"apply brakes now"

[mcmaddy]

Yeah but remember the 2 second rule 

[Papa John]

Had a loaner 2018 Polo while mine was in for warranty work - bonnet cable snapped - and it was prone to false alarms and then when I did run up behind standing traffic it did nothing. 

Radar works really well on the GTI and does an excellent job of spotting slowing traffic ahead in lane 3 of the motorway, sometimes even before I do. It does not like me getting too close to the car ahead turning left and that's about the only time I've had a warning on the dash. Good system, worth having.

[brettblade]

If your acc is slowing you down on motorways then you're too close to vehicles in front of you. It's exactly what this safety feature is supposed to do to stop you rear ending someone.

Really ? Mine reduces my speed way before getting close to other cars even when set to the lowest setting. It’s not like I’m about to drive into the back of someone !!!

I'm pretty sure that the ACC "responsiveness" is also dictated by driving mode, so if you're in Normal or Comfort it's likely to start slowing you down sooner (but more gradually) than if you were in Sport.

[Vwjap]

If your acc is slowing you down on motorways then you're too close to vehicles in front of you. It's exactly what this safety feature is supposed to do to stop you rear ending someone.

Really ? Mine reduces my speed way before getting close to other cars even when set to the lowest setting. It’s not like I’m about to drive into the back of someone !!!

also depends on the speed of the car in front, I find if a car is in front of me doing say 10mph less it gets close before slowing but if I’m doing 70 and the car is doing 50 it’s a bit earlier

[Spud122]

Yes it is, I find it works well with ACC ECO, I changed it in Individual (from Sport standard settings)
I found it a little disconcerting with ACC in Normal, i haven't tried Sport.
I also set the distance from car in front as quite large.
For me letting when letting the car take some control, i like a bit a wiggle room so I have plenty of time to react should the ACC not work how I would like.

[canalmike]

Thanks everyone. Seems I've touched a nerve! Glad it's not just me though.

In my case I've never actually had the brakes activated (thank god), just the warning.

And never (in my opinion) justifiably - sometimes on a perfectly clear road, reasonable speed, nothing in front (or to either side) just...... bl**dy great red warning sign!

I'm going to buy an OBD 11 now (for other reasons) - can I use that to permanently disable?

[SRGTD]

I don’t know if it’s possible to permanently disable it. However, as mcmaddy has said earlier in this thread (reply #5) your insurance premium takes into account that your car has Front Assist.

If you do permanently disable it, you have made a modification that removes a safety feature from your car and you would need to inform your insurer of this. If you don‘t inform them and you’re involved in an accident where Front Assist could have intervened and either prevented the accident or minimised its impacts, then you’re highly likely to invalidate your insurance.

Don’t be surprised when you come inform your insurer of your intentions to remove this safety feature if they are no longer prepared to cover you.

[Guzzle]

Had the car brake itself twice recently, both times when the car was in reverse while in the process of tight manoeuvres.

The first time was while turning around in a narrow country lane, the second in a car park. Both times got the big red warning on the active info display, followed by a hard grinding of the brakes.

On both occasions, it seems the sensors thought I was too close to the hedge I could see through the rear camera. If the car had touched the hedge it's unlikely to have damaged the car, but it's reassuring to know that it's looking out for me and can see things that I might not.

[monkeyhanger]

I don’t know if it’s possible to permanently disable it. However, as mcmaddy has said earlier in this thread (reply #5) your insurance premium takes into account that your car has Front Assist.

If you do permanently disable it, you have made a modification that removes a safety feature from your car and you would need to inform your insurer of this. If you don‘t inform them and you’re involved in an accident where Front Assist could have intervened and either prevented the accident or minimised its impacts, then you’re highly likely to invalidate your insurance.

Don’t be surprised when you come inform your insurer of your intentions to remove this safety feature if they are no longer prepared to cover you.

You can turn off front assist in the menus on the new Polo. Turned it off on our GTI+ while experimenting and it leaves 2 large warnings on the instrument active display, so switched it back on. The Polo's system seems to work better than the pre-facelift system on my Golf, in that it shows identified cars in left and right lanes of your position if you're in a middle lane of 3. Detection is almost as patchy on the Polo as the Golf in that at times you don't get the "CAR ! CAR" warning when you know for the distance between you and the car in front, you shiuld be seeing it. In my Golf, the ACC sensor is more likely to pick up a car ahead in a lane left of me than straight in front of me (and always has, despite numerous recalibrations under warranty when the system threw up faults eventually traced to the system not being able to handle long winding sections of riad (like the northbound Tyne tunnel exit,).

Both systems work well at the maintaining a gap aspect of cruise control.

[skippy]

Old topic I know, but the Emergency brake caught me unawares yesterday.

I had just backed out of our garage, but my neighbours had done the same and blocked me from driving forward. Their daughter had nipped back into their house so I sat patiently waiting for their vehicle to move.

I crept forward at about 1-2 mph but still several metres away, when all of a sudden, my car slammed its brakes on and the Red 'Emergency brake now ' (or whatever it says) lit up on the dashboard.

I can only surmise, at the time, I think the young girl was running back to the neighbours car, and the sensors had detected 'an obstruction'. I was still several metres away doing literally walking pace though, so I guess my car thought it knew best and braked! I think next time, I will just remain stationary!