I've been playing around with ACC for the last week and overall love it. However, I do have some safety concerns. If the freeway is relatively uncrowded I can pull in behind another car and ACC works very nicely indeed. I've noticed, however, as the car in front of me slows down the Clarity's ACC will often slow down rather abruptly to accomodate. This becomes a much more noticeable issue at slow speeds when the ACC sometimes appears to be lurching as it slows down and speeds up. Overall this doesn't bother me in the least but I'm concerned if people behind me are seeing my brake lights? If the ACC isn't activating the brake lights I would be concerned that people who are tailgating me may not realize that I've slowed down. Definitely a non-issue on a fast moving freeway (where people aren't that close behind), but a big issue on the relatively crowded conditions on which I drive.
Safety concerns with ACC
- Thread starter ozy
- Start date
- Replies 2
- Views 914
petteyg359
Well-Known Member
Set the follow distance at the minimum (1 bar). It does a much better job just matching speed then, without braking too much like it does at higher distances.
And if it really doesn't turn on the lights (I can't really tell as I'm not driving behind myself) while ACC is braking, people need to make NHTSB complaints so we get a recall for another software fix.
And if it really doesn't turn on the lights (I can't really tell as I'm not driving behind myself) while ACC is braking, people need to make NHTSB complaints so we get a recall for another software fix.
My understanding from some googling and limited experience with our Toyota Highlander's system is that the brake lights do come on when the ACC system brakes; likely a regulatory requirement to do so when they actually apply brakes. The question is whether minor regenerative slowing causes the brake lights to come on, and at what point; they don't when you downshift an ICE transmission but must at some point in a regen-braking-system's range of slowing. Someone needs to have a friend follow them and do some experiments!