Front assist sensitivity (or lack thereof)

[JoeGTI]

Hi guys
I asked this over on R forum but thought I'd ask here too!

I've had my R a few weeks now and it occurred to me today that I've never ever seen the front-assist system intervene while driving. I've never seen the <car>!<car> warning appear in the MFD or any beeps / tailgating warnings, nothing. Front Assist is enabled (if I tap the button on the stalk I see it's ticked) and I don't get any error/fault messages either.

Also, when I do activate cruise, the ACC works fine - it does detect traffic ahead and slows down / speeds up accordingly. So it would seem the sensor is working ok?

Now my GTI didn't have ACC so I've nothing to compare it with, I've no idea if this is normal or not. How sensitive should the front assist be? Should I be seeing that <car> warning a lot or only once in a blue moon? Does it only work at certain speeds or in certain conditions? My commute tends to be slow-ish, stop start, no motorways... so maybe my typical journey doesn't trigger it.

The car is otherwise fine, if I hadn't read about the Front Assist on these forums it wouldn't even occur to me that anything might be wrong!

[itavaltalainen]

Go on motorway and tailgate someone.... you will see a tailgating warning where your total mileage normally shows.

Alternatively have little distance to a car in front of you in town and don't brake when it turns left and you know it'll be gone before you get there.... you might see the proper city emergency braking kicking in then... 

[fredgroves]

Its a series of conditions that need to be met before it triggers.

You will know when it happens.... the ping, the big red X, the dab of the brakes to wake you up and then full on braking.

And probably all of that will happen for no logical reason.

Enjoy.

[remlapeel]

It should be pretty easy to get the MFD car!car warning. Just sit to close to anything and it comes up. I see mine after a second of being to close

[p3asa]

Have a search of monkeyhanger posts as that was part of his symptoms.

[JoeGTI]

Thanks fellas
Yeah I'd read MH's posts too alright and it does sound a bit similar, however in my case I see no errors about limited view or anything. I see no messages at all!
I found another similar thread on year dating back a year or so, where somebody had similar question - hadn't seen this tailgating warning. A few days later he got the warning when he least expected it. Maybe my typical driving routes / conditions just hasn't triggered mine yet... I'll keep tabs on it for a little while before resorting to the dealer.

Here's that other thread I mentioned - http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=261083.0

[Exonian]

My experience of front assist aren't anywhere near as bad as Monkeyhanger's (yet) but there is a marked difference between the sensitivity between my GTI and R.
The GTI front assist worked exactly as I imagined it would but the R's seems more erratic.
I've had the red warning and brakes engage a couple times when cars in completely different lanes slowed a couple times, and yet at other times the tailgating warning message  <car>!<car> doesn't come up when cars have moved into my lane quite closely in front of me. There doesn't seem to be any real pattern to it from my merely human perspective but obviously the sensors know something I don't.

[monkeyhanger]

Thanks fellas
Yeah I'd read MH's posts too alright and it does sound a bit similar, however in my case I see no errors about limited view or anything. I see no messages at all!
I found another similar thread on year dating back a year or so, where somebody had similar question - hadn't seen this tailgating warning. A few days later he got the warning when he least expected it. Maybe my typical driving routes / conditions just hasn't triggered mine yet... I'll keep tabs on it for a little while before resorting to the dealer.

Here's that other thread I mentioned - http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=261083.0

Limited view messages aside (there are 2 issues, may be related), there was a distinct lack of sensitivity to the car in front at all times, both for the tailgating white alert and the "Brake you crazy fool!" red alert. I would generally only get the white alert when I was behind a car and there was another car next to it in the inside lane. Or something big in the inside lane ahead of me would set the white alert off.

It seemed like mine was biased to see things in in a North-West direction (assuming my car is facing due North), like it was looking a little left and ahead.

[JoeGTI]

Well, I got the big red alert in the MFD just a little while ago while out for a spin! I was deliberately delaying braking (much to the wife's irritation in the passenger seat) and eventually it appeared along with beeps. This was in city traffic, less than 20mph or so. I don't think I saw the tailgating symbol but I might have missed it. I'll try again on the motorway later and see can I get the tailgating warning.

As for alignment.... Well when I use ACC it's definitely tracking the car immediately in front of me. If I veer to to overtake or veer into hard shoulder, my car speeds up!

[Max Q]

It sounds like its working fine Joe. The tailgating warning only appears at speeds above 60 km/h when you're pretty close to the guy in front. It also seems to get worried when you get 'boxed in' at motorway speeds, e.g driving in the outside lane at motorway speeds with the median/crash barrier to your right and following the car in front at a safe distance - if a car now moves along side and in front of you on your inside, effectively blocking you in, I've noticed it will give a tailgating warning in that scenario. (i.e. it was happy with your following distance until a car moves along side on your inside, blocking your escape should the car in front slam on it's brakes)