Attention '18 Owners: Auto Brake System False Alarms??

Mine's been perfect so far.
Lane departure has taught me to stay within the lanes so that it doesn't keep beeping at me.
"Brake warning" comes on when I'm about to rear end someone and stays off the rest of the time.
Adaptive cruise works good, and the only issue I've had is going around turns on two lane roads... sometimes it sees the vehicle in the outside lane and thinks I'm about to hit it causing the truck to rapidly slow down. It's not really a false alarm, it just seeing what's directly ahead of me.
I also like that the 6MT cruise allows you to depress the clutch to downshift without cancelling the cruise. It holds rpms between shifts.

 

I have only had it come on when I do a late-ish lane change (coming up behind a car turning left or right). Cruise control off, it does not auto brake just flashes Brake!!! for me. Considering I was approaching a slowed down vehicle with a consideralbe difference in speed, I would say the system is doing its job. Unfortunately I am only at 1800 miles and they are 95% city miles. I hope I get a reason to drive it on the highways and use the ACC more.

 

Only about 4 K miles on my 18 . I drive on congested two lane roads in Maryland mostly .


One false warning. No activations yet . I was going up a steep grade in a parking garage with enough speed for it to read the rapid elevation change as an object. It just warned .

Another time a vehicle pulled out smack in front of me. I braked hard and my wife said she saw the system warning .I don't know if it boosted the brakes but it wasn't even a near miss. I noticed the guy poking out and figured he'd go for it. Lots of people do that for no reason .


Anyway. We have eyesight on the Foz . I've had various rentals with similar tech.

I won't own a daily driver without it .

A fun car, project truck or whatever, yeah, maybe it gets in the way.

 

Mine saved me. Distracted by my son bitching about something and the car in front of me stopped because it was gonna miss a turn. I saw it out of the corner of my eye but the truck already started breaking and gave control back to me when it realized it wasn’t gonna hit the vehicle in front. I bet the whole episode was about 2-3 seconds.

With any technology there will be pitfalls. I knew I wanted a Tacoma and only looked at a Colorado but the safety features are one of the things that sold me on the Tacoma. BSM to me is the greatest invention. I still look, but if I see the little yellow light I know not even to bother. Lane departure can be annoying but just like above it only takes 1 second of not paying attention to end up in a ditch.

I’m sure Toyota tested these things pretty extensively and are overall rated well enough to save our asses. It’s amazing to me how much driving has remained the same but is total different then when I started 25 years ago.

 

On the way home from the dealership I was putting my phone on the wireless charger, (had to look) and a big dodge slammed on brakes to make an illegal U turn and it beeped and locked the brakes up. Needless to say, when I finally looked up it had stopped me about 5 feet from smashing this guy in my 10 minute old truck. The person behind me was pissed, but they didn’t see the guy in front of me. I’ll take it.

 

I've had it beep at me a few times when I was already braking. I'm not sure I'd call that a false alarm. No instances of it braking when it shouldn't have. It is less intrusive or sensitive than Subaru's EyeSight system.

 

Didn't know you could turn the sensitivity down, gonna have to look at that.

I drive an intersection every day where the roads don't cross at a perfect 90 degree angle making the left turn lane face oncoming traffic more than normal. On 3 occasions the system has given a warning as a car was pulling into the lane as I was crossing the intersection. It certainly surprised me the first time it happened. It's given a warning one other time with a car passing through an intersection planning to turn left right after I cross. It certainly surprised me the first time it happened.

But those are relatively rare occurrences and if you can turn the sensitivity down that's probably perfect. I have not had it actually brake but I have yet to be in a situation where it should.

Side note: if it were to automatically brake to the point that the engine approaches stalling hopefully one would have the wherewithal to press the clutch by that point.

 

I turned the sensitivity all the way down. The only time it has since kicked on is when someone actually cut me off, so I don’t bother to turn it off anymore.

 

About 12k miles on my truck so far and no false alarms. I had the warning trigger a few times when the car in front of me was turning but I was already hovering the brakes.

I dunno about you guys but TSS was a selling point for me.

 

I was driving my wife’s Accord on an urban highway when the Lane Departure Warning sounded and I realized that I had zoned out and my eyes were closed. Terrifying to think what could have happened. I don’t want a vehicle without it.

