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

[ElectrifyingMe25]

I've noticed issues with my Pre-Collision Assist and Emergency Braking.

It doesn't work correctly. Out of 10 tests, it only actived once when I put it to a test on the road in traffic multiple times. It was going to allow me to hit the rear of the vehicle in front of me with no warning or emergency braking.

This is a fantastic feature when it works correctly. It works great on my 2017 Explorer. I was expecting the collision warning to work at least as good on my Lightning, but for the most part, it's useless. It has to be malfunctioning. I have the sensitivity set to the highest setting. I double checked the owner's manual to make sure it's set up correctly.

I was so happy to see this feature on the list of options for my truck when I purchased it. This feature on my 2017 Explorer saved my life one time years ago. I remember declaring it as the greatest feature, short of the airbags, ever added to a vehicle.

Unfortunately, this feature on my Lightning has issues. I've got it scheduled to be looked at next week at a dealership. I hope it's an easy fix.

Has anyone else had issues with Pre-collision Assist and/or Emergency Automatic Braking.?

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[bmwhitetx]

Make sure it is still enabled. Not sure where it is on the 12" screen, here are the settings on the 15":

You can click the i icon next to each option to see notes and limitations of each feature.

 

[WilliamRobert]

Have you adjusted the follow distance? Also from the manual:

1. From the Driver Assistance menu, press Pre-Collision Assist. See Driver Assistance Menu - Vehicles With: 12 Inch Screen.

1. Press Distance Indication.

1. Switch the feature on or off.

 

[StrikesTwice]

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.

 

[MountainAlive]

In general I find the front sonar sensors to be severely delayed. And I had the front sensor CSP done and it’s still the same. The back ones work great, but the front ones will let me drive straight into my closed garage door before they even begin beeping.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

In general I find the front sonar sensors to be severely delayed. And I had the front sensor CSP done and it’s still the same. The back ones work great, but the front ones will let me drive straight into my closed garage door before they even begin beeping.

Yes..... I hope they can come up with a solution that actually works.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

Make sure it is still enabled. Not sure where it is on the 12" screen, here are the settings on the 15":

You can click the i icon next to each option to see notes and limitations of each feature.

Thanks for the info. I did check what you suggested and it's set correctly. It did warn me one out of the 13 times I've tested it, so it must be set okay. I even have the sensitivity set high.

The one time the pre warning activated, it would have been too late.... I would have hit the car if I wasn't watching very closely and braking quickly.

I know how it should work because the feature is on my 2017 Explorer, and it works correctly.

One of the things that seems evident is there are little inconsistencies in the settings and buttons that appear on the screens based on what the owner's manual says and what others have said. So it appears to me they attempted to add several options surrounding this feature based on the trim level. I suspect the program works the best for the platinum level trim and everything below suffers from the mods to take away premium features. Maybe not.

 

[Firn]

Can't say I have had the braking trigger in traffic.

It did scare the crap out of my wife the other day when she tried to pretend to come at me and it slammed on the brakes.

At least I think she was pretending...

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

You say you’ve tested this. How are you testing it?

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

You say you’ve tested this. How are you testing it?

To test it, I drove in traffic and approached the back of a car too quickly and prepared to apply the brakes quickly. I was expecting the warning or Emergency brakes to activate. The only time it did was when I approached the back of a semi trailer.... but only once out of several tries.

It was an exciting test. I'm glad I didn't crash. I don't want to discover it doesn't work when I really need it. This feature on my 2017 Explorer saved me. I want it to work well on my Lightning.

I did some basic research and discovered others have reported the same problem I have discovered.

 

[chriserx]

You should test it when following someone on a double lane road with a car turning right and you aren't slowing down cuz either you believe the car will complete the turn before your approach, and if they fail to do so you intend to drive around them. Never fails to activate in that scenario.
Edit: Basically you need a scenario where, without a major intervention, the truck will believe it will make contact. Even though the intervention above annoys me, I also understand the limits of the tech, and the myriad of variables that *could* be at play and as a company they need to play it conservative enough to be safe and 'lazy' enough to not annoy the driver with false activations. I personally believe they did a decent job of meeting in the middle.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

You should test it when following someone on a double lane road with a car turning right and you aren't slowing down cuz either you believe the car will complete the turn before your approach, and if they fail to do so you intend to drive around them. Never fails to activate in that scenario.
Edit: Basically you need a scenario where, without a major intervention, the truck will believe it will make contact. Even though the intervention above annoys me, I also understand the limits of the tech, and the myriad of variables that *could* be at play and as a company they need to play it conservative enough to be safe and 'lazy' enough to not annoy the driver with false activations. I personally believe they did a decent job of meeting in the middle.

I like your idea for testing the system during a scenario where a car turns in front of me. Also, I understand the tight programming parameters the engineers are challenged with the right sensitivity level to alert and not annoy.

However, the programmers allowed three settings for sensitivity levels, which is a great idea. The highest level should be overly annoying for people who never want to hear an alert, but acceptable for people who don't mind the extra help and occasional alarm. That would be me.

I believe the system is not working because I created scenarios that should have caused an alert in high sensitivity mode. As it is, it's extra noise right before a crash. Absolutely useless to prevent an accident because it doesn't allow for enough reaction time to prevent a crash by the driver, and the auto braking never activated and would have allowed me to hit the cars.... I'm convinced.

I think if high sensitivity mode would allow a crash, then the lower two sensitivity modes wouldn't have a chance.

I'm looking forward to having the truck checked out at the dealership. I'll give you a follow-up.

 

[chriserx]

I don't disagree with your sentiment, I think high sensitivity should be borderline annoying. That being said, I have mine set to low and in my unintentional testing I'd say the AEB would definitely mitigate crash severity if not outright prevent it even on low.

 

[RickLightning]

There was a thread on the Mach-E forum a few years back with a guy testing his. He put boxes in his driveway and drove towards them. Did quite a bit of damage.

The issue here is the OP not understanding how AEB works, what it does and does not do. "Testing" being "exciting" shows the foolishness of testing.

"The system does not operate during hard acceleration or steering."

I suspect the dealership will say that since there are no errors, there will be a diagnostic fee of $200 or more. They will test the components, and they will be fine.

Driving towards a turning vehicle with the goal of activating the system is the height of foolishness.

 

[MountainAlive]

Even though I commented early about the front sonar beepy sensors being slow to react, I’m now remembering at least two times the truck alerted me to an imminent crash ahead. Once when traffic stopped on the highway and I was still accelerating with the accelerator pedal towards it. The other time was really weird and I’m not sure if I was imagining it, but an oncoming car on a two lane road briefly went over the line into my side and the truck swerved itself slightly out of the path. At least that’s what it felt like.

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