putting too much faith on everyone's reflexes and driving skills, and/or not enough faith on technology, or maybe I'm just a control freak, but for me a driving aid that brakes, steers or accelerates shouldn't fully replace the driver. At least not yet.

But again, I understand that this isn't a concern with the system being discussed and I've therefore already ordered an XC90 with my extremely hard earned money.

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by Clan

It isn't everybody , it is extremely uncommon , I have never had this happen driving all sortsof different volvos daily since this technology was added 8 years ago . someone who drives on the brakes using them at the last moment is most likely to have it happen .

I struggle to agree that it is extremely uncommon. Everyone I know with Intellisafe has had a false positive and we run a fleet of then at work. My other half drives very sedately and hers has triggered city safe at the multi story barrier and intellisafe on a city street. Contrary to some suggestions I also do not drive like some sort of late braking lunatic either.

Feel free to instigate a poll of users but I am willing to bet that a decent majority of people on here have all seen the flash of HUD or red lights and momentary dab of brakes when a crash was not iminent. Whether this was a car park barrier incident, threading through city traffic or just random stuff like my motorway incident.

By the way, knowing all this, I still spent 1900 notes on the intellisafe pack for the V60 we just bought. I am a big believer in the tech but I must repeat that it is not infallable and is liable to both explainable and unexplainable false positives of varying degrees of severity.....

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by Bicax

But again, I understand that this isn't a concern with the system being discussed and I've therefore already ordered an XC90 with my extremely hard earned money.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do despite your misgivings, although honestly, if I had your feelings I would avoid this and similar cars that have the technology you object to or are concerned about. It's certainly not up to me to persuade you that this stuff is safe and aids safety. That is explained in plenty of ways by the manufacturer.
I was not aware that you had ordered an XC90 but now is certainly the time to make your mind up about this car. Too late once you've signed on the dotted line. Surely that is common sense.

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by Lexman8

I get a false positive warning perhaps once per month.

I should've said that every one of them is because the car has misinterpreted what it saw; none of them were 'unprovoked'. I can now often predict when it's going to occur, eg there's a car parked on a bend on a narrow road so it appears as if I'm heading straight towards it as I approach.

I have mine set to 'Normal' sensitivity so I would probably get fewer warnings if I reduced it. Also, to be clear, you can always override the steering, you just feel a bit of extra resistance as you do so.

[Bicax]

Originally Posted by Quacker

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do despite your misgivings, although honestly, if I had your feelings I would avoid this and similar cars that have the technology you object to or are concerned about. It's certainly not up to me to persuade you that this stuff is safe and aids safety. That is explained in plenty of ways by the manufacturer.
I was not aware that you had ordered an XC90 but now is certainly the time to make your mind up about this car. Too late once you've signed on the dotted line. Surely that is common sense.

As I said on more than one occasion, I only raised a concern regarding this particular system on this car, and this concern has been put to rest.

Obviously I wouldn't be buying a car I didn't feel safe driving.

And honestly Quacker, if every time I had a concern I would simply hide my head in the sand like you're suggesting I do, rather than finding if those concerns are justified, I wouldn't leave my house.

What are forums for, if not to exchange points of view and get information?

[Philip Fisher]

Mine has false alarmed on the motorway again.

No brakes this time, and no "city safety has activated" displayed on the screen, but the collision alert flashed in the HUD.

Kept the video. Might just start a folder of these to show the dealer when I get round to it....

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

Mine has false alarmed on the motorway again.

No brakes this time, and no "city safety has activated" displayed on the screen, but the collision alert flashed in the HUD.

Kept the video. Might just start a folder of these to show the dealer when I get round to it....

were you just closing on the car in front at a rate below the safe threshold ?

[nu11eaf]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

Mine has false alarmed on the motorway again.

No brakes this time, and no "city safety has activated" displayed on the screen, but the collision alert flashed in the HUD.

Kept the video. Might just start a folder of these to show the dealer when I get round to it....

Could it have just been the distance bars set too close, try increasing the number of bars.(Left hand steering wheel control bars) the red lights light up on the screen if you get closer to the car in front than the set distance bars.