 

I love all the safety stuff and tech that go into these things! It's why I went from a '15 to a '17 (for the crawl control and MTS) and now from the '17 to '18 (for the crawl control, mts and tss). I've only had one "false" alarm. There was a dead squirrel (RIP little guy) in the middle of my lane and the Brake alert went off.

I loved the dynamic cruise control during my recent trip from RI to ME. The reverse cross path detection has come in handy once all ready.

 

I have had my 18 break for me twice. I was coming up quickly but I was already breaking. It startled me but it was doing it an nearly appropriate time.

 

Funny about 2 weeks ago at the local car wash a vehicle in the tunnel with the driver inside stopped do to this auto braking system and the car behind him rammed his car doing about 3K in damage he was one pissed off dude! Of course he is blaming the car wash for the mishap I wonder how this will turn out?

I wonder if the soaps getting on the sensors and other things in the car wash like moving brushes would cause this to happen?

 

After looking around for a few minutes on the interwebz looking like it be an issue .....

Thanks to advanced safety technology, the simple task of running your car through the carwash can be a multi-step procedure, sometimes requiring deep research in the manual to avoid the embarrassment of being stuck at the beginning of the tunnel.

In the short span of three years, a significant number of cars on the market have an impressive array of advanced safety and autonomous technology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the auto industry have wagered that it can save lives by mandating this technology on every passenger vehicle sold in the U.S.

But, the unintended consequence is that some things we used to do without thinking about now require a specific progression of steps. One of those things is running your car through an automated carwash. It used to be as simple as paying the person at the tunnel your $12 and enjoying the ride. Now, thanks to autonomous technology, a seemingly simple task has turned into a multi-step procedure, requiring deep research in the manual.

Unintended consequences
Up until this point, a lot of this technology has been reserved for cars in the luxury bracket, but for the 2017 model year, even cars at the lowest end of the price spectrum have autonomous features. For example, the 2017 Chevrolet Spark has an entire arsenal of autonomous features that automatically brake and that alert you to cars in the lane next to you. This technology is required for automakers to receive the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) Top Safety Pick+ rating, so manufacturers are eager to incorporate it, not only as a way of saving lives but also as a very effective marketing tool.

Auto manufacturers have already agreed to incorporate this automated technology on every passenger vehicle sold by the 2022 model year.

The unintended consequence is this: You arrive at your local carwash tunnel and make your way inside. The rollers engage, the brushes and water jets start, but your car simply won’t move, even in neutral.

Related: Carwash headaches: new vehicle technology

That’s exactly the situation that Jimmy Dinsmore — a writer for CarNewsCafe — found himself in while driving a Volvo XC90. He originally figured that the issue was due to Volvo’s standard Pedestrian Detection feature that, at slow speeds, will brake the car fully if it detects a pedestrian in its path, but that’s not what kept the car from rolling.

The culprit is Volvo’s “Pilot Assist Auto Hold Braking,” which describes its automatic parking brake. If the Volvo XC90 reaches a full stop for more than three seconds, the braking system automatically engages all four disc brakes to keep it from rolling either forward or backwards. Pilot Assist Auto Hold Braking engages when the car is in park or neutral.

The feature is useful for a few reasons. First, when you’re in stopped traffic on a steep hill, when you let off the foot brake to transition to the accelerator, the XC90 won’t roll backwards.

Second, an alarming number of people manage to get killed every year by being run over by their own cars. If you do a Google News search for “run over by own car,” every single day a news story comes up. It’s a situation that’s exacerbated by auto stop/start technology or silent hybrid and electric vehicles that can make you think the car is off, when it’s actually in “drive” and poised to take off again. Keyless ignition that doesn’t make you execute the familiar “turn the key” action to shut the car off is also a factor. Keyless ignition has been blamed for 19 deaths and 25 close calls since 2009.

But, if there’s one time you’d want this feature deactivated, it would be at the carwash. It’s particularly a problem in carwashes that require car owners to be out of the vehicle and the car to be off and in neutral. Even in vehicles without autonomous technology, the car will automatically shift to “park” when the engine is turned off, and the manufacturer doesn’t offer any means of defeating the system.

