Automatic Emergency Braking - don’t rely on it

[Netrunner]

So, my son (new driver) was involved in an accident where he rear-ended another vehicle at fairly low speed. According to him, the pre-collision warning came on, and he jumped on the brakes when he realized the other car was stopping, but not soon enough. The AEB never braked . Quite a bit of damage to the front, and both airbags deployed. This was on a 50km/h (30mph) road with a lot of traffic, so not high speed. Maybe the system reduced the impact, and no system is perfect, but I was expecting more from the AEB.

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[Blueshound]

Sorry to hear it. Is that frost on the road?

 

[Netrunner]

Thanks. No frost, just the light reflecting on pavement. Was about 4c. Also had new winter tires on.

 

[tony72cutlass's']

I had a situation recently where the warning came on and the truck wouldn’t let me accelerate out of the way of something. brakes worked though

 

[Str8Shooter]

Because of my concern about the Pre-Collision Assist system I set it to the most sensitive WARNING level - that way I get at least another split second to react and jump on the brakes. I also use Adaptive Cruise Control in heavy traffic at its max distance setting more often because unlike Pre-Collision Assist I have more confidence that I will not be hitting cars in front of me.

All that said, there is no perfect substitution for manually staying at a safe speed and distance with complete focus on the road.

 

[raitken22]

Because of my concern about the Pre-Collision Assist system I set it to the most sensitive WARNING level - that way I get at least another split second to react and jump on the brakes. I also use Adaptive Cruise Control in heavy traffic at its max distance setting more often because unlike Pre-Collision Assist I have more confidence that I will not be hitting cars in front of me.

All that said, there is no perfect substitution for manually staying at a safe speed and distance with complete focus on the road.

I actually had a sudden brake with my ACC on and it cancelled when the AEB came on. I had to stand on the brake pedal to not hit the car in front of me, definitely learned to use a bigger gap when in traffic. I was surprised that the ACC just cancelled in the middle of needing it like that.

 

[KBKEITH]

Hopefully nobody was hurt.

Sorry your truck was damaged. It appears just the bumper and below was damaged?

 

[hussar1683]

These systems are generally designed to minimize severity of the collision, not to so much to actively prevent it.
The system is first trying to warn a driver via the aural and visual warnings, if the driver does not intervene it activates the breaks to minimize the force of impact.
This typically happens too late for the vehicle to stop. That’s at least what I was told by a Honda engineer I, had a pleasure to talk to the other day.
I assume it works in a similar way on Ford vehicles.

Hopefully your son and others involved walked out of it without a scratch!

 

[Zengineer]

So were you in the vehicle when this happened? How do you know the vehicle didn't brake?

 

[JerryLZ]

Can't say I understand it but people find a way to crash on 25mph roads all the time around me. I also see how they drive, thinking they are Dale Earnhardts riding the bumper of people in front of them as if they are intimidating in their mom cars.

This is why I am always in my mirrors when I'm stopped or stopping. I just replaced my antenna on my truck and used loctite. Trust level = Absolute zero

 

[Netrunner]

Hopefully nobody was hurt.

Sorry your truck was damaged. It appears just the bumper and below was damaged?

Son's legs hurt a bit afterwards from sliding into the steering wheel, and little shaken, but other wise fine. He is quite lucky.

Seems like the whole front might need to be fixed including hood as well as airbags.

 

[Netrunner]

So were you in the vehicle when this happened? How do you know the vehicle didn't brake?

No, was not in the truck with him. I am taking his word for it. I don't have any reasons not to believe him.

 

[Tomatoboy]

AEB systems have limitations and will decline to brake under certain circumstances. Most such systems have a speed limit over which they won’t operate (your ground speed), some have a closing speed limit (as in, how fast you are going relative to the object), and some won’t operate in certain conditions such as if you’re already on the brake. They’re not foolproof nor are they intended to be foolproof, nobody should be relying on them to work. They’re designed to catch *some* of the mistakes a driver might make regarding not catching an impending collision, but they’re not designed to catch every scenario. A system like AEB only needs to be partially effective to in aggregate make a difference in fleetwide rear end crash rates. Unfortunately, a lot of people assume it’s foolproof. Folks need to know it is an aide, not a foolproof system. DO NOT expect AEB to work in every situation.

 

[powerboatr]

good thing your son is ok
DASH Cam.

however mine has saved m bacon 2 times already one was a baby deer and the other was a STOOOOOP NOW at 65 to turn left in front of me, truck swerved and braked hard then went back to normal as it passed her
the deer...it SLOWED momentarliy then resumed speed. not sure if it was designed for deer , but it decided to work that morning for me

 

[3DogKnight]

Hopefully nobody was hurt.

Sorry your truck was damaged. It appears just the bumper and below was damaged?

Both airbags deployed. That alone is big bucks. The front damage might be more than you realize because nothing is cheap anymore.

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