Collision Avoidance...

R

Robert_Alabama

Well-Known Member
I drive in relatively heavy traffic a lot of the time during my weekly commute on a 4-6 lane road that actually has a 55 mph speed limit. Of course most of the traffic wants to drive more like 25-30 mph. So I am constantly weaving in and out of traffic driving faster than most. I have the yellow BRAKE flashing on my dash pretty often and just ignore it. Yesterday, I was in the right lane behind someone turning right and gaining on them. I could tell they would clear the lane before I got there, but it was going to be relatively close and I was watching to make sure I wouldn't have to brake behind them. The yellow BRAKE light of course did its flashy thing. Within a few feet of the car (that I was going to miss, albeit relatively close for most people's driving behavior), the car threw on the brakes - HARD. If I hadn't been wearing the seatbelt, it would have been interesting. Not an overly big annoyance, and I am glad the system works, but it can go off when you don't need it....
 
The alternative to CMBS throw on the brakes for you is to not drive like a maniac. Be a bit less reckless and your chances of being wreckless increase. You can turn it off (long press the button that illustrates rear-ending somebody, near the charge door button), but your insurance adjuster will be probably able to see that in the system log when you actually do rear-end somebody that CMBS would've stopped.
 
Robert_Alabama said:
I drive in relatively heavy traffic a lot of the time during my weekly commute on a 4-6 lane road that actually has a 55 mph speed limit. Of course most of the traffic wants to drive more like 25-30 mph. So I am constantly weaving in and out of traffic driving faster than most. I have the yellow BRAKE flashing on my dash pretty often and just ignore it. Yesterday, I was in the right lane behind someone turning right and gaining on them. I could tell they would clear the lane before I got there, but it was going to be relatively close and I was watching to make sure I wouldn't have to brake behind them. The yellow BRAKE light of course did its flashy thing. Within a few feet of the car (that I was going to miss, albeit relatively close for most people's driving behavior), the car threw on the brakes - HARD. If I hadn't been wearing the seatbelt, it would have been interesting. Not an overly big annoyance, and I am glad the system works, but it can go off when you don't need it....
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From the manual
CMBSTM On and Off (P 442)●When a possible collision is likely unavoidable, the CMBSTM can help you to reduce the vehicle speed and the severity of the collision.●The CMBSTM is turned on every time you start the engine.●To turn the CMBSTM on or off, press and hold the button until you hear
 
I don't want to turn it off, I like knowing it is there as a backup. Just made me realize that the car can't sense what you are planning to do (lane change) or how other cars are moving to clear your path. It only knows you are closing the distance to another car and if things don't change that collision is imminent. I am used to driving 2 lane roads where safe passing requires speeding up in your current lane to minimize the time in the oncoming lane, so I am pretty comfortable driving in traffic like that. The Clarity doesn't like it when you close distances very quickly (at least mine doesn't). I'll probably make my lane changes a little earlier now that I know the flashy lights can be followed with action from the car. I've driven the car nearly a year, and this is the first instance I've had of the brakes kicking in, so I can probably consciously change my style a little and not get it again (unless it really is necessary). As to anyone worrying about my driving, I have driven a little over a million miles so far with no accidents (other than a car running a red light to hit me in the side a few years ago). Last ticket was more than 10 years ago (I generally drive essentially at the speed limit). My reactions are probably slowing as I am getting older though, so the advice and concern is appreciated.
 
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Our Claritys are risk adverse. I like that. That's one of the reasons I bought it. To save me from myself.
 
I just love internet armchair assessment of each other’s driving.

After all it is a well known fact that EVERYONE who drives faster than me is a raving lunatic, and everyone else who drives slower or otherwise different from me is colossal idiot.

And that fact is true for every one of you as well.

We won’t be happy with anyone else’s driving until only the clones are permitted to drive. And then the clones will mostly be buggy idiots or lunatics... depending on which clone everyone chose for themselves...
 
petteyg359 said:
but your insurance adjuster will be probably able to see that in the system log when you actually do rear-end somebody that CMBS would've stopped.
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As a recently retired insurance adjuster I can confidently say no, he or she will never bother to look for this data in the system log, nor would he or she care after the accident occurred. He or she would pay for the claim that you negligently caused, regardless of the type of negligence that the driver committed.
 
craze1cars said:
As a recently retired insurance adjuster I can confidently say no, he or she will never bother to look for this data in the system log, nor would he or she care after the accident occurred. He or she would pay for the claim that you negligently caused, regardless of the type of negligence that the driver committed.
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I never said they wouldn't pay out, just that they'd be able to see you disabled CMBS. So double-whammy on the risk assessment premium increase. Not only did you just cause a wreck, but you disabled the car's safety systems.
 