Volvo does provide instructions on how to turn the feature off. The issue for drivers at the mouth of the tunnel with six cars behind them is that those instructions are buried deep in the owner’s manual on page 536. Turning the feature off in the Volvo XC90 requires five rather complicated steps that are detailed in the “Special instructions” section of this article.

Instructions can be even more labyrinthine. In the 7 Series, for example, BMW has a subhead in the manual entitled “Before driving into a carwash” on page 73. That section jumps numbered instructions to page 242, but by the time you hit instruction No. 3, you’re instructed to flip back to page 77 to deactivate Automatic Hold braking and then back to 242 for the remaining two steps.

That’s an unwelcome challenge when you’ve paid your money and six cars are piled up behind you.

A similar issue was encountered with the 2017 Kia Cadenza, but it’s a much easier process to turn it off. We pulled the Cadenza into the wash, and the Auto Hold braking feature was on. When the rollers tried to push the car down the tunnel, the car remained immobile. Turning the feature off is a simple one-touch press of the Auto Hold button near the gear shift, but you have to know it’s there and what it does.

A call for standardization
It’s a problem so widespread that Eric Wulf at the International Carwash Association (ICA) has assembled a PDF for his member carwashes that include instructions for “Special Needs Vehicles.”

Wulf points out that carwashes are different across the country. Some have drivers stay inside the car while the car goes through the tunnel with the engine running, but some require the car to be turned off, with the car owner in the building, watching the car pass through the automatic wash. “I am not aware of any state regulations that dictate whether or not a customer must remain in, or outside of, their vehicle during a carwash,” he says. “Variations are due to differing business models or consumer preferences.”

The concern for Wulf is that there’s no standardization in how autonomous technology and automatic braking systems work, how they’re disabled or even ifthey can be disabled. “There is a carwash mode that BMW has for some of their vehicles that will allow the car to roll with the engine off. Some kind of a standardized engineering solution would be something we’d love to talk to the OEMs about.” A simple “CARWASH” button or option on the infotainment screen that turned off the features would be helpful, for example.

The complete list of Special Needs Vehicles is on the ICA’s website, but we’ve included special instructions for those vehicles that have particularly confusing methods of entering a carwash.

Special instructions
The list of vehicles requiring special attention is extensive. With research from the ICA, we’ve put a list together with instructions on how to get these “Special Needs Vehicles” through a carwash:

Acura TLX
The ICA lists the Acura TLX, but look for this issue in all Acura products that may include a push-button shifter, which BestRide called out as one of the worst shifter designs of 2015.

1. With the engine running and your foot on the brake, press the “N”
   button.
2. Within five seconds, press the Engine Stop/Start button.
3. “Shift To Park” should appear on the screen between the gauges. From that point, you have 15 minutes before the car automatically shifts to park.

BMW 7 Series

1. Drive into the carwash.
2. Engage selector lever position N.
3. Switch the engine off.

From the manual: “In this way, the ignition remains switched on, and a Check-Control message is displayed. Do not turn off the ignition in the carwash; otherwise, selector lever position P is engaged and damages can result.”

Chrysler 200, 300; Dodge Charger; Jeep Grand Cherokee; RAM 1500, 2500
Vehicles with eight-speed transmissions and push-button start are also equipped with an automatic parking brake and a rotary shifter. The issue with the rotary shifter is that you can’t have the vehicle in neutral without the car running.

FCA US LLC has yet to provide instructions on how to defeat the system, which means that instead of enjoying a cup of free coffee while your car runs through the carwash, you’ll be riding inside it with the engine running.

We dug through the manual to come up with a solution: There’s a manual override. On the RAM 1500, anyway, there’s a panel just above the parking brake release that doesn’t look like it’s supposed to be taken out. However, in an emergency, you can pry the panel out, and beneath it is a manual release for the parking position. That’s not something you want to be messing around with at a carwash, though.

Lexus CT200h, ES350, RC, NX, RX
This is particular to Lexus vehicles equipped with Collision Avoidance.

Turn off the Dynamic Cruise Control by pressing the end of the cruise control stalk on the right side of the steering wheel.

Look to see that the Dynamic Cruise Control indicator is turned off in the middle screen between the gauges.

