Pre-collision Assist w/Automatic Emergency Braking Doesn’t Appear to Work

[B177y]

@chriserx and @ElectrifyingMe25

I think the truck is smarter than your "testing".

Unless you are willing to sacrifice your truck and possibly your life, as well as the vehicle and life of the other unknowing "tester", you won't get the answer that you are looking for. That's why there are crash tests done with crash dummies.

The driver is still the main AEB and crash avoidance. The truck's system is a supplement. Stop your "testing" on unwilling participants. Driving purposefully in a manner to see if your AEB works is the ultimate in irresponsiblity. Kill or maim yourself against an inanimate object if you want, but not some unsuspecting driver or family that is in another car.

Like @RickLightning said, the dealer will love to take your money and they'll probably laugh when you tell them what you have done.

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[RickLightning]

Well said.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

Well said.

If you use your own logic and reasoning and assumptions, I performed safe testing as is obvious due to the lack of activation of the pre-collision alerts and due to the Emergency Braking never engaging. I guess I wasn't aggressive enough to truly test the systems. But I hit my limits on taking chances. (In reality, I proved the safety system is lacking or broken.)

My grand conclusion is the Ford Lightning BEV division did not take advantage of the engineering already perfected by the guys who designed the same type of pre-collision alert system on the 2017 Explorer Platinum. It works much better.... I own both vehicles and experienced the difference between both systems. The Explorer protects people/vehicle better.

 

[F150guy]

I’ve had the flashing screen and alarm come on several times, but I can’t remember if I ever had the braking engage when moving forward. Now backing into a stall, that thing is crazy aggressive. God forbid if I come back with a little speed and there’s a bush back there.

Same when in reverse for me. Holy cow batman.

 

[Heliian]

2017 Explorer

high sensitivity should be borderline annoying

My 2019 f150 would blurt out false alerts all the time, they've tuned it a little better now. Very few false alerts, never had it go into brake mode.

Also, it's emergency braking, not adaptive cruise control. You might still hit something but the brakes will help reduce the impact energy in an emergency.

 

[chriserx]

@chriserx and @ElectrifyingMe25

I think the truck is smarter than your "testing".

Unless you are willing to sacrifice your truck and possibly your life, as well as the vehicle and life of the other unknowing "tester", you won't get the answer that you are looking for. That's why there are crash tests done with crash dummies.

The driver is still the main AEB and crash avoidance. The truck's system is a supplement. Stop your "testing" on unwilling participants. Driving purposefully in a manner to see if your AEB works is the ultimate in irresponsiblity. Kill or maim yourself against an inanimate object if you want, but not some unsuspecting driver or family that is in another car.

Like @RickLightning said, the dealer will love to take your money and they'll probably laugh when you tell them what you have done.

Just for the record, I was just giving a scenario in which the AEB activates and attempting to explain why he may not be seeing an activation. I by no means am attempting to activate the system on purpose and although my wording may have suggested he try it, that is not what I intended. It was just a scenario in which it activates.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

Just for the record, I was just giving a scenario in which the AEB activates and attempting to explain why he may not be seeing an activation. I by no means am attempting to activate the system on purpose and although my wording may have suggested he try it, that is not what I intended. It was just a scenario in which it activates.

Don't worry, my testing is complete. I don't recommend anyone try testing thier pre-collision alerts in the manner I did. "Don't try this at home." I am a highly trained professional. I know what I'm doing. It takes years to develop the cat type reflexes I have. Novices should take their vehicles to a dealership to have them tested in a safer manner.

 

[chl]

I’ve had the flashing screen and alarm come on several times, but I can’t remember if I ever had the braking engage when moving forward. Now backing into a stall, that thing is crazy aggressive. God forbid if I come back with a little speed and there’s a bush back there.

Same here - backing up in a parking lot actually stopped my truck when a car suddenly came speeding through the lot behind me as I was slowly backing up.

Been some false alarms when going forward but no brake application - doesn't like it sometimes when I approach my garage door.

I get beeped at almost every time I turn into my driveway because of tree limbs on one side and a boat on the other side getting too close to the side mirrors.