I don't think anyone yet has recommended or embraced turning off the CMBS as a "default" mode of driving, so I don't think it is important to worry over how it could/might impact an at-fault accident outcome. I have turned it off temporarily on curvy two lane roads because it can react with oncoming traffic in curves.
 
petteyg359 said:
I never said they wouldn't pay out, just that they'd be able to see you disabled CMBS. So double-whammy on the risk assessment premium increase. Not only did you just cause a wreck, but you disabled the car's safety systems.
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I understand. I assure you as a claim adjuster who handled tens of thousands of accidents in my career...and as the insurance rep doing the in-person appraisal on each wrecked car...I have never had any earthly idea whether someone manually overrode any safety system, nor have I looked for such a thing, nor did I even have the tools or software or ability to extract such info from the car. So there would be no double whammy.

With 100% confidence I can declare the insurance company will never know if collision avoidance system had been overridden.

It would just be an accident, like any other, no matter what settings the car was set at.
 
Robert_Alabama said:
I don't think anyone yet has recommended or embraced turning off the CMBS as a "default" mode of driving....
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Consider it recommended. I turn it off every time I get in the car. There are too many places where I normally drive that the system mistakenly thinks a collision is imminent and I get a false brake warning and the occasional brake activation.

I just wish that this system would not reset with every cycle of the ignition. My wife's Acura ILX has the same system but it will stay off once selected off.
 
This is common practice among many cars that have these systems. Honda’s kinda sucks lol...I shut mine off often also and agree it puts out too many false alarms.
 
craze1cars said:
I understand. I assure you as a claim adjuster who handled tens of thousands of accidents in my career...
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How many were modern enough to actually have a "black box"? With Tesla starting their own insurance branch, and their known practice of checking the data from said box when their vehicles are in wrecks, I doubt every other insurance company is just going to ignore that data available to them to put into their risk calculations.
 
More than 90% of them were modern enough to have a black box. I retired less than a year ago. The Clarity has the same archaic collision mitigation system my 2016 Civic had. It’s not new or special. Black boxes have been in cars since the 90s when I started my career. Pretty much started when airbags and ECUs became commonplace. They have always logged and stored throttle position, brake position, vehicle settings, light settings , abs and Tcs activation, etc at the moment of and in the moments before deployment of airbags and other safety equipment. Always have. It can be useful data. Unfortunately getting the data out of them for insurance purposes has almost never been economically beneficial for the insurance companies. It still isn’t. As far as insurance is concerned, they are simply ignored in 99.99% of claims.

I’m not attempting to challenge you and I’m sorry if this isn’t the answer you want to hear. I’m just setting the record straight between misconceptions and facts. Frankly if I’m a full blown expert in one thing in my life, it is investigating wrecked cars for insurance claims. I no longer actively handle claims but I still consult and do technical training. No matter what kind sensationlist things are occasionally put out in the media about the technology in cars, or what the general public thinks would make sense, it is ALWAYS driven by dollars. This is just the way it is. It costs a substantial amount of money to bring in specialists to get such data out of these cars. So the insurance claim managers almost always decline requests to do so in any but the very most expensive and high profile contested cases. I have been trained in how to find a company to extract the data and properly preserve the evidence obtained...but never in 25 years did I need to contact any of those companies to initiate the process. I recall was discussed a couple times on a couple major claims I was involved in and decided against in committee.

Car wrecks are routine. Many thousands per day. These aren’t plane wrecks. Black box data from cars simply is almost never used by insurance companies.

As always, things change. Maybe someday it will be economically feasible to do so on a routine basis. But not today. I stand by my statements in this thread. Nobody will ever check Robert Alabama’s collision mitigation settings if he is ever in a wreck. His insurance company will indeed ignore it.
 
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Robert_Alabama said:
I don't think anyone yet has recommended or embraced turning off the CMBS as a "default" mode of driving, so I don't think it is important to worry over how it could/might impact an at-fault accident outcome. I have turned it off temporarily on curvy two lane roads because it can react with oncoming traffic in curves.
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Tailwind said:
Consider it recommended. I turn it off every time I get in the car. There are too many places where I normally drive that the system mistakenly thinks a collision is imminent and I get a false brake warning and the occasional brake activation.

I just wish that this system would not reset with every cycle of the ignition. My wife's Acura ILX has the same system but it will stay off once selected off.
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Have you guys tried adjusting the warning distance for it?

Settings -> System -> Driver Assist System Setup -> Forward Collision Warning Distance

Try the short setting or maybe even far and see if it detects better?
 
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