Mercedes-Benz
One of the strangest keyless ignition setups in the business is found in Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The Start/Stop button is actually a dummy button. It pushes into a hole where the Mercedes-Benz SmartKey fits. If you want to send your car through an automatic carwash without the engine running, you have to remove that button and insert the SmartKey:

1. Switch on the ignition.
2. Depress the brake pedal and keep it depressed.
3. Pull the Start/Stop button out of the ignition.
4. Insert the SmartKey into the ignition lock.
5. Shift to Neutral.
6. Release the brake pedal.
7. Release the electric parking brake.
8. Switch off the ignition and leave the SmartKey in the ignition lock.

Range Rover Evoque

1. Hold the “power” button for approximately three seconds to turn the vehicle off.
2. Shift the vehicle to a neutral position. Note: The emergency brake will turn on automatically.
3. Remove foot from the brake pedal, and then press the “power” button for approximately one second.
4. With your foot on the brake pedal, press the emergency brake release located in the center console.

Subaru Crosstrek, Impreza, WRX (automatic transmission only), Legacy, Outback, Forester
This applies to any Subaru with EyeSight. Subaru’s EyeSight collision avoidance system can see carwashes as obstacles and may apply the brakes, preventing your vehicle from moving through an automatic carwash. In order to get through it, you have to disable the system.

From Subaru’s manual:

1. Press and hold the [Pre-Collision Braking System OFF] switch for approximately two seconds or longer to turn off the Pre-Collision Braking System and Pre-Collision Throttle Management.
2. When these functions are off, the Pre-Collision Braking System OFF indicator light on the instrument panel illuminates.

Tesla Model S
Instructions for running the Tesla Model S through a carwash are included in the Official Walkthrough video posted on YouTube. The video, found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HtlmNzqQdo, shows the relevant information at 16:26.

Toyota Prius, Prius V, Camry, Avalon, RAV4, Highlander
This is particular to Toyota vehicles equipped with Collision Avoidance.

1. Turn off the Dynamic Cruise Control by pressing the end of the cruise control stalk on the right side of the steering wheel.
2. Look to see that the Dynamic Cruise Control indicator is turned off in the middle screen between the gauges.

Volvo S60, V60, S80, XC60, XC90
We’ve identified this issue in the Volvo XC90, but the instructions likely apply to any Volvo with an automatic parking brake. Check the manual for more information:

1. Drive the vehicle into the carwash.
2. Turn off the auto-hold function using the control on the center console.
3. Turn off the parking brake’s automatic function in the center display’s Top view (tap SETTINGS, tap MY CAR > Electric Parking Brake, and Deselect Auto Activate Parking Brake).
4. Put the gear selector in N.
5. Switch off the ignition by turning the start knob to Stop and holding it in this position for at least four seconds.

 

Good old hand car wash for me.
Well I think is time for the car wash manufacturers to keep up with all the technology involved in cars because is moving at a very fast pace. Its amazing what comes standard in a Tacoma compared to the 1st 3rd gen 2 years ago.

 

With so many moving parts in a car wash tunnel I am not sure about them keeping up with tech along those lines. These sensors on crash avoidance systems use radar to engage the system and sense moving objects. I read awhile back about these systems being disabled is causing insurance companies to deny some claims if safety features are disabled.

I was looking at getting a 19 but when I talked with my insurance agent i have decided to not do that since my plan would increase upwards of 30 bucks vehicle tax would go up to around $1100 a yr just adding to monthly cost.

 

Doing 80 mph on the freeway and it gave me the brake warning and no brake application occurred. My Taco was under human control at the time. A car was to the left and about 60 feet ahead and also doing about 80 mph. I think it actually detected that car when it started a lane change into the lane I was in.

 

Have had a couple of false alarms with braking alerts but no braking applied. In those occasions nothing in front of me but conditions were such that I thought sensors visibility could be compromised (for example, rain/snow).

I have lane departure on but the beeps are more annoying than helpful thus far.

 

Just got a call from the wife that the new 19 we got (200 miles on it) just auto braked going down a straight neighborhood road (20 mph speed limit). She said no other cars, people, or animals were on the road in front of her. Luckily the guy behind her was far enough back and didn’t rear end her when the truck came to a quick stop. Road has wide speed bumps so I’m wondering if the nose of the truck pointing down was enough to trigger the system? I’ll report back if find anything funny going on with the truck.

 

I love my system. Takes a little getting used to but in my opinion works great. Except the lane warning...I hate that feature and have it turned off all the time.