BTW, those sucker are expensive - a hit and run hit my driver's side one when I was parked on the street (tracked him down but he had no insurance and left the state) which only cost about $250 for the part, but they told me at the parts dept that the passenger side goes for $1100. I fold mine in now if I have to park on a street.

 

[chl]

There have been one or two posts about the automatic collision avoidance braking system failing - one nearly crushed a dealer when the owner was picking up the truck as I recall.

And there have been a couple sudden accelerations without emergency stopping before read-ending someone when using one-pedal driving - I think those are under investigation by the NHTSA?

There is one parking lot that gives me trouble pulling forward out of a space because there is a bank building about 50 feet in front of it - have to press on the accelerator hard to get going which scared me the first time it happened knowing what the g-force that truck can cause is like.

 

[MaintGrl]

Ok, so a couple of questions . . . aside from just using the vehicle diagnostics,
1 - How would the dealer "Test" to see if it is working correctly?
2 - Can you use some large empty boxes in a parking lot, to test it?

 

[RickLightning]

Ok, so a couple of questions . . . aside from just using the vehicle diagnostics,
1 - How would the dealer "Test" to see if it is working correctly?
2 - Can you use some large empty boxes in a parking lot, to test it?

1) They connect the computer, and run diagnostics on the modules involved.

2) No, I already posted about the Mach-E idiot that did this.

Edit:

Found the videos, what a maroon...

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

1) They connect the computer, and run diagnostics on the modules involved.

2) No, I already posted about the Mach-E idiot that did this.

Edit:

Found the videos, what a maroon...

Thanks for sharing the videos. I'm surprised that the backup system worked and the pre-collision warnings and emergency braking didn't.

The backup sensors are based ultrasonic sound waves. So for it to work it's a matter of bouncing sound waves off the box and detecting part of the reflected sound. The boxes refect sound nicely.

However, for the front detection, the system relies on two sensors.... the windshield camera and a radar sensor behind the front bumper in front of the driver. The radar probably doesn't reflect off the cardboard.... it's a radio wave. However, the camera and associated camera system programming should be able to tell the box is getting closer. The system may be programmed with redundancy so that both sensors have to detect the boxes.

In my opinion, Ford needs to improve their pre-collision detection system. It's almost like not having one at all.... but we paid for it.... it was on the list of options that got my attention. As I have stated earlier, the pre-collision detection system on my 2017 Explorer, that only uses a windshield camera, saved my life/vehicle one day. They are great when they work.

I wonder if using foil tape on the boxes would help the radar see the boxes? The problem is people don't usually wear clothes that reflect radar.

BTW, I decided to see what X-AI had to say about the radar detecting a cardboard box on the road. Here’s what it saud:

Ford's automotive radars in the F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, used for Pre-Collision Assist, operate in the 76–81 GHz millimeter-wave band. This is the standard for long-range forward-facing radars in modern vehicles, enabling high-resolution detection of distance, speed, and angle for objects like vehicles or pedestrians up to about 200 meters away. The exact configuration (e.g., 76–77 GHz for legacy or 77–81 GHz for advanced imaging) aligns with global regulations for automotive radars, as confirmed by industry teardowns and FCC allocations.

No, it likely won't reliably detect a cardboard box. Automotive radars are optimized for metallic or dense objects with strong radar cross-sections (RCS), such as vehicles, cyclists, or large debris. A typical cardboard box has a very low RCS due to its non-metallic, low-density composition, making it hard to distinguish from road clutter like leaves or shadows—especially at highway speeds.

Studies show mmWave radars can penetrate and detect contents inside cardboard (e.g., for material classification), but an empty or lightly filled box on the road would produce weak echoes, often below detection thresholds. The system's camera might spot it visually for a combined alert, but radar alone wouldn't trigger braking for such a low-reflectivity target.

 

[RickLightning]

But did AI explain why the blow up dolphin died?

I think AI posts should be banned.

You do know that it may not detect pedestrians, right? Clearly stated. So don't go trying to test that